The footer options are well executed as far as they go. On big company blogs I see footers like the one below on this web page: dark background and COLUMNS of link items. That seems to be expected now EVEN IN BLOGS.
Is there a widget that can do this? (without destroying the slider?) I would use the columnar footer INSTEAD of a slider.
If not, I plan to put my links into the drop-down menu. However, when they are in the footer as they are on this page, the reader sees them all and can choose better.