Common Elements You Can Turn Off (and On) Via the Admin Panel
Below are some of the blocks and elements that you can turn off using the Admin Panel. The key advantages of turning off elements using the Admin Panel are that you don’t have to mess with
any
code and doing so ensures your changes are independent of the theme being used. Turning blocks on and off via the Admin Panel also makes the change ubiquitous across the site—no danger of a block or stray link accidently showing up on a little trafficked page you didn’t remember to change the code for—and you can reverse the process, turning the block back on whenever desired.
Header
Remove/Edit the Default welcome message
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Design tab → Header panel. Edit or delete the contents of the "Welcome Text" field.
Footer
Remove/edit the CMS-based links (About us | Customer Service)
ADMIN: CMS → Static Blocks. Disable or modify the "footer_links" block.
Remove Site Map link (and site map itself)
ADMIN: System→Configuration→Catalog tab→SEO panel. Set “Autogenerated Site Map” to "Disable."
Remove Popular Search Terms link (and search terms page)
ADMIN: System→Configuration→Catalog tab→SEO panel. Set “Popular Search Terms” to "Disable."
Remove Contact us link (and contact form)
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Contacts tab. Set "Enable Contact Us" field to "No."
Remove RSS link and functionality
ADMIN: System→Configuration→RSS Feeds tab→RSS Config panel. Set “Enable RSS” to "Disable."
Remove/edit the Copyright notice
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Design tab → Footer panel. Edit or delete the contents of the "Copyright" field.
Remove "Keep Magento healthy" message
This message is hard-coded in the current theme's template/page/html/footer.phtml file and can be edited there. As a temporary workaround, you can hide this message using CSS. Go to ADMIN: System → Configuration → Design tab → Footer panel. In the "Miscellaneous HTML" field insert the following CSS statement: <style>p.bugs {display: none;}</style>
Newsletter
Remove the sign up block and disable functionality
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Advanced tab. Set “Mage_Newsletter” to "Disable."
Poll
Disable all polls
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Advanced tab. Set “Mage_Poll” to "Disable."
Remove current poll but leave functionality available for later
ADMIN: CMS → Polls. Set “Status” of the current poll to “Closed”.
PayPal logo
Remove logo only (leave functionality available)
ADMIN: System → Configuration → PayPal tab → Frontend Experience panel. Set “PayPal Product Logo” to “No logo.”
Wishlist
Remove top link and disable functionlity
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Advanced tab. Set “Mage_Wishlist” to "Disable."
Reviews
Remove product page links and disable functionality
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Advanced tab. Set “Mage_Review” to "Disable."
Tags
Remove tag cloud and disable product page functionality
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Advanced tab. Set “Mage_Tag” to "Disable."
Cart Sidebar
Remove sidebar only (leave functionality available)
ADMIN: System → Configuration → Checkout tab → Shopping Cart Sidebar panel. Set “Display Shopping Cart Sidebar” to “No.”
Common Elements You Can Turn Off Via the Layout Files
Some Magento blocks are controlled by larger modules and cannot be turned on and off quite so neatly using just the Admin Panel. Instead, those blocks are best turned off using the layout (xml) files for your theme. Below is a list of some of these blocks for the default design package. You may have additional blocks in your design package and theme, but you can use this a guidance for determining where the blocks you're working with are likely to be declared. The section following this provides some instructions on how to do disable these blocks. As with using the Admin Panel, disabling a module at the layout level will ensure that it’s truly off across your entire site.
Header
Cart & Checkout links
Set in base/default/layout/checkout.xml
My Account, Log In & Log Out links
Set in base/default/layout/customer.xml
Left Callout banner (the dog)
Sidebar block
Set in base/default/layout/catalog.xml
Right Callout banner (back to school)
Sidebar block
Set in base/default/layout/catalog.xml
Compare Products sidebar
Sidebar block
Set in base/default/ layout/catalog.xml
Product and category page links
The “Add to compare” link on the product page is set in template/catalog/product/add-to.phtml and needs to be removed separately. As a temporary workaround, you can hide this message using CSS. Go to ADMIN: System → Configuration → Design tab → Footer panel. In the "Miscellaneous HTML" field insert the following CSS statement: <style>p.link-compare {display: none;}</style>