diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f1e8fe96..0ac1bdea 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ h5ai is provided under the terms of the [MIT License](http://github.com/lrsjng/h
 
 * updates year in `LICENSE.TXT`
 * updates es translation
+* custom headers/footers are now optional and disabled by default
 
 
 ### v0.17 - *2011-11-28*
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/config.js b/src/_h5ai/config.js
index b95f9d8f..3292a649 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/config.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/config.js
@@ -18,10 +18,15 @@ var H5AI_CONFIG = {
 
 		/*
 		 * Filenames of customized header and footer files to look for
-		 * in each folder.
+		 * in each folder. For Example:
+		 *
+		 * "customHeader": "_h5ai.header.html",
+		 * "customFooter": "_h5ai.footer.html",
+		 *
+		 * This is disabled by default.
 		 */
-		"customHeader": "_h5ai.header.html",
-		"customFooter": "_h5ai.footer.html",
+		"customHeader": false,
+		"customFooter": false,
 
 		/*
 		 * An array of view modes the user may choose from. Currently there
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Extended.js b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Extended.js
index 9e48e3da..ef12bf79 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Extended.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Extended.js
@@ -52,21 +52,25 @@
 			},
 			customize = function () {
 
-				$.ajax({
-					url: H5AI.core.settings.customHeader,
-					dataType: "html",
-					success: function (data) {
-						$("#content > header").append($(data)).show();
-					}
-				});
+				if (H5AI.core.settings.customHeader) {
+					$.ajax({
+						url: H5AI.core.settings.customHeader,
+						dataType: "html",
+						success: function (data) {
+							$("#content > header").append($(data)).show();
+						}
+					});
+				}
 
-				$.ajax({
-					url: H5AI.core.settings.customFooter,
-					dataType: "html",
-					success: function (data) {
-						$("#content > footer").prepend($(data)).show();
-					}
-				});
+				if (H5AI.core.settings.customFooter) {
+					$.ajax({
+						url: H5AI.core.settings.customFooter,
+						dataType: "html",
+						success: function (data) {
+							$("#content > footer").prepend($(data)).show();
+						}
+					});
+				}
 			},
 			fetchPath = function (pathname, callback) {
 
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/php/inc/Customize.php b/src/_h5ai/php/inc/Customize.php
index aa720efa..689977c3 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/php/inc/Customize.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/php/inc/Customize.php
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ class Customize {
 
 		$absPath = $h5ai->getAbsPath();
 		$options = $h5ai->getOptions();
-		$this->customHeader = $absPath . "/" . $options["customHeader"];
-		$this->customFooter = $absPath . "/" . $options["customFooter"];
+		$this->customHeader = $options["customHeader"] ? $absPath . "/" . $options["customHeader"] : false;
+		$this->customFooter = $options["customFooter"] ? $absPath . "/" . $options["customFooter"] : false;
 	}
 
 	public function getHeader() {
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class Customize {
 
 	private function getContent($file, $tag) {
 
-		return file_exists($file) ? ("<" . $tag . ">" . file_get_contents($file) . "</" . $tag . ">") : "";
+		return (is_string($file) && file_exists($file)) ? ("<" . $tag . ">" . file_get_contents($file) . "</" . $tag . ">") : "";
 	}
 }