diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 15ddae6d..b8e45f5f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -65,8 +65,9 @@ It profits from these great projects:
 * drops support for IE7+8 (simple fallback, same as no javascript)
 * uses History API if available (way faster browsing)
 * faster thumbnail generation if EXIF thumbnails available
-* improves previews
-* improves packaged downloads
+* adds optional custom headers/footers that are propageted to all subfolders
+* some fixes on previews
+* speeds up packaged downloads
 * add line wrap and line highlighting (on hover) to text preview
 * new design (colors, images)
 * now uses `SVG` images for the interface
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/custom.js b/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/custom.js
index 33df86e8..e2cc27a2 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/custom.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/custom.js
@@ -2,25 +2,30 @@
 modulejs.define('ext/custom', ['_', '$', 'core/settings', 'core/server', 'core/event'], function (_, $, allsettings, server, event) {
 
 	var settings = _.extend({
-			enabled: false,
-			header: '_h5ai.header.html',
-			footer: '_h5ai.footer.html'
+			enabled: false
 		}, allsettings.custom),
 
 		onLocationChanged = function () {
 
-			$('#content-header, #content-footer').stop(true, true).slideUp(200);
-
 			server.request({action: 'get', custom: true}, function (response) {
 
+				var h, f;
 				if (response) {
 					if (response.custom.header) {
-						$('#content-header').html(response.custom.header).stop(true, true).slideDown(400);
+						$('#content-header').html(response.custom.header).stop().slideDown(200);
+						h = true;
 					}
 					if (response.custom.footer) {
-						$('#content-footer').html(response.custom.footer).stop(true, true).slideDown(400);
+						$('#content-footer').html(response.custom.footer).stop().slideDown(200);
+						f = true;
 					}
 				}
+				if (!h) {
+					$('#content-header').stop().slideUp(200);
+				}
+				if (!f) {
+					$('#content-footer').stop().slideUp(200);
+				}
 			});
 		},
 
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/conf/options.json b/src/_h5ai/conf/options.json
index 503f652a..90eb4d4f 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/conf/options.json
+++ b/src/_h5ai/conf/options.json
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Options
 	- binaryPrefix: set to true uses 1024B=1KiB when formatting file sizes (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix)
 	- indexFiles: consider folder with those files as non {{pkg.name}} folders
 	- ignore: don't list items matching these regular expressions
-	- smartBrowsing: use browser history if available (no need to reload the whole page)
+	- smartBrowsing: use History API if available (no need to reload the whole page)
 	- extInNewWindow: open non-h5ai links in new window/tab
 	*/
 	"view": {
@@ -67,13 +67,16 @@ Options
 	},
 
 	/*
-	Filenames of customized header and footer files to look for
-	in each folder.
+	Allow customized header and footer files.
+	First looks for	files "_h5ai.header.html" and "_h5ai.footer.html"
+	in the current directory.
+	If not found it looks in all parent	directories (starting in the
+	current directory) for files "_h5ai.headers.html" and "_h5ai.footers.html"
+	until it finds one.
+	Note the different filenames: header (only current) - headers (recursive)!
 	*/
 	"custom": {
-		"enabled": true,
-		"header": "_{{pkg.name}}.header.html",
-		"footer": "_{{pkg.name}}.footer.html"
+		"enabled": true
 	},
 
 	/* [EXPERIMENTAL]
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/App.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/App.php
index d391be34..1617ad4c 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/App.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/App.php
@@ -312,12 +312,40 @@ class App {
 
 	public function get_customizations($abs_href) {
 
-		$abs_path = $this->get_abs_path($abs_href);
+		if (!$this->options["custom"]["enabled"]) {
+			return array(
+				"header" => null,
+				"footer" => null
+			);
+		}
 
+		$abs_path = $this->get_abs_path($abs_href);
 		$file = $abs_path . "/" . App::$FILE_PREFIX . ".header.html";
-		$header = is_string($file) && file_exists($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : null;
+		$header = is_readable($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : null;
 		$file = $abs_path . "/" . App::$FILE_PREFIX . ".footer.html";
-		$footer = is_string($file) && file_exists($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : null;
+		$footer = is_readable($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : null;
+
+		$p = $abs_path;
+		while ($header === null || $footer === null) {
+
+			if ($header === null) {
+				$file = $p . "/" . App::$FILE_PREFIX . ".headers.html";
+				$header = is_readable($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : null;
+			}
+			if ($footer === null) {
+				$file = $p . "/" . App::$FILE_PREFIX . ".footers.html";
+				$footer = is_readable($file) ? file_get_contents($file) : null;
+			}
+
+			if ($p === $this->root_abs_path) {
+				break;
+			}
+			$pp = normalize_path(dirname($p));
+			if ($pp === $p) {
+				break;
+			}
+			$p = $pp;
+		}
 
 		return array(
 			"header" => $header,