Short header and footer layout
Short header and footer layout is used to increse conversion rate.
You can disable short header and footer using custom layout update file
<short_header_footer>
<reference name="header">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/html/header.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
<reference name="footer">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/html/footer.phtml</template></action>
</reference>
</short_header_footer>