You can try vazco_topbar plugin for adding links or customizing topbar. There's also vazco_footer plugin available which allows to customize footer.

But I already tried that plugin. It doesn't work on Elgg v1.8 beta 1. I have Elgg v1.8 beta 1 installed, not Elgg v1.7.8.

therocker, currently there are almost no plugins for Elgg 1.8 on the community. Elgg 1.8 is still in beta. Plugins for Elgg 1.8 will start appearing once full version of Elgg 1.8 is released.

We already have commercial version of vazco_topbar for Elgg 1.8 beta complete but we don't release even this version since there's too much risk it would have to be rewritten once full version comes out.

Ok, I got you. So you want me to wait 'til you guys officially release the latest verison right?? It can wait. There's no problem with that.

@therocker: Elgg 1.8 is in its beta 1 stage. So, if you are not too familiar with Elgg, I would recommend you to go with the last official release i.e. Elgg 1.7.8.

It is not a rocket-science to remove the elgg branding from your site and use yours. You would only need some knowledge of the Elgg view structure and HTML (for this particular case).

http://docs.elgg.org --> Read it there.

*hint --> look for the most obvious file names ... topbar, footer ... etc. ;)

And, instead of overriding the core, create a template plugin. Use the link I mentioned above, containing Elgg documentation.

All the very best!

Yes, I know where they all are Shouvik.

They are in

root/views/default/page/elements/topbar.php

and what not, the only thing I'm having issues with is removing the logo since the coding is different. The logo doesn't show up in there so all I can do is just make my own logo and upload it to _graphics. but there's still the link and stuff, so I want to remove the link, put the dashboard there and put the elgg logo at the bottom of my website.

Logo on the topbar?

here it is removed ...

<?php
/**
 * Elgg top toolbar
 * The standard elgg top toolbar
 *
 * @package Elgg
 * @subpackage Core
 *
 */
?>

<?php
    if (isloggedin()) {
?>

<div id="elgg_topbar">

<div id="elgg_topbar_container_left">

        <a href="<?php echo get_loggedin_user()->getURL(); ?>"><img class="user_mini_avatar" src="<?php echo get_loggedin_user()->getIcon('topbar'); ?>" alt="User avatar" /></a>

    </div>
    <div class="toolbarlinks">
        <a href="<?php echo $vars['url']; ?>pg/dashboard/" class="pagelinks"><?php echo elgg_echo('dashboard'); ?></a>
    </div>
        <?php

            echo elgg_view("navigation/topbar_tools");

        ?>

        <div class="toolbarlinks2">
        <?php
        //allow people to extend this top menu
        echo elgg_view('elgg_topbar/extend', $vars);
        ?>

        <a href="<?php echo $vars['url']; ?>pg/settings/" class="usersettings"><?php echo elgg_echo('settings'); ?></a>

        <?php

            // The administration link is for admin or site admin users only
            if ($vars['user']->isAdmin()) {

        ?>

            <a href="<?php echo $vars['url']; ?>pg/admin/" class="usersettings"><?php echo elgg_echo("admin"); ?></a>

        <?php

                }

        ?>
    </div>


</div>


<div id="elgg_topbar_container_right">
        <small>
            <?php echo elgg_view('output/url', array('href' => "{$vars['url']}action/logout", 'text' => elgg_echo('logout'), 'is_action' => TRUE)); ?>
        </small>
</div>

<div id="elgg_topbar_container_search">
<?php echo elgg_view('page_elements/searchbox'); ?>
</div>

</div><!-- /#elgg_topbar -->

<div class="clearfloat"></div>

<?php
    }

No Shouvik. The coding is different.

This is how it looks like.

<?php
/**
 * Elgg top toolbar
 * The standard elgg top toolbar
 */



// Elgg logo
echo elgg_view_menu('topbar', array('sort_by' => 'priority', array('elgg-menu-hz')));

// elgg tools menu
// need to echo this empty view for backward compatibility.
echo elgg_view("navigation/topbar_tools");

This is for the Elgg v1.8 beta 1

The Elgg v1.7.8 has the coding your talking about. and plus that coding is perfect, but when I input it in, the css is off and is all weird.

Are you rocking with /views/default/page/elements/topbar.php ?

If so - that is the correct place to code all the changes that you are looking for --

" add my own logo and my own link to the topbar and I would love to put the logo and link at the bottom.." 

You should also read into the "sitepages" PlugIn for other details of code that is involved with the area that interests you ;)

Yes DhrupDeScoop, that is what I'm looking for. Do you know any plugins or any way to remove it? The coding is a little weird to me because most of the HTML codes and php codes I actually understand aren't even in that file. Like it looks like it's pointing to a specific file, but the file it's pointing to is itself. So I got confused, but give me the link to the plugin and I'll see what happens.