Do you want to add Navigation menus on your WordPress website? In this article, I’ll explain How to Add Navigation menus in WordPress.
What are Navigation Menus in WordPress?
Navigation menus is a theme feature in WordPress which allows a user to create custom menus in WordPress. Users can add WordPress posts, pages, categories and custom links to navigation menus using drag and drop functionality. Users can change their menu items appearance by adding custom classes.
A Navigation menu allows visitors to navigate and access your website easily. Navigation menus are easy to create and customize which makes easier to your website visitors to find the information what they are looking for.
Check this full post to know more about Navigation Menus and uses of Navigation menus in WordPress.
How to Add Navigation menus in WordPress?
A user can create navigation menus for their blog under Appearance > Menus by logging in their WordPress dashboard.
Step 1: Creating Your First WordPress Navigation Menu
First, you need to create a menu before adding menu items.
Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to Appearance > Menus.
Now click on create a new menu option to create your first navigation menu.
Specify a menu name for your menu for example “My First Menu” and click on create menu.
That’s it your first navigation menu was created.
Step 2: Adding Menu Items to Your Navigation Menu.
Now you need to add menu items to your navigation menu from the left column which consist your website pages, posts, categories and custom links tab.
Your added menu items will be displayed in the right column which consists of menu structure and menu settings.
Here you can add pages, posts, custom links and categories to your navigation menu. Let’s check one by one briefly.
Adding Pages to Navigation Menu:
Head to pages section in the left column. Here you can see most recent, view all and search options.
Most Recent: This will display your most recent published pages.
View All: By clicking view all, you can see all your published pages in your WordPress website.
Search: Here you can search and find any page by typing the page title.
Within this section, select pages that you want to add to the navigation menu by clicking the checkbox and click on Add to Menu option. This will add pages to your navigation menu.
Adding Posts to Navigation Menu:
Head to posts section and select the posts that you want to add to the navigation menu by clicking the checkbox and click on Add to Menu option. This will add posts to your navigation menu.
Adding Custom Links to Navigation Menu:
Custom links are the great option to add social media profiles to your WordPress navigation menu.
Simply click on the custom links section in the left side column to expand it. Where you can find only 2 options URL and text.
URL is to add your social media profile link or any post link which you want to add in the navigation menu. Another field is link text where you have to add the link text.
Add URL and link text and click on add to menu option to add a custom link to the navigation menu.
Adding Categories to Navigation Menu:
Click on the Categories section in the left side column to expand it. Select Categories that you want to add to the navigation menu by clicking the checkbox and click on Add to Menu option. This will add Categories to your navigation menu.
You can add all your categories under Categories parent menu item by dragging all your categories as sub-menu items under the parent menu.
Adding Dropdown Menus in Navigation Menu:
WordPress drag and drop interface allows you to make an easy and simple drop down menus which looks elegant on your website navigation menus.
When a visitor hovers their mouse on a parent theme, all their submenus will be displayed.
To add drop down menus, first arrange the submenu item to below the parent item after adding the menu item. Next just drag the submenu item to the right side. It’ll automatically become a submenu item to the parent item.
Arranging the Menu Items in Order:
After adding the menu items, you can rearrange the items in any order you want.
Simply drag and drop the items to adjust its positions in the menu.
Editing a menu item in Navigation Menu:
Once you added the page or category to your navigation menu, WordPress will automatically use the added item title as link text.
This menu item text can be edited. Simply click on the down arrow on the menu item and change the Navigational label text and click on the save menu to update the changes.
Removing a menu item in Navigation Menu:
You can also remove the menu item in the same way you edit them.
Simply click on the down arrow on the menu item and click on the remove button. This will remove the menu item from the Navigation Menu.
Adding Custom Classes to a Menu Item in Navigation Menu:
You can style the menu items by adding custom classes.
Simply click on the down arrow on the menu item and custom CSS class in the CSS CLASSES field.
For example, if you add a highlight in the CSS CLASSES field, that menu item will be highlighted. In this way, you can easily style the menu items by adding custom classes.
Step 3: Assign the location to display the Navigation Menu:
After adding the menu items now you need to assign the location to display the Navigation Menu on your WordPress website. All themes comes with at least one theme location to display the Navigation Menus. Some theme may have more than 2 display locations.
In the right side column under menu settings, you can assign the display location where you want to display the menu on your WordPress website.
You can check and select the location where you want to display the menu and click on save menu button.
Here you can see my website supports three navigation menu locations. Theme locations will vary from theme to theme.
Add Navigation Menu in Your Sidebar and other Widget areas.
You can also add a navigation menu in your sidebar using widgets. Simply Go to Appearance > Widgets and add navigation menu widget from the list of available widgets to a sidebar.
Now you need to provide a title to the sidebar widget and select a menu from the available menus drop-down list.
Next, select a widget area and its position and click on save widget option.
That’s it your custom will be added in your website sidebar.
Hope this article helps you to Add Navigation Menus in WordPress. If you’ve any questions, feel free to contact me and share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Google +.
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