What Are Menus and How to Use Them in WordPress

Menus in WordPress are essential for creating a structured and user-friendly navigation system on your website. They guide visitors to different sections or pages of your site, helping them find the information they need quickly and efficiently. Menus can include links to pages, posts, categories, custom links, or other types of content on your site.

Here’s a detailed guide on what menus are and how to use them in WordPress.

What Are Menus in WordPress?

In WordPress, a menu is a collection of links, typically displayed in the header or sidebar of your site. These links are often to important pages, categories, or external websites, helping visitors navigate your website easily.

• Primary Navigation: Menus are most commonly used as the main navigation tool in the header, where users can access major sections of your website.
• Footer or Sidebar Navigation: Menus can also be placed in the footer or sidebar to allow for easy access to secondary content, such as privacy policies, contact pages, or additional blog categories.

How to Create and Use Menus in WordPress

Step 1: Access the Menus Settings

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance > Menus from the left sidebar.

Step 2: Create a New Menu

1. Create a new menu by clicking the Create a New Menu button.
2. Give your menu a name (e.g., Main Menu, Footer Menu, etc.). This is helpful when managing multiple menus.
3. Click Create Menu.

Step 3: Add Items to Your Menu

You can add different types of links to your menu. On the left side of the Menus page, you’ll see different sections like Pages, Posts, Custom Links, and Categories.

1. Pages: Select existing pages (e.g., Home, About, Contact) to add to your menu.
   • Check the boxes next to the pages you want to include.
   • Click Add to Menu.
2. Custom Links: Create custom links if you want to link to an external site or a specific URL.
   • Enter the URL and Link Text (the text that will appear in the menu).
   • Click Add to Menu.
3. Categories: If you have a blog, you can add categories to the menu to let users access posts by topic.
   • Select the categories and click Add to Menu.
4. Posts or Tags: You can also add individual blog posts or tags to your menu if needed.

Step 4: Organize Menu Structure

Once you’ve added your desired menu items, you can drag and drop them to organize the structure.

• Rearrange Menu Items: Click and drag menu items to reorder them. The top items will appear first in the menu.
• Create Submenus: To create a dropdown menu or submenu, drag an item slightly to the right underneath another item. This creates a parent-child relationship.

Step 5: Assign the Menu to a Location

After creating your menu, you need to assign it to a location on your site.

1. Scroll down to the Menu Settings section.
2. You’ll see options like Primary Menu, Footer Menu, or Social Menu, depending on your theme.
   • Check the box next to the location where you want the menu to appear.
3. Click Save Menu to apply your changes.

Step 6: Customize Menu with Appearance and Design

Some WordPress themes allow additional customization for your menus, such as adding icons, changing colors, or adjusting the layout.

1. Customize Appearance: Go to Appearance > Customize.
2. Navigate to the Menus section within the Customizer.
3. Here, you can see a live preview of your menu and change its appearance based on the theme settings (this may vary depending on the theme you use).

Step 7: Manage and Edit Menus

You can return to the Appearance > Menus screen anytime to edit, add, or remove items from your menu. Additionally, WordPress allows you to manage multiple menus for different areas of your website.

• Edit Menu Items: Click on any menu item to rename, change the URL, or remove it from the menu.
• Delete a Menu: To remove an entire menu, select it from the Menu dropdown and click Delete Menu.

Additional Features of Menus in WordPress

• Social Media Menus: Some themes offer a Social Menu option where you can add links to your social media profiles. WordPress will often automatically display icons for popular platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
• Responsive Menus: Most modern WordPress themes offer mobile-friendly menus that collapse into a “hamburger” icon (three horizontal lines) on smaller screens, ensuring good user experience across all devices.
• Menu Widgets: You can add menus to sidebars or other widgetized areas using the Navigation Menu Widget.
  • Go to Appearance > Widgets and drag the Navigation Menu Widget to a widgetized area.
  • Select which menu to display in that area.

Conclusion

Menus in WordPress are a powerful tool for creating a well-structured and user-friendly navigation system for your website. With just a few steps, you can build customized menus to help visitors explore your content, link to important sections, or access external resources. Whether you’re creating a simple blog menu or a complex site with dropdowns and custom links, WordPress makes menu management intuitive and flexible.