Create and manage menus efficiently in WordPress

Do you want to create an attractive and user-friendly navigation for your website create? Menus are an important part of any website and help your visitors navigate quickly and easily. In this guide, I will explain to you step by step how to create and customize main menus and footer menus in WordPress. We will also discuss how to create sub-menu items and arrange menu items in the desired order. Let’s get started!

Key insights

• Menus can be created via the Design menu or the Customizer.
• You can arrange menu items in the desired order and add sub-items.
• Changes must always be saved to ensure that they are applied.

Step-by-step instructions

First, you need to find the area where you can create the menus. This may vary depending on the theme. In most cases, you will find the menu options under "Design" and then "Menus". If this option is not available, look for "Customizer" and "Navigation".

If you are working with your chosen theme, activate it to access the menu options. Personally, I prefer Elementor because it offers a user-friendly interface. Click on the "Menus" section to get started.

Now you assign a name for your new menu. In this case, we will call it "Main Menu". Click "Create Menu" after entering the name.

While you create the menu, you can decide where it should be displayed. For example, you can choose whether it should be shown in the header or elsewhere. I prefer displaying it in the header so that it stands out immediately.

Once you have created the menu, drag all the desired pages into the menu. Often, you will want all pages of your WordPress system to be displayed there. Just display them and save the settings.

After saving, refresh the page. You should now see your menu under the header. If the menu looks unattractive or if you want to make adjustments, there are numerous options in Elementor to solve these issues, even without the premium version.

Now you notice that the order of the menu items needs to be adjusted. For example, you want "About Us" to be next to "Home". Simply drag the items to the desired position with your mouse and then save.

If you want to add a subpage, such as "Our Story" or "Our Philosophy" under the "About Us" item, you can easily do this. Click on "Add Subpage" and drag the new items slightly indented under the main page.

Check if the link to these subpages is correct. If you want to design the menu to keep the URL structure clear, the main page does not need to be subordinate, but the menu item does. Save the changes to adjust the menu.

With this method, your menu should now show a dropdown navigation when hovering over the main page "About Us". This adds a professional touch to your website.

If you want to add an item to the menu that doesn't have its own page, you can also do that. For example, if I want to add a link to an already created accordion in Elementor. Edit the page in Elementor and place the accordion in the desired position.

Copy the ID of the accordion and insert it into the menu as a custom link. First, you need to create a link that leads to this ID. For example "Accordion".

You can structure the link to the page where the accordion is so that it references the ID. After editing, make sure that the link is inserted correctly.

Now let's add "Content" as a sub-item to the example page. With a click on this item, the user will go directly to the corresponding content. This is a simple and effective way to improve your website's navigation.

In addition to pages, you can also display posts in your menu if, for example, you want to present the latest blog posts. However, the most common use of menus is limited to pages and custom links.

Remember that you need to save every change in the menu. A common misunderstanding is that some changes are not saved, leading to a loss of customizations. The option "Delete Menu" is not a good idea since you then have to recreate the menu.

Summary - Efficiently create and manage menus in WordPress

Creating and managing menus in WordPress is a simple process that helps you create user-friendly navigation. You can easily set up, customize, and strategically arrange your main and sub-menus. Don’t forget to save all changes to ensure an efficient result.