Skip to main content

Menus & Navigation

Menus control the navigation links that appear in your website's header and footer. You create menus in WebCMS, add items to them, and then assign them to specific locations on your site. A menu must be assigned to a location before it appears on your website.

Your website has the following menu locations available:

  • Header — the primary navigation bar at the top of every page on your website. This is the main way visitors move around your site.
  • Footer 1, Footer 2, Footer 3, Footer 4 — up to four separate columns of links in your website's footer. Use footer menus for secondary navigation — categories like "About," "Ministries," "Resources," and "Connect" are common groupings.

Creating a Menu​

  1. Navigate to Menus in WebCMS.
  2. Click New Menu.
  3. Enter a name for the menu (for example, "Main Navigation" or "Footer — About").
  4. Click Save.

The menu is now created but has no items and is not assigned to any location yet.

Adding Menu Items​

Open a menu and click New Menu Item. Three item types are available:

Page Link — links directly to a page in your WebCMS. Select the page from the dropdown. The item's display label defaults to the page title but can be changed.

Custom Link — a manually entered URL. Use this for links to external websites, your church's giving platform, your Planning Center login, or any URL not covered by your WebCMS pages. Fields:

  • Label — the text shown to visitors.
  • URL — the full URL, for example https://give.yourchurch.com.

Submenu — creates a parent item with a dropdown containing child links. The submenu item itself has a label but no destination link — it opens the dropdown when clicked or hovered. Child items under a submenu can be Page Links or Custom Links.

Ordering and Nesting Menu Items​

Reordering: Drag items using the handle on the left of each row to change their display order. Items are shown on your website in the order they appear in the editor.

Nesting (Submenus): To add a child item under a Submenu, first create the Submenu parent item, then add child items beneath it. In the editor, child items are visually indented below their parent.

note

Menu nesting is limited to one level deep. A child item under a Submenu cannot itself have children. If you need more complex navigation, consult your administrator about your theme's capabilities.

Assigning a Menu to a Location​

Creating a menu does not automatically place it on your website. You must assign it to a location:

  1. Navigate to WebCMS > Menus > Locations (or the Menu Locations settings page).
  2. For each location (Header, Footer 1, Footer 2, etc.), select the menu to assign from the dropdown.
  3. Click Save.

The assigned menu will now appear in that location on your website.

note

The name of the menu will be used as the menu's header in the footer. You should name the menu something that you want your church members to see.

Editing Menu Items​

  1. Open the menu containing the item.
  2. Click the item to edit its label, URL, or linked page.
  3. Save the menu.

Changes take effect on your website after saving.

Removing Menu Items​

Use the remove or delete action on an item row to remove it from the menu. Removing a menu item does not delete the page it linked to — it only removes the navigation link.

note

If you remove all items from a menu and that menu is assigned to a location, an empty navigation area will appear on your website. Reassign the location to a different menu or add items back before removing the last item.

Frequently Asked Questions​

Can the same menu be assigned to multiple locations?

Yes. For example, you could assign the same menu to both Footer 1 and Footer 2 if you want the same links in both columns. However, each location typically has its own purpose, so using different menus per location is more common.

What happens to a menu item if the page it links to is archived?

The menu item will still appear in your navigation, but clicking it will lead to a page that is no longer publicly visible. After archiving a page, review your menus and remove or update any items that link to it.

Can I have two levels of dropdown navigation?

Menus support one level of nesting — a Submenu parent with child items beneath it. A second level of nesting (grandchildren) is not supported.

How many items can a menu have?

There is no hard limit on the number of menu items. However, navigation menus with more than 4-5 top-level items can give your site visitors decision fatigue. Keep your navigation concise and use footer menus for secondary links.