How to create a navigation menu, using Menus, to be used in a sidebar widget

There are several options that can be used as menu links: Pages, Posts, Custom Links, Categories, Event Categories.

For an example, see Knox-Lincoln Counties 4-H page. The Knox-Lincoln Counties 4-H menu in this sidebar on this page, uses only pages as menu links.

To develop a menu:

  1. Go to Appearance/Menus to open the editing window to create a new menu.
    screenshot of the appearance tab on the dashboardscreenshot of choosing menu under appearance
  2. In the Edit Menu tab (which is set as default), rather than selecting a pre-existing menu, select create a new menu.
  3. In the field Menu Name, type in the name of the new menu.
  4. Press the button at the right, Create Menu.
    screenshot of the the steps to create a new menu
  5. All of the boxes should turn from gray to active.
  6. In the left-hand box, Pages, options for Pages, Posts, Custom Links, Categories, Event Categories will be displayed.
  7. Select page(s) and press the button Add to Menu. This will move page(s) over to create new menu (the same can be done with Posts).
    screenshot of how to seelct pages to add to a menu
  8. Once moved to the Menu Structure area, pages or posts can be dragged-and-dropped to re-order.
  9. When finished building the menu, click either Save Menu button on the right-hand side of the menu tab.

Be mindful that page and post names should be edited and kept brief, two-three words at the most.
screenshot of the process to rename a page in the menu

Custom Link

If linking to an external site, source or stand-alone Resource (see How to upload a PDF or Word Docs as a Resource) or an image from the media library, you can create a Custom Link.

  1. Copy and paste the URL into the URL field under Custom Links.
  2. Give the menu tab a title by typing in the Link Text field (keeping the title, brief, two-three words).
  3. Press the Add to Menu button.
    screenshot of how to add adding a custom link as a menu item

Category

If you would like a menu tab to link to a Category (‘archive’) page (example: News):

  1. Under the Categories tab, select the checkbox that accompanies the category you’d want displayed as an archive page (a ‘feed’ of that category).
  2. Press the Add to Menu button.
    screenshot of how to create a category page in a menu

Event Category

If you would like a menu tab to link to an Event (‘archive’) page (example: would display all or particular calendar or upcoming events):

  1. Under the Event Categories tab, select the checkbox that accompanies the types of events you’d want displayed as an archive page (a ‘feed’ of those events), example: News.
  2. Press the Add to Menu button.

Once the menu is complete, press Save Menu.