How to create custom menu for your WordPress site.

Custom menu feature is one of the cool feature WordPress has provided along with its V.3 update. Since then I have been loving it and have enabled this feature on every theme I created. At the same time I have been receiving numerous comments, emails, tweets, etc from theme users who are unable to figure out how this thing works. They often get stumped by the blank navigation areas once the theme is installed. In a way I am responsible for this confusion, because the custom menu code has an option to declare a fallback menu, and I have not declared it. I did it intentionally, because If I had declared the fallback menus, most of the users would not have noticed this cool new custom menu feature. Instead they would just stick with the regular page and category menu system.

I had previously created a screen cast to explain how to add this custom menu feature on a theme which does not support it by default. I that screencast I had briefly explained how to enable this feature. Since it was under a different title I think most users with this problem did not bothered to look into it. So I decided to create this post with a screen cast with step by step tutorial on how to get this done.

5 Steps involved in Custom Menu Create.

1. Once the theme is installed go to Appearance > Menu

2. You will find an option to create a menu. Give a name to the menu and click ” Create Menu”

3. Then select and add page items or category items or custom links to the menu from the left and save the menu.

4. You will find list of menu items in the  tabs format.  For make child item you can drag that item with your mouse till right until you see it being set a child item.
.(slightly offset to the right)

5. On the top left of the menu admin panel you will have the list of available menu locations on the current theme. This will be a drop-down select box. From here you will be able to select the menu you want to display in that location. Hit save when menu is select.