I’m actually working towards using WordPress 3.0 for a clients production site albeit not recommended at this stage. I’ve been working on the menu’s today and the new admin options so I’ve decided to skip ahead a few posts and write about my experience.
I think the new menu system is great. There’s been various debates about the menu features being bloated or not sticking to the version 1 spec. I care very little for the spec right now, I think that this is a huge leap in functionality that will really boost WordPress’ CMS abilities.
The new menu settings are found under the Appearance tab in WordPress admin.
This link brings up the new menu options page. As a default the TwentyTen theme’s main menu lists all the pages with child and grandchild pages in sub menus. The first menu you create in WordPress admin will override this.
Creating your first menu
To create your first menu (remember if you are using the TwentyTen theme this will override the header menu) enter a title for your menu in the Create Menu box and select ‘Create Menu’.
You will see a yellow notification information you that the menu has been successfully created, a box with the menu title will be displayed and more option boxes will be available.
Adding Links
To add links to your menu use one of the boxes down the right hand side of the page. You can choose from:
- Add Custom Links
- Add and Existing Post
- Add an Existing Page
- Add an Existing Media
- Add an Existing Category
- Add an Existing Post Tag
Apart from the custom links all of these boxes offer a View All link to display a list off all the options with check boxes so you can add multiple items at once to save you time.
As you add items to your menu you will see them displayed in the box with the menu title.
Ordering Links
Each link displays it’s title and what type of link it is. Once your links are listed like this you can drag and drop them into order. To build sub menus just drag a link onto the required parent link so that it becomes indented.
You can continue to add and order your links until your menu is complete. Just remember to keep using the ‘Save Menu’ link on the Menu Settings box as positions aren’t auto saved like the widget interface.
Link Options
Selecting ‘Edit’ on a link brings up a modal box with additional options including link title, CSS classes and link target.
Conclusion
The new menu manager may have caused a stir for both good and bad reasons, but in the end I think WordPress has gained some excellent functionality that is really quick and easy to use. This will be a great tool in using WordPress as a CMS.