Creating a Desktop Menu for your Website

This article shows you how to create a navigation menu for desktop computers. You’ll learn how to insert menu text and create custom links.

See Also

• Customising the Desktop Menu
• Customising Menus for Mobile Devices

1  Sketch a menu map

Some sites have 3 or 4 navigation links, which requires a simple menu. Others have many pages that might require submenus.

Drawing a map of your navigation menu on paper reduces design time. A simple menu might have four links:

• Home
• About
• Products
• Contact Us

If your site has more than four pages, you might want to add a submenu, which is a menu inside a menu. You can start with a simple menu and change menu text or add submenu items later.

2  Opening the Header Component

To customise the navigation menu, the first step is to open the Header Component.

1. Click WEBSITE on the top menu bar. 
2. On the left side menu, select the CONTENT folder and then click Manage. The Website Content page displays. 
3. Hover your mouse pointer on Homepage.
4. Click the Edit button. The Edit Content area opens.
5. Hover the mouse pointer on the Header Component.
6. Click the Pencil button on the bottom right corner of the component. The Header Component becomes bright, and the rest of the page dims.

Be sure you are in the Edit Header Component Settings panel. Look for the Settings, Save, and Cancel buttons in the bottom right corner of the Header Component.

3  Opening the Navigation settings menu

Customise the menu by making changes inside the Navigations Settings panel.

1. Hover the mouse pointer on the navigation menu text. The green toolbar displays.
2. Click the Settings button in the top left corner. The Navigation Settings panel opens.
3. Scroll down the panel and then click the Manage Links button.

4  Entering linked menu text 

The Navigation Component contains preset menu item text. You can change that text and add unique page links.

1. Click the Manage Links button (see step 3). The Manage Links panel opens and displays the current menu items.
2. Click the Pencil button beside the menu item you want to change. That opens the Links Settings panel.
3. Delete existing text and enter new menu text on the Label line.
4. Click the Pencil button beside Link. That opens the Link Picker.
5. You can link to a Sinorbis Website Page or insert a custom URL.
6. If you link to a Sinorbis Website Page, scroll down the list and check the box beside the page you want.
7. If you select Custom URL, type or paste the URL with the http:// or https:// prefix.
8. Click OK.
9. To open a link in a new tab, check the box.
10. Click OK.

Your new menu item now appears in the website navigation. Repeat the process for all required menu items. Use the built-in translator to change English words into Simplified Chinese.

For more information about the built-in translator, see:

• Translating Text

5  Adding a new link

Insert additional navigation menu items with the Add New Link feature.

1. Open the Manage Links panel (see Step 4).
2. Click the Add New Link button. A Custom menu item is added to the bottom of the list.
3. Insert menu text and a link as described in Step 4. 

6  Deleting custom menu links

To keep a custom menu text item, but delete the link: 

1. Go to the Navigation Settings panel and then scroll down.
2. Click the Manage Links button.
3. Click the Pencil button beside the menu text you want to change.
4. Click the Pencil edit button on the Link line.
5. In the Link Picker panel, highlight the link with the mouse pointer.
6. Press Delete on your keyboard.
7. Click OK.

7  Creating submenu items

A submenu is a list of menu items under a top-level menu name. Submenu items become visible when the mouse pointer hovers a top-level menu item.

To create a submenu: 

1. Go to the Navigation Settings panel and then click Manage Links.
2. Drag a menu item below a top level menu item.
3. Slide the menu item to the right.
4. Release the mouse.
5. Click OK.