Make Your Custom Menu Work for Your Readers

"Garden path", by slack12

I've wanted to write this post for some time now. I see many bloggers with free themes that don't have a basic or easily customized menu bar. Well, the menu is key to letting readers find their way to your important content. It was a post by Timethief  that triggered my article. She said:

For those of you that are too busy blogging (or too busy with life) to be bothered with WordPress announcements, sit up and pay attention: The Custom Menu feature has arrived at WordPress.com. - Timethief in Custom Menus Arrive at WordPress.com

She saved you from a super long post  by publishing her great post which also talks about other uses for the menu widget. And don't worry if you use self-hosted WP, you're covered!  So I've given you a video example to accompany her post.

Video Introduction

Here's what I used on YouTube as an introduction: nothing fancy just the highlights.

This tutorial shows step by step how you use the WP menu feature to customize your theme's default header. You can add categories and custom links (to other sites or featured posts) along with your pages. AND you can easily make drop-down sub-menu items. AND you can omit pages from the custom menu.

Additional Menu Editor Options

This lists other feature you can easily overlook [my video is limited to 5 minutes, in case you did not notice the rush at the end to wrap it up!!!]

1. Can I mix pages and categories in my custom link? Can I omit a page?
Yes, you can drag and drop any menu item type to whatever hierarchy you want. To omit a page already on the custom menu, simply click the drop-down arrow next to the page or item title, then press "remove."

2. Can I see a list of all my posts? What about my tags?
Yes. Use the “Screen Options” drop down at the top right of your screen:

Screen Options, displayed as a hanging tab under the header, allow the user to decide what fields or modules are presented in the work area for a given function. Each SubPanel may have a different set of Screen Options.- WP Codex

See top right for Screen Options

For the custom menu you'll see all of the options in the image below. Checking the post or tag option will give you a box to pick the ones you want to include (click for larger view).

Screen Options full view

Why not leave a comment on how you discovered this great WP feature?  If this is news to you, then do you plan to use a custom menu?