How to Add Custom Navigation Menus in WordPress Themes

Do you want to add custom navigation menus in your WordPress theme? By default, many WordPress themes come with pre-defined menu locations and layouts. In this article, we will show you how to add more navigation menus in your WordPress theme.

When Do You Need this WordPress Navigation Menu tutorial?

Most WordPress themes come with at least one spot where you can display your site’s navigation links in a menu.
You can manage menu items from an easy to use interface inside your WordPress admin area.
This tutorial is geared towards DIY users who are building a custom WordPress theme or someone who needs to add additional menu locations to an existing WordPress theme.
Having said that, let’s take a look at how to add custom WordPress navigation menus in your theme.

Creating Custom Navigation Menus in WordPress Themes

Navigation menus are a feature of WordPress themes. Each theme can define their own menu locations and menu support.
To add a custom navigation menu, the first thing you need to do is register your new navigation menu by adding this code to your theme’s functions.php file.

function wpb_custom_new_menu() {
  register_nav_menu('my-custom-menu',__( 'My Custom Menu' ));
}
add_action( 'init', 'wpb_custom_new_menu' );

You can now go to Appearance » Menus page in your WordPress admin and try to create or edit a new menu. You will see ‘My Custom Menu’ as theme location option.

If you want to add more than one new navigation menu location, then you would need to use a code like this:

function wpb_custom_new_menu() {
  register_nav_menus(
    array(
      'my-custom-menu' => __( 'My Custom Menu' ),
      'extra-menu' => __( 'Extra Menu' )
    )
  );
}
add_action( 'init', 'wpb_custom_new_menu' );

Once you have added the menu location, go ahead and add some menu items.
This will allow us to move on to the next step which is displaying the menu in your theme.

Displaying Custom Navigation Menus in WordPress Themes

Next, we need to display the new navigation menu in your WordPress theme. The most common place where navigation menus are usually placed is in the header section of a website just after the site title or logo.
However, you can add your navigation menu anywhere that you want.
You will need to add this code in your theme’s template file where you want to display your menu.

<?php
wp_nav_menu( array( 
    'theme_location' => 'my-custom-menu', 
    'container_class' => 'custom-menu-class' ) ); 
?>

The theme location is the name that we selected in the previous step.
The container class is the CSS class that will be added to your navigation menu. Your menu will appear as a plain bulleted list in your website.

You can use the CSS class .custom_menu_class to style your menus. Here is a sample CSS to help you get started:

div.custom-menu-class ul {
    list-style-type: none;
    list-style: none;
    list-style-image: none;
}
div.custom-menu-class li {
    padding: 20px;
    display: inline;
}

If you need further assistance with the CSS and menu layouts, then we recommend using one of these WordPress starter themes to build out your custom themes.

Creating Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menus in WordPress

With the increase in usage of mobile devices, you may want to make your menus mobile-friendly by adding one of the many popular effects.

You can add a slide out effect (above), dropdown effect, and even a toggle effect for mobile menus.
That’s all, we hope this ultimate guide helped you learn how to add a navigation menu in WordPress.