Adjusting your Instant Site navigation menu

A navigation menu is a list of links displayed at the top of your site, helping visitors easily explore your website. The menu serves as the starting point for visitors to move around your site.

Each link in the navigation menu can lead to a specific page or section on your site, or to external sites like your Instagram or Facebook. On mobile devices, the navigation bar is usually placed on your website’s top left or right corner and looks like a hamburger or, as typically referred to – a hamburger menu button.

You can customize your navigation menu in the Header & Menu section of your Instant Site editor.

Adding a menu item to a navigation menu of your Instant Site

A menu item is an internal link that appears in the navigation menu of your Instant Site. You can add, edit, or remove items to customize your navigation menu.

Each menu item can perform one of the following actions when clicked:

• Scroll to one of your site’s sections.
• Open a link to any website that you specify.
• Compose an email. After clicking the link, a default mail service on a visitor’s device will open ready to send a message to an email you specify.
• Dial a number. After clicking the link, a visitor’s device will dial a number you specify.
• Open your online store.
• Open a page on your site that you specify.
• Go to a product category that you specify.

To add a menu item to a navigation menu:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website and click Edit Site.
2. In the menu on the left, click Header & Menu.
3. Click Navigation menu, then click on the existing item to edit it or create a new link by clicking Add Menu Item.
4. In the Title field, enter the name that will make sense to customers. For example, About Us, Give Us a Call, etc.
5. In the Action on click, choose what action should the link perform.
6. Click Back to return to the list of menu items. To rearrange the order of links, drag-and-drop them to the desired position.
7. Click Back again to return to the main settings of a section.
8. Switch to the Design tab and select the layout for the navigation menu.
9. Set up the look of the menu by choosing the custom background color and what menu items to display.
10. Click Publish.

Creating a dropdown menu for product categories in your Instant Site

If your products are organized into categories, you can display root categories as navigation menu items in the top menu on your site. This helps visitors find specific products easily. Each menu item can contain up to 20 subcategories in the dropdown list.

The dropdown menu displays only second and third-level categories when hovered over a root category. For example, if you have nested subcategories like Accessoires → Hats → Panamas → Classic, your top menu will display only Accessoires → Hats → Panamas:

To add a product categories menu to your site header:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website and click Edit Site.
2. In the menu on the left, click Header & Menu → Navigation Menu.
3. You can edit an existing item or create a new one by clicking Add Menu Item.
4. You can enter a title for the menu item that is different from the category name in your store.
5. Click the Action on click drop-down and select Go to store category, then select the root category.
6. You can switch the Show subcategories on menu hover toggle to show subcategories. When turned off, the menu item will only display the root category.
7. Click Publish.

That’s it. Now your site visitors will have at a glance overview of brands or product categories you sell. That helps them to quickly find the product they are looking for and improves their shopping experience.

Removing a menu item from the navigation menu

You can delete a link from the navigation menu if you no longer need it.

To delete an item from the navigation menu:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website and click Edit Site.
2. In the menu on the left, click Header & Menu.
3. In the Content tab, click Navigation menu.
4. Click the item that you don’t want to show anymore. For example, Store.
5. Click Delete Menu Item at the bottom of the page.
6. Click Publish.

Related articles

Customizing Instant Site header →

Adding a button to Instant Site header →