Every navigation menu includes two built-in items. The Main Page link is hardcoded
into every menu and always returns visitors to the topmost page of your site, no matter
how deep they are in your folders. The Search This Site item searches only the current
site, unlike the sitewide search bar in the top right that covers all of uwyo.edu.
Site search results depend on how each page is set up rather than on the menu itself,
so keywords need to appear in your page title and page description to improve what
shows up.
What to Know About In-Page Navigation
Display Variations
In-page navigation can appear full-width or housed in a second column beside your intro section, and many templates let you choose between the two. By default it is not expanded on page load, which you can change in Properties > Parameters. If your menu is long, keeping it collapsed is often the better choice.
Controlled by the Nav File
The _nav.ounav file in each folder controls the navigation for every page in that same folder. These files are connected across your site directory, so they "talk" to one another to display the contents of each subfolder. Always use the dependency tag when editing this file so your navigation recognizes the folder's full contents.
The Main Page Link
Every in-page menu includes a Main Page link in the top right that returns visitors to your site's homepage. It always points to the main index page of your site's directory, no matter which page the visitor is currently on.
Migrated Sites May Need Reorganizing
Some sites have files and folders arranged the way they worked in our previous CMS, which isn't always the structure the current navigation features need. If your navigation isn't behaving the way it should, your site may need reorganizing. Site editors can fix some of this themselves, but larger changes require a CMS administrator. Submit a ticket through the Request Help gadget to request site reorganization.
Video Tutorial
This tutorial walks through how in-page navigation is set up and how folder structure shapes the way it displays. Pay close attention to how page and folder structure affects navigation, since that relationship is the key to getting your menu to show the right pages.
Step-by-Step Instructions – Building and Managing In-Page Navigation
Let's cover how in-page navigation is structured, edited and customized. We strongly encourage you to follow along with the video tutorial above the first time you work through your own navigation.
In-page navigation can display two ways: beside your intro content, or full-width
directly beneath it. The side layout is available on most standard-use templates,
and many let you choose between the two. Limited-use templates only display full-width.
Everything else in this guide applies regardless of which layout your template uses.
A section folder will appear on the left side of the in-page navigation menu and it will have a plus sign (+) icon to indicate that it will expand to show the pages in that subsection of your site.
Menu items that link to section folders show a Learn More button when expanded on
the right side of the in-page navigation menu, which points to that folder's index
page. This lets visitors reach the main section page along with its child pages. Because
of this, section folders should hold at least three to four pages. A single standalone
page belongs at the root level of your site instead, so it doesn't create a sparse,
near-empty navigation menu.
A link without an expand button (without a plus sign + icon) lives at the root level
of your site rather than inside a section folder. Contact pages are a common example.
Placing standalone pages at the root keeps their navigation from feeling empty, which
is what happens when a lone page sits inside its own section folder.
Navigation is controlled by the _nav.ounav file inside each folder. Every page section
on your site has one. If a folder contains .pcf pages but no _nav.ounav file, then
it was likely deleted by mistake and should be corrected, since a missing file breaks
the navigation experience. A CMS administrator can restore it for you.
Pages are added to the navigation file using their dependency tags, the unique IDs assigned to every page and file. When you link a folder by its index
page's dependency tag, the menu automatically exposes all the child pages beneath
that folder. If only one page exists, only that page displays.
To link somewhere outside the UW site, click Add New, choose the external link option,
and paste the absolute URL into the external source box. Set external links to open
in a new tab so visitors keep their original UW tab open, which also helps reduce
bounce rates.
Check out the page to open its parameters. You can collapse the menu on page load,
switch it to full-width through Custom Settings and the page banner type, or turn
navigation off entirely. Turning it off is rarely recommended, since it creates a
disconnected experience, but the option exists for the cases that need it.
Don't rebuild the top-level menu several folders deep. Replicating the same navigation
lower in your site creates a redundant, confusing experience and can misrepresent
which pages actually live in that section. If you need to add a link at a deep level
without exposing other pages, add it as an external link using the absolute URL.
The University of Wyoming has earned its Research Level 1 (R1) status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing Wyoming's only four-year university with the top research universities in the United States.