Adding an Extra Navigation Menu to Thesis Custom Functions

Yes I have the Thesis WordPress theme! How could I resist one of the best WordPress themes out there? Anyway do not rush out and buy it because it is fantastic, but not for the newbie WordPress website builder. You really need to know your way around .php and .css if you want to feel good about buying Thesis. I personally think it is wonderful and I am no expert at coding but I do learn quickly. After all, I am a computer geek. Anyway if you are looking for a WordPress theme then definitely check out Elegant themes as they are already designed for you. Thesis is a bare theme where you can customize it until it becomes something.

If you have already purchased Thesis then this tutorial is for you.

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to add a categories menu to your Thesis WordPress Website. This is very easy and a similar tutorial is on the Thesis website but I have added a few extras.

How to add an extra navigation menu in a Thesis blog?

Firstly, here is a screen shot of my Website before I added the categories menu. As you can see it is rather boring and it does have a menu above the Website title. It is grey. I am going to add a categories navigation menu in the space where the arrows are pointing.

To add the categories navigation menu we need to add code to the custom_functions.php.

1.  Click on the thesis menu in the left column. You need to be signed into your dashboard.

2.  Choose Custom file editor from the menu.

3.  Click on the drop down menu to choose the custom_functions.php and then click on edit selected file.

NOTE: You must be careful not to make a mistake on this file. If you do you might have to upload a fresh version to your server to repair the damage.

4.  This is where you add the code. Do not make extra spaces, just paste the code directly on the next line available.

Add an extra navigation menu to thesis:

Paste this code in to your custom_functions.php section as shown above.

This exact code is from http://diythemes.com/thesis/rtfm/add-separate-nav-menu-categories/

function cat_nav() { ?>
<ul id="cat_tabs">
<?php wp_list_categories('title_li='); ?>
</ul>
<?php }

add_action('thesis_hook_after_header','cat_nav');

This is what my page looks like after I added the code above. But the problem is that it was showing categories that I did not want to show.

To remove links from the navigation menu that you do not want showing simply change the code to this:

<?php wp_list_categories('exclude=3,4,5,8,9,617&title_li='); ?>

I have listed all the pages I do not want showing in this navigation menu. I previously wrote about removing navigation links in Artisteer but this can also apply to thesis and most other Worpdress themes. In that tutorial I am removing a page link from the navigation menu.

To change the color of your navigation menus:

1.  Go to design options on the Thesis menu.

2.  Under Fonts, Colors, and More heading you will see the navigation menu (nav) options.

3.  Press on the plus sign next to it to expand the options.

4.  See the arrows below pointing to colors. I changed them to make my menu blue. I also changed the hover color.

When changing options make sure you press the “Big A** Save Button”.

To move the navigation menu to the top of the header change this code:

add_action('thesis_hook_after_header','cat_nav');

To:

add_action('thesis_hook_before_header','cat_nav');

See the screen shot below.

I will add a few more customizations for adding an extra navigation menu in Thesis.

When developing a WordPress website I highly recommend that you plan what post categories you are going to have. You shouldn’t just create WordPress categories on the spare of the moment, they should be search engine optimized. You can use the Google keyword Tool to find related keywords and use them for your categories. (As shown below)

The first way to perform Search Engine Optimization on your post categories is to use a title, preferably, that has your keywords included in it…If you look over to the right of this post you will see that my categories all try to have my keywords in them. (Same with my domain name). The second way to SEO your categories is to write an appropriate description for it. Most people neglect to write a description for their post categories at all. This is a big mistake!

Watch this video to see how I Optimize my WordPress website and create SEO post categories

See the screenshot below. I have entered enter a keyword and pressed search. The related keywords are all listed below. I can sort them by global monthly searches or even CPC (cost per click). For choosing a WordPress post categories I would probably sort them by the search volume first. Then I would choose the most appropriate keywords that I think are related to my main keyword of my website.

Things to remember:

1. Press on Exact match and not broad when searching.
2. Have a variety but include your keyword in some.
3. Make sure the categories are related tightly.
4. Write a description that includes your keywords.

You can also check the box next to each keyword you are interested in and download them into a CSV file. You will see this in the video above.

See more WordPress Website Basics

Do you have any questions about creating a WordPress post categories?