Unlocking the Power of Navigation in WORDPRESS 6.3: What YOU Need to Know

[@AlexGraupera]

Great video! There is a lot of great features in this version like the navigation management, but, I miss (or I don't know how do it) the "sticky" link for pages added manually in the navigation. For example, if you adds a page in the navigation and changes the slug, you need to change the link manually in the navigation because it won't change it

[@DaveOnWP]

You are very welcome. I'm glad it helped. Yes I agree about the "sticky" links. It should be the default behaviour and in fact we are working on a solution here: github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/46891 You should be able to test that PR at: gutenberg.run/46891 There is also work underway on a new API in the editor which will allow us to map block attributes (e.g. slug) to a field on a Post. If that API matures quickly it might prove easy to implement this feature. Keep an eye out on the channel as I'll be showcasing some more upcoming work on the Navigation block throughout the next (WordPress 6.5) cycle.

[@visualmodo]

Awesome work! Thank you

[@DaveOnWP]

Glad you liked it!

[@HashimWarren]

Duplicate is huge!!! Thanks for your work!

[@DaveOnWP]

Glad you liked that feature. I agree ability to manage menus like this is very useful. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave positive feedback. Whilst I did work on this feature, there was a team of contributors who put a lot of effort into this, so kudos to all of them 👏 Rest assured we'll continue to work to improve Navigation in WordPress: github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38275

[@DaveOnWP]

What do YOU think about the upgrades to Navigation coming to WordPress? 🎙Also I've worked on my audio setup for this video. Did you notice the difference? Feedback is always welcome.

[@PaalJoachimRomdahl]

Hey Dave! Thank you for the video! I noticed the improved audio.

[@LiveThrive-bn9xd]

Hello Dave, I am new to Wordpress. I am a beginner and I'm having a impossible time with my navigation bar. How do I make my blog posts appear under the correct navigation option?

[@DaveOnWP]

@@LiveThrive-bn9xd Sorry to say that there isn't currently a way to automatically list ALL your Blog Posts automatically under a specific Navigation item. You CAN however manually add each Post by using the editable list view sidebar and inserting a Post Link block for each post.

[@jamiewp]

Great video Dave 👍 Any progress on the different mobile menu to desktop menu issue?

[@DaveOnWP]

👋 Thanks Jamie. I appreciate your feedback. Unfortunately this release has prioritised the Site View ("Browse Mode") features and that has left little room for progress on the elements you mention. Myself and other contributors are very aware of the block's current failings in the area of responsive and I'm going to be advocating for us addressing them in a (near) future release. It would be highly valuable if you would consider leaving a comment in the Issue (github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38275) to reinforce how important it is that contributors look to prioritise these issues. Thanks again 🙇

[@Mentrix-Websolution]

Thank you for the videos. We have millions of website with outdated classic themes, plugins and pagebuilder. How we convert this to block-themes and Gutenberg? maybe with AI🤔

[@DaveOnWP]

Wow. Millions of websites. That is a challenge! How to do it would very much depend on the circumstances of these sites. In theory if they are simple then you could just enable a block theme and migrate anything that looks broken. However, if you've invested heavily in a bespoke Page Builder then there's no easy route I'm aware of to migrate to the block editor. Page Builders are proprietary solutions and thus come with a certain element of "lock in". If you are operating at the scale of "millions" then perhaps it would be worth investing time in training an AI to convert to Gutenberg. If you were able to succeed you've most likely have a hugely valuable product on your hands. I wish you the best of sucess!

[@MalSpeaks]

Hi Dave! Thank you for your video. I think I’m still a little stuck on the question that I’m looking for. I hope you may be able to help. I deleted my navigation bar, I have now learned how to recreate it but what I am confused about is, how do I get my pages to be linked to the navigation bar? Or am I incorrect and they have nothing to do with one another?

[@DaveOnWP]

You are very welcome. I'm happy to help here. Your Pages can exist separately to the Navigation. For example you might have a T&Cs page which might not be something you need in your primary nav. However, you can certainly link directly to pages. - Create all the Pages you need first and be sure to publish them. - Select the Navigation block - Click on the + icon to add a link - When the search box appears search for your Page by it's name (be sure to publish your Page first so it will show up). - Submit the link Repeat as necessary. Let me know if that works for you.

[@zeropointcomputing]

Hi Dave! Great Video. Can I add images/sliders before the header navbar on the home page? For other pages and posts, navbar would be on the default location.

[@DaveOnWP]

Thank you. Yes you certainly could do that. There is a dedicated Front Page template to control your homepage. You would simply add blocks above the `Header` template part on that Front Page template only, whilst leaving all the other templates to simply use the `Header` only. Hope that helps?

[@outlanderoutlander3998]

Hello and thank you. These progresses are great BUT for simple navigations. What about mega menus and mobile menus? When can we build professional mega menus and mobile menus directly from FSE?

[@DaveOnWP]

Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback. I agree we need to tackle these elements sooner rather than later. In fact they are already on the roadmap in github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38275. It would be great if you felt able to leave some feedback there to outline how important it is to have the mobile and mega menu features. Rest assured that I will ensure your feedback (and that of others) is collated and passed on to contributors working on Navigation. Thank you 🙇

[@outlanderoutlander3998]

@@DaveOnWP I'm grateful for your response and for directing me to the related discussion. It was very helpful. I'll be sure to leave my feedback there as well.

[@TomasKapler]

One crucial function of menus in the newer wordpress version i miss a lot - missing .current-menu-item and .current-menu-parent from the menu, so it is almost impossible to highlight current items.

[@DaveOnWP]

I completely agree. It's something we're actively tracking for the 6.4 cycle: github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/23225 If you'd like to leave a comment there to reinforce how important that is it would help. Looking forward to getting these features to the block soon! Thanks for your feedback 👍🏽

[@scottael]

Good video and clear audio, just underwhelmed by these changes. Focus modes and changes to where they menu can be edited are all well and good, but addressing the glaring weakness of mobile menu and lack of mega menus would have been far more useful. I'll continue to use a plugin for my menus, as they provide better controls and functionality on desktop and mobile.

[@DaveOnWP]

Thanks for your feedback. It's very valuable to us as contributors and helps us to ensure we aligned with the needs of users in the community. So you know, we really want to tackle mobile and responsive aspects of the block itself in the near future. We're very aware of the short comings, but for this release it was very important to land the Navigation section in the Site View for 6.3 in order to align with the other "site level" features such as Library and Pages sections. I will be advocating for the items you've suggested (and more) to be a focus for a (near) future release. If you feel strongly a great place to voice this would be over on Github github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38275. I will also be relaying your feedback and others to contributors. Thanks again for taking the time to provide feedback 🙇