Santa Clara University

Secondary Navigation Display Options

Two options are available for including a secondary navigation menu in a Commonspot page or template; a left-column navigation menu that appears just below the primary (or local site-specific) navigation, and a right-column menu.  The left column option would be recommended for a secondary menu that applies throughout your site, and would be added to the site's template.  The right column option is best suited to secondary navigation specific to individual pages.

Left Column

To add a secondary navigation menu to the left column of a page or template:

1. open the page in Author mode
2. click the "insert new element" link below the primary navigation menu.
3. expand the "Left Column" element gallery category, and click the "Secondary Navigation" label
4. click the "edit linkbar" icon above the newly added menu and edit the links as needed.

The first item in the linkbar should be a link label only - in the "link action" form, select "No Link". The Secondary Navigation element will display the first item as a heading for this menu - in the example on this page, the first linkbar item's label is "See Also", and the action is set to "No Link".

Right Column

To add a secondary navigation menu to the right column of a page or template:

1. open the page in Author mode
2. click the "insert new element" link below the primary navigation menu.
3. expand the "Right Column" element gallery category, and click the "Secondary Navigation Menu" label
4. click the "edit linkbar" icon above the newly added menu and edit the links as needed.

The first item in the linkbar should be a link label only - in the "link action" form, select "No Link". The Secondary Navigation element will display the first item as a heading for this menu - in the example on this page, the first linkbar item's label is "See Also", and the action is set to "No Link".

The right column version of the Secondary Navigation menu includes the option to change the background color for the menu heading. To do this, click the "element properties" link associated with the menu and then select "Custom Render Handlers" - the secondary nav/right column rendering will already be selected. Click "next" to view the rendering options for the background color. You can also set the menu heading here using the "title" field - that will take the place of the "no link" label set in the linkbar, if provided.

Recommendations for Secondary Navigation Menus

Secondary navigation menus may be applicable to all pages in your site, and in this case it would be recommended to add the menu to your site's template in the left column. An example of this would be a secondary navigation menu that includes a link to a school's home page added to an academic department site's template.

In some cases, the secondary navigation options may only apply to a specific page or limited number of pages in your site. In this case, we would recommend adding the menu in the right column. The right column is typically used for content that supplements the primary page content. The "related links" menu option for the right column is essentially the same as the secondary navigation menu option.