Joomla! 1.5: Creating Menu Items for Components

How to create a menu in Joomla! 1.5

Carrying on with our Agora example, let's create a menu for Agora so our WidgetWorld Users can post threads on the products.

How to do it...

1. Log in to your Administrator Console.
2. Click Menus and choose the menu you wish - in this case, use Main Menu - thus Menus | Main Menu.
3. Click New in the upper right-hand corner.

   

   
   The above screenshot is a snippet of the Select Menu Item Type - Yours will vary.
   
   In this example, we see several items - we want Agora Forum.

4. Click Agora Forum.
5. Scroll down and fill out the details as you see here (use your own details):

   

   
   This will give the forum menu on the home page a title called WidgetWorld FORUM.

6. Click Save.Now when we visit this from the front of the site we see the completed WidgetWorld FORUM on our menu:

   

How it works...

The creation and location for the component is stored in the database. When the Joomla! template renders the page, it will include the component.

Thus - when you create a menu item for the component you are giving the user the ability to 'use' the component.

There's more...

As you gain more experience with Joomla!, you'll want to work with the menu to give it a more custom feel. Let's look at changing the location of menus.

Changing the location of the menu

You likely noted that the forum in the last example was at the bottom of the Main Menu. Let's change the order.

1. Click Menu | Main Menu - see the Order column.

   

   
   This is the order of display.

2. Type 2 in the Order number box for the WidgetWorld FORUM.
3. Click the Floppy disk <save> icon next to Order - the result should be as you see in the following screenshot:

   

   
   Here are the menus before and after side-by-side:

   

• Joomla! 1.5: Installing, Creating, and Managing Modules
• Installation and Introduction of K2 Content Construction Kit
• Managing Articles Using the K2 Content Construction Kit
• Joomla! 1.5: Installing and Managing Components