Written by
Oana Elena Florea
, Customer Support Manager
Since customization is at the core of any open-source software, it is only natural for you to look for ways to tailor your wiki to your needs. In this guide, we'll help you with the steps you need to take in order to personalize your navigation menus.
What is the Menu Application?
Your XWiki instance allows you to seamlessly create, edit or customize menus using the Menu Application in the Administer XWiki > Look & Feel > Menus. The Menu Application is an extension that helps you create navigation menus displayed horizontally as a top bar after the page header, or vertically in a side panel. The extension has been written using our versatile App Within Minutes. If you are already familiar with App Within Minutes, you will notice that its home page looks the same as the one for the Menu Application.
If you are new to our App Within Minutes, we just want to say that its multiple use cases speak for themselves in terms of how versatile this app can be: you can use it for HR purposes and create a Holiday app, you can adapt it to your support team needs and create an FAQ app or use it for events or marketing purposes. If we have sparked your curiosity, why not give the App Within Minutes a try?
By default, the Menu Application is configured to allow only Administrators to see it, but you can change this through permissions. However, all Menu entries that you created with the application are viewable by everyone by default.
Create and edit the menu
To create a new menu, press ADD NEW ENTRY and enter your desired name.
From this page, you can also edit an existing menu.
Customize the menu
As you will see below, you can customize your menu by selecting its location and by stating in which context the menu will be visible.
1. Choose the display location of your menu
The menu is defined using nested lists, anchors, and icons. You can place the menu:
- After the page header
- In a right panel
- In a left panel
2. Specify in which context the menu is visible
You can specify a visibility scope for the menu:
- Current User (default)
- Current Wiki
- Global
Save the menu page. Congratulations! You can use your new menu right away!
How your menu will be displayed
If you choose to place the menu after the page header, it will be displayed horizontally as a drop-down menu bar.
If you choose to display the menu in a side panel, you need to do one more step. Please see below.
To find the Panels section, all you need to do is go to Administer Wiki, expand Look & Feel, and choose Panels. In the Panels Displayed on the Left/Right fields, add the syntax as in the example above. Click on Save and the menu should appear immediately.
