Thesis 2.0 Tutorial – Adding a Second Navigation Menu

Yesterday, I introduced you to Thesis 2.0 and the template editor with it’s advanced block layout tools. Today we are going to use the Thesis 2.0 block manager to add a secondary navigation menu bar to a blog.

In Thesis 1.8.x, this was a job that made me quake in my shoes to contemplate. You’ll see from the video that in Thesis 2.0, adding a second navigation menu to your site is as easy as pie.

Here are the basic steps to follow:

1. Open the Thesis Admin
2. Click on “Skin Editor” under the “Skins” tab
3. Go to the “Add Boxes” dialog on the right side, and select the “WP Nave Menu” box type from the drop-down.
4. Give your new Navigation Menu a name like “Second Nav Menu” so you can tell which menu is which in the layout.
5. Click “Add Box”
6. Click on the Options Icon (the gear) in the newly created Second Nav Menu box.
7. Select the WordPress Menu from the menu editor to use as the items in this new menu section.
8. If you want the second menu to be styled differently than the default menu styling, add either an element id, or another CSS class identifier.
9. Click SHIFT + drag on the new navigation menu box and drag it into your layout where you want it.
10. Click on “Save Template”
11. Repeat these steps for the other core templates if you also want this new menu block to appear in all the templates in your design.

Once you have Saved the Changes to all of your templates, refresh your blog and see the new navigation menu appear!

The video above also demonstrates the exact steps to follow, so don’t forget to watch it if you have any questions!

In my next tutorial, I will be showing you how to remove the third column from the layout and adjust the spacing if you prefer a less busy design and a wider post column, so stay tuned!

If you have questions or comments, please share those in the comment box below.