Understanding navigation

This page was printed on Nov 10, 2022. For the current version, visit https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/menus-and-links/understanding-navigation.

When you're setting up your online store, you should think about how you want customers to find your products and information about your business. This will help you to make decisions about your online store navigation.

Before you begin, you can learn about the default menus, and compare the way that navigation looks in different themes.

Default menus

Your online store has two default menus that appear on every page: the main menu and the footer menu. You canadd, remove, or edit menu itemsin your online store's default menus.

The main menu appears on every page of your online store. The main menu is usually displayed as items across the width of the header, or else as a list of items in a sidebar. A customer will probably look at your main menu to find your products and information about your business, like an "About us" page.

Your main menu has two default menu items:

  • Home: the main page of your online store
  • Catalog: a page that displays all of your products

You canadd a drop-down menufrom any of the menu items in the main menu. A drop-down menu is a sub-menu from the main menu, and is usually displayed as a list of items connected to the main menu item. Drop-down menus are a good way of organizing similar items: groups of webpages, blog posts, store policies, products, or collections. For example, if you have a lot of products then you might want to add them to collections and then use a drop-down menu from the main menu to organize the collections. This can help a customer to find the type of products that they're looking for.

The footer menu is usually displayed as items across the width of the footer. A customer will probably look at your footer menu to find information about your store policies and contact information.

Other menus

Depending on your store's theme, you might be able to add a new menu by editing the settings in the theme'sHeadersection. If your theme doesn't let you add a new menu by editing theme settings, then you cancustomize your theme codeto add a new menu. You can also hire a Shopify Expert to make the changes for you. Learn more about hiringShopify Experts.

Comparing navigation in different themes

Every theme has a different design, so the navigation looks different in different themes.

For a demonstration, go to any theme in theShopify Theme Storeand clickView Demo.

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