20+ WordPress Menu Plugins For Better Navigation

By taking a WordPress menu plugin into use, you may add new and improved navigation to your WordPress website.

This can be useful in several situations. For example if you fall in love with a perfect simple WordPress theme but the only thing missing is a cool mega menu allowing you to add widgets to the navigation area. If you are not sure what a mega menu is, then read on and you will find out.

It is important when looking for WordPress menu plugins, to ensure they rely on the build in WordPress menu system. The last thing you want is a proprietary solution that is not compatible with themes and other plugins. Many WordPress menu plugins are based on jQuery menu scripts that offer good cross-browser support and great usability. While you can add these to your theme through code, it is much simpler and faster to install the functionality as a WordPress plugin.

When hunting for the perfect WordPress menu plugin you should keep in mind that there are two major groups. First is plugins for improving front-end navigations. Second is for improving the management of menu and page structures in the WordPress back end. I have created to sections to make it easy to get an overview.

This post is continuously updated with more interesting Menu Plugins for WordPress and all links are checked! You should also check out our article about some of the very best WordPress themes available today.
[exec]$filestr = file_get_contents(‘http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/googleadsensebelowmoretag.inc’);echo $filestr;[/exec]
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links (at no extra cost to you). I recommend that you do your own independent research before purchasing any product or service. This article is not a guideline, a recommendation or endorsement of specific products.

Article Index

• Looking for a WordPress Menu Plugin to improve Front end navigation
• Need a WordPress Menu Plugin for better WordPress Menu management

Looking for a WordPress Menu Plugin to improve Front end navigation

There are different types of plugins in this section. Some are for main navigation e.g. primary menu, menu in footer etc. Others are for creating simple navigation in a widget. This is useful for CMS style sites where you want to show the page structure (or part of it) in a left oriented sidebar

UberMenu – WordPress Mega Menu Plugin – MORE INFO / DEMO

UberMenu is a user-friendly, highly customizable, responsive Mega Menu WordPress plugin. It works out of the box with the WordPress 3 Menu System, making it simple to get started but powerful enough to create highly customized and creative mega menu configurations.

UberMenu – Conditionals Extension – MORE INFO / DEMO

This plugin is brand new and works as an extension for UberMenu – WordPress Mega Menu Plugin. This It an extension that adds the option to conditionally display or hide any item in your UberMenu. Furthermore it adds a new option to each menu item, where you can select which condition must be met via a select box. A great use case for this is when you want to show different menu items for users that are logged in and guests.

WP Sticky Menu Plugin – MORE INFO / DEMO

Our sticky Menu Plugin comes with 8 different styling options, plain, shiny and transparent. When you do want your own style based upon your theme then you only have to change a few css lines and it’s just as you wanted it. Each style can be selected through the Sticky Menu Option panel.

Sticky Menu Plugin has it’s own option panel from where you can select your styles, the alignment of the menu (Top or Bottom), the width of the menu (980px or Full Width). You can also select the animation effect for the sliding out and in of the menu.

Responsive Select Menu – MORE INFO / DEMO

One common UI paradigm for navigation menus with responsive design is to display a select box (form element) for mobile devices. This plugin allows you to turn your WordPress 3 menu into a select box below a width of your choice.

Path Style Menu – MORE INFO / DEMO

This is a multi-level menu inspired by Path 2.0 UI which has sky rocketed the Path application in the App store, proving that a distinctive UI can really give you the edge in a competitive marketplace with similar products.

JQuery Mega Menu Widget – MORE INFO / DEMO

Creates a widget, which allows you to add drop down mega menus from any standard WordPress custom menu using jQuery. Can handle multiple mega menus on each page, offers either “fade In” or “slide down” effects and the option to use hover or click to show the sub-menu. For best results use 3 levels for the custom menu.

Fading Menu with Notification Bar and Social Icons – MORE INFO / DEMO

Fading Menu with notification Bar is a WordPress Plugin that will allow you to add your navigational menu (main menu or custom menu defined by you) along with notification bar at the top of your browser. Simply scroll down your browser a bit to see it in live action!

Sticklr WP – Sticky Side Panel WordPress Plugin – MORE INFO / DEMO

Stickr WP, a sticky side panel menu WordPress plugin. Inspired by Envato site-switcher, after released as CSS3 +jQuery, due to popular demand I decided to create this WordPress plugin version. The features are similar with jQuery version, only WordPress version has an intuitively easy administration panel, so you don’t have to know the coding behind it.

PBK Mega Menu for WordPress – MORE INFO / DEMO

PBK Mega Menu Plugin for WordPress is your easy way to add a functional and customizable Mega Menu to your WordPress website. Adding menu items and content is just like adding posts or pages… If you know how to use WordPress, then you already know how to use the Mega Menu plugin.

Advanced Menu Widget – MORE INFO

This plugin adds enhanced “Navigation Menu” widget. It offers many options which could be set to customize the output of the custom menu through the widget

Multi-X Bar – MORE INFO / DEMO

Multi-X Bar is an advanced multifunctional navigation bar for your WordPress websites. It is modular system that allows to place not only navigation menu, but also any functional modules. By default, it has 7 customizable modules such as: subscription form, contact form, social sharing module, widget area module, accurate linking module, social icons and search box. As an administrator you can customize each module and their sequences, set desired menu structure and adjust whole bar by selecting suitable theme and setting responsive and appearance parameters. As a developer you can create any functional module and release it as separate plugin (Multi-X Bar has set of hooks to integrate new modules). Create comfortable browsing environment on your website. Users will appreciate it.

Smart Navigation Widgets – MORE INFO / DEMO

Smart Navigation Widgets is plugin with 3 widgets ideal for bloggers or any other WordPress users with big archives. Using this plugin, you can display AJAX powered archive widget that shows only small portion of archives to user, and allows him to navigate deeper only when he needs to. No more long lists of date archives that take up a lot of space, or endless list of categories and pages. Plugin is designed for use with hierarchical taxonomies (like category) and hierarchical post types (like pages). But, with some extra options you can allow use of non-hierarchical taxonomies and post types.

Dropdown Menu Widget – MORE INFO / DEMO

This widget adds a beatiful vertical/horizontal CSS only dropdown menu of Pages, Categories or Custom navigation menus of your blog.

PixoPoint Menu Plugin – MORE INFO

Adds a new menu to your WordPress powerwed site and allows you to control it’s content via an easy user to interface. The plugin use its own menu generator – it is cool and therefore added here, but you may want to use a plugin that support WordPress menus. If you don’t like the menu management system in WordPress then look at the plugins availalbe in the next section.

JQuery Vertical Mega Menu Widget – MORE INFO / DEMO

Creates a widget, which allows you to add fly out vertical mega menus from any standard WordPress custom menu using jQuery. Can handle multiple vertical mega menus on each page and offers 3 animation effects – show/hide, fade In or slide out. Widget also gives the option of selecting left or right for the fly out menu depending on where you side column is. For best results use 3 levels for the custom menu.

jQuery Drilldown Menu for WordPress – MORE INFO / DEMO

Need a WordPress Menu Plugin for better WordPress Menu management

Gecka Submenu – MORE INFO / DEMO

Submenu autopopulates any nav menu page item with its children and allows to put menus, or portion of menus, anywhere in your site.

Menu Management Enhancer for WordPress – MORE INFO / DEMO

The WordPress 3.x menu management system is excellent, but it can be a bit cumbersome if you’re managing many menu items. The Menu Management Enhancer for WordPress aims to improve the menu management user experience. This is a plugin I personally use on WordPress business style websites.

CMS Tree Page View – MORE INFO

Adds a CMS-like tree overview of all your pages and custom posts to WordPress – much like the view often found in a page-focused CMS. Within this tree you can edit pages, view pages, add pages, search pages, and drag and drop pages to rearrange the order. I personally use this plugin on some site where I have many pages.

WordPress Hide Admin Menu Plugin – MORE INFO / DEMO

The WordPress Hide Admin Menu plugin helps you hide admin menu and admin bar items in WordPress admin area based on user role. Simply select the checkboxes corresponding to menu items and user role and Save. You’ll have a simplified menu for your clients, users. That will help you hide some important menu items that you don’t want them to access, like settings page, account detail page, etc.

Admin Menu Tree Page View – MORE INFO

This WordPress plugin adds all your pages to the admin menu, so all your pages will always be available within just one click, no matter where you are in the admin area. You can also add pages directly in the tree and you can quickly find your pages by using the search box.

WordPress Page Tree – MORE INFO

This plugin creates an expand/collapse tree for showing all your pages on your site or in your administration “pages” panel. This is useful for WordPress CMS purposes where you have many pages.

My Page Order – MORE INFO

My Page Order allows you to set the order of pages through a drag and drop interface. The default method of setting the order page by page is extremely clumsy, especially with a large number of pages. The plugin also installs a replacement widget that exposes all the options of the wp_list_pages template function.

Lars

Lars is passionate about web design, web development, SEO, social media and loves to look into new technologies, techniques, tools etc. and to write articles for tripwire magazine readers.