Overview
Navigation menus in School Loop version 2 (SLS2) are designed for clarity without clutter. This article describes the types of navigation menus that can be added to your School Loop site.
Menu Types
Auto Navigation
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School Loop automatically creates navigation for your site. The top-level folders of your site become a list of dropdown menus that appear as visitors move their mouse over each of the top-level options. This is the default style of the menu.
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You can review the Auto Navigation menus on the Demo Site.
Single Dropdown or Top Level Menus
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Single Dropdown/Top Level menus look and behave almost identically to Auto Navigation menus. The difference is that each minisite or folder is added individually to the navigation holder in the header. This is used in cases where the client does not want the entire site map to show up OR where they want to mix auto navigation and mega menus. Outside users typically can’t tell the difference between a Top-Level menu and an Auto Navigation menu.
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You can see an example of a Single Dropdown menu on the Alvin Primary School website.
Link Navigation Menus
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With Link Navigation, there are no dropdowns on hover. Instead, there is just a link to a page or minisite.
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For an example of this type of navigation, visit the School Loop Corporate site.
Mega Menus
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Instead of automatic menus, you can have a series of custom menus with links to any part of the site. This option allows you to structure your site in any way you like while maintaining a simple series of menus at the top of every page. Of course, this method requires you to update links manually whenever a change in navigation is needed.
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The Rio Grande Schools web site provides an example of this type of navigation menu. Below is an image from their About menu, which combines images, buttons, and links in a large window just below the main menu bar.
Mixed Navigation Menus
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As the name implies, these menus can be any combination of auto navigation, single dropdowns, links, and mega menus. They allow users to combine their favorite elements from each menu type.