I am rather new to EE, but definitely not new to CMS systems.

My initial question is this:

How do I create dynamic navigation? Meaning, if I add a page, it shows up automatically as a nav item.

Ideally, like most CMS systems, I would like to have a dynamic main-level nav system and a sub-nav system.

Example:

Home About Services Contact

Sub nav under About once you click that nav item:

History
Bios

What is the code for his? I am using the Pages module if that is needed, but even doing without that would get me closer. All examples I have seen to date has the nav hard coded and that doesn’t make any sense to me.

This seems SUPER simple, yet I find it incredibly hard to find an answer to this question ANYWHERE.

Thanks in advance.

I’m new to EE myself but I found this tutorial quite helpful and it might set you off on the right track

http://www.boyink.com/splaat/comments/no-module-required-static-content-in-expressionengine/

He shows that using the following code you can generate a dynamic sub-nav

{exp:weblog:entries weblog=“static”  sort=“asc” dynamic=“off”}
<li>{title}</li>
{/exp:weblog:entries}

Thanks Mike!

Glad to know you found the tutorial useful!

Glad to hear you found the tutorials useful.

In order to make the main navigation also dynamic you’re probably going to have to use one weblog, and look at categories for each section.

I’ve yet to work on a site (EE or otherwise) where having dynamic main navigation was a requirement - so tend to use separate weblogs for each section as it makes the publish/edit workflow more understandable, allows access privileges to be more granular, and the field/category structure to be more customized for the content in each specific section.

joelmoney - I ran into this exact same problem. I ended up using a rather extended work-around involving a custom navigation plug-in, and a main weblog that has a separate category for each page you want to show in the navigation.

Boyink…What a client requests/requires and what you provide are two different things.
I’ve yet to have a client not require navigation highlighting.

Yeah. I don’t understand why this isn’t a BASIC requirement for EE to include. A CMS revolves around Pages, yet page management isn’t as straight forward as it needs to be within EE.

Can you explain your workaround / plug-in?

PXLated - 07 May 2007 06:41 PM

Boyink…What a client requests/requires and what you provide are two different things.
I’ve yet to have a client not require navigation highlighting.

I guess I misunderstood the issue.  I was speaking/thinking of dynamic navigation (IE - create a new category, create a new entry, and a new item appears in the main nav).

If it’s applying an active class to the show the page your currently on - what I assume you mean by “Navigation highlighting” - then sure - that’s usually a given.

Maybe Joelmoney can clarify his issue.

If its true dynamic navigation it could likely be accompished using categories for main nav and posts for subnav.

The CSS for highlighting on states, etc. isn’t what I am worried about, that is fairly easy.

I am really just trying to grasp if EE is a good CMS or not for my clients. I like to give my clients control (and they like it) to add sub-sections (not super important for them to add top-level, but sub is a must).

I am really tying to understand why “pages” isn’t a part of the overall framework with EE and why in Boylink’s tutorials (smart by the way) how I can explain that a Post is actually a page to a client…seems so backwards.

For example:
http://code.jellycan.com/show_menu2/ for Website Baker

That is by far the perfect menuing system I have seen and implemented. It allows you to set up dynamic navs (and multiple instances..say Aux, Main, Sub, Footer, etc. and generate breadcrumbs and sitemaps simply by changing a few perimeters.

EE is a far more flexible CMS than WB is, however, they nailed mainy things..like menus, etc.

If the EE people are reading this..I am curious to why?

To the experts on the list..I am still looking for.. HOW?

Also, how do you make it user-friendly for your clients to update?

Again, one approach would be to use one weblog with categories driving your main sections and posts being pages in that section. Add a new category for a new section of content.

Or if top-level nav doesn’t have to change, use the tutorial approach for each section of the site with a dedicated weblog for each.  Or use the Pages module.

I’ve yet to have a client who couldn’t grasp the concept of a post being a page.

Actually, I’ve yet to do a site where every page on the site was contained within one post.  Usually there is a mix of post == page content, along with sections where pages are made up of several posts contributing different types of content.  For example - here’s my simplest client site. Each main page is a post - so overall it’s a pretty “page-based” site—but the sidebar blurbs live in their own weblog as individual posts - so they can be maintained in one place while appearing in many.  They are probably my least “techhie” client and with 40 minutes of training via the phone they were off and running.

EE just isn’t a “page-based” CMS and I’m glad of that—it’s much more flexible.

I understand that it isn’t a page-based CMS and I agree, however it is hard for me (and my clients) to change their thinking and organize their sites in such ways.

I just wish (and I am willing to help) a tutorial that will set up a site like your Sod site, but with 2nd or even 3rd tiered navigation.

The sidebars, etc. are all relevant and make sense, but there lacks (at least I can’t find) a good walk-thru that explains the navigation portion.

Would you be willing to break it down?

You mentioned reading the tutorials I put together—basically you could take one of those approaches and cookie-cutter it for each section in your site.

I really can’t break it down to any more basic of a level than I did with those - showing 2 and 3 level nav using entries and categories and providing the code required.

Have you worked through those tutorials? If you have and there are things that are still unclear I’d be happy to edit/add to them - it’s going to be a few days though.