Adding Navigation Elements To Your Site with the WPML CMS Navigation Add-on

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WPML CMS Navigation is an add-on plugin that provides navigational elements when building your multilingual site.

The add-on is included with your WPML Multilingual CMS package.

Navigational elements you can add with the WPML CMS Navigation plugin include:

Breadcrumbs

Helps users find their way through the site’s structure

Dropdown menus

Gives users quick access to specific sections

Sidebar

Shows users pages related to the page they’re viewing

Adding Navigation Elements to Your Theme

To use each element, add them to your theme using single-line PHP functions.

	PHP code	Where to Add
Breadcrumbs	`<?php do_action('icl_navigation_breadcrumb'); ?>`	header.php or single.php, page.php, archive.php, tag.php and search.php
Dropdown menus	`<?php do_action('icl_navigation_menu'); ?>`	header.php
Sidebar	`<?php do_action('icl_navigation_sidebar'); ?>`	sidebar.php

The sidebar navigation comes as a WordPress Widget, too. Add it via the Widgets control on the Appearance → Widgets page.

Customizing Navigation Elements

To customize the global settings of the add-on, go to WPML → Navigation. You can adjust basic settings, such as the symbol that separates the breadcrumbs trail.

You can also apply various customizations through the WordPress editor or CSS.

1. Customizing Navigation Elements With The WordPress Editor

When you’re editing a page in the WordPress editor, scroll down to find a section labeled CMS Navigation.

Scroll down in the WordPress editor to find the section with Navigation settings

This section allows you to customize what to display on the sidebar. You can:

Exclude the current page
Show or not show its child pages
Assign a section to show the page under

2. Customizing the Appearance of Navigation Elements with CSS

Navigation elements come with a default appearance, which you can customize using CSS.

Go to ../wp-content/plugins/wpml-cms-nav/res/css to locate two files:

cms-navigation-base.css: This is responsible for the dropdown menu’s functionality and you shouldn’t modify it.
cms-navigation.css: This is a file that you can copy and modify to add your customizations.

Follow these steps:

Copy the second file, cms-navigation.css, from the plugin directory and place it in your theme’s directory.
Call wp_head() and load your copy. This will load the plugin CSS files.
Apply your CSS customizations to the new file.