One of the most important aspects of a Drupal development project is how users will navigate your website. In the Drupal system, Menus (collection of links (menu items)) are used to navigate websites. Drupal provides a dynamic menu system via the Menu module that allows you to customize and control your site’s menus as much as you want or need. Menus are composed and displayed as a hierarchical list of links using the flexibility of Drupal blocks. Each menu automatically creates a block of the same name, and contains a link for each item within your menu section. New menu items are placed inside a built-in menu labeled “Navigation” by default. However, administrators can also create custom menus.
Drupal 7 provides developers with the flexibility to add, remove and rename menus and menu items. You can also configure a custom block for a menu, as well as specify the default menu to which new items will be added for your Drupal development project. Drupal 6 (and earlier) themes generally provide out-of-the-box support for two menus commonly labeled “primary links” and “secondary links.”
Many Drupal sites and themes are comprised of at least two menus: the Main (primary) menu, and a secondary menu. The Main menu’s links set up the central navigation structure for your site and are displayed distinctly across the top or side of your site. The Main menu in Drupal is also known as your first-level menu.
The Secondary menu in Drupal is often used in the footer for common items like the copyright and privacy notices that accompanies almost every site. These items can also be displayed at very top of the page in smaller text. For your Drupal development project, you can specify which menus are used for the main and secondary links. When adding or editing site content, you can also specify the content’s menu item, the menu item name and a default menu for the content you are creating. Each default or custom menu has a corresponding block.
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