How to Set Up Menus for Your Courses and Lessons

In this article, you’ll learn how to create a dedicated WordPress navigation menu for your Thrive Apprentice courses and lessons—so students can easily browse your learning content without cluttering your main site menu.

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Why Use a Separate Menu for Courses?

Your main website navigation is designed for general visitors. A dedicated course menu lets you tailor the navigation experience specifically for students, highlighting courses, lessons, and resources that matter most to learners.

Creating a New Menu

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Menus.
   
   
2. Click the create a new menu link near the top of the page.
   
   
3. Click Create Menu to save it.

Tip: Always create a new menu rather than modifying your existing site menu. This keeps your course navigation separate and easier to manage.

Adding Course and Lesson Links

With your new menu created, you can now add items to it.

1. On the left side of the Menus screen, locate the Pages, Custom Links, or Categories panels.
   
   

   

2. To add your main courses page, check the box next to it under Pages and click Add to Menu.
3. To add individual course or lesson links, use the Custom Links panel—enter the URL and link text, then click Add to Menu.
4. Drag and drop menu items to reorder them or create dropdown sub-menus by nesting items.
5. Click Save Menu when you’re finished.

Note: If you have many courses, consider organizing them into dropdown groups—for example, a top-level “Courses” item with individual courses nested beneath it.

Assigning the Menu to Your Course Pages

After building your menu, you need to tell WordPress where to display it.

1. Scroll down to the Menu Settings section at the bottom of the Menus page.
2. Under Display location, check the box that corresponds to the menu position you want (this depends on your theme—common options include Primary Menu, Header Menu, or Secondary Menu).
   
   
3. Click Save Menu.

If your theme supports it, you can assign this menu exclusively to your Thrive Apprentice course and lesson pages using a plugin like Conditional Menus or through Thrive Theme Builder navigation settings.

Best Practices

• Keep your course menu focused—include only items relevant to students.
• Use clear, descriptive labels so learners know exactly where each link leads.
• Add a link back to your main site or homepage so students can navigate away from the course area easily.
• Test your menu on both desktop and mobile devices to ensure it displays correctly.

Important: If you update your course structure—adding or removing courses—remember to update your menu to match.

That’s it! You’ve successfully created a dedicated navigation menu for your Thrive Apprentice courses and lessons, giving your students a clean and focused browsing experience.

Related Resources

• Creating Your First Course: Learn how to create and publish a course in Thrive Apprentice.
• Course Structure: Understand how to organize modules, chapters, and lessons for the best student experience.
• Thrive Theme Builder: Explore how to customize your course layout with Thrive Theme Builder.
• WordPress Menus: Review the official WordPress documentation on menus for foundational concepts.