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Club Websites – Managing Website Menus

If your Club has a Bowls Australia managed website, creating a simple and easy to follow menu layout is key for those viewing the website, members and administrators alike. This article will provide you the knowledge of how to manage the Menus of your website, adding, removing and ordering website menus with Primary and Sub menus available.

Note – adding Menus does NOT create Pages, these will still need to be created via the website Dashboard.

For those Clubs who do not yet have a free website through Bowls Australia and are interested in having one created for them, please click here for further information and website applications.

The sites that are created by Bowls Australia will have Primary, Top Header and Bottom Footer Menus included so Clubs DO NOT have to create these themselves. They can however, manage the content of these menus allowing flexibility for clubs of any size to tailor to their requirements.

Suggested Website Layout #

Below is a suggested Website layout that your members can follow with ease and simplicity. The support article will assist members in creating and organising the menus as needed.

Primary Menu #

A clubs Primary Menus is key for the focal point of where members will look for information about the site and Club itself, creating a pathway to the sites’ Pages. Some examples of Primary Menu items can include:

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Pennant
  • Social Bowls
  • News
  • Gallery

Clubs are welcome to add whatever other items they see fit and relevant to their site navigation.

Clubs can create these menus altogether, however, it is unadvisable as it can change the website layout and cause issues navigating the site.

Top Header Menu #

The Top Header Menu is another important menu available for Club sites without taking the space of the Primary Menu and is a good place to include important but maybe not necessarily high traffic links or pages of the site. Below are some examples:

  • Contact Us
  • Archive
  • Facebook/Instagram/X (Social Media)

Ultimately, Clubs are welcome to add whichever items they wish to include in this area but we do recommend not duplicating the same details as in the Primary Menu as well as overloading this area as it can make the navigation look cluttered.

Clubs can create these menus altogether, however, it is unadvisable as it can change the website layout and cause issues navigating the site.

Footer Menu #

The Footer Menu of your Club site is located at the bottom of your site, typically with details that are least common or frequently accessed but still available to visitors. It can be worthwhile to replicate the Footer Menu as the Top Header Menu, however, managing the menus content is ultimately up to the Club.

Examples of Footer Menu its include:

  • Privacy Documents
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact Details
  • Archive

Is it highly recommended to NOT include dropdowns in this menu.

Clubs can create these menus altogether, however, it is unadvisable as it can change the website layout and cause issues navigating the site.

Managing the Menu layouts #

When the Menus and Pages are created, you can order the menus as needed and this can be done via a visual or text based layout. For easier representation of how these menus will display on your site, we recommend using the Manage with Live Preview option on the Menus page.

This will give you a preview in real time of your site and how the menus are displaying before making live.

Manage with Live Preview #

When clicking on the Manage with Live Preview option, this will open your club site with a live view and navigation bar on the left-hand side, allowing the admin to manage the menus live and see the changes made including reordering, dropdown menus and sub menus.

In the Live Preview, you have access to the three menus available, Primary, Top Header and Footer and as each is edited, this will update your site.

To create a sub menu you can click and drag the menu items in the editor – dragging these left will create a sub menu beneath the menu you are editing. Alternatively, you can Reorder the menu items and click the arrow icons in the edit, moving them up and down (left to right on the site) or moving them left and right (this will create your sub menus).

After the Menus have been set, click Publish.

Below is a quick video on how this can be managed with Live Preview

Step-by-step Guide #

Step-by-step guide – How to Manage Club Site Menus #

For more support please contact bowlslink@bowls.com.au