---
date: 2014-05-14T02:36:37Z
menu:
main:
parent: extras
next: /extras/permalinks
prev: /extras/livereload
title: Menus
weight: 20
---
Hugo has a simple yet powerful menu system that permits content to be
placed in menus with a good degree of control without a lot of work.
Some of the features of Hugo Menus:
* Place content in one or many menus
* Handle nested menus with unlimited depth
* Create menu entries without being attached to any content
* Distinguish active element (and active branch)
## What is a menu?
A menus is a named array of menu entries accessible on the site under
`.Site.Menus` by name. For example, if I have a menu called `main`, I would
access it via `.Site.Menus.main`.
A menu entry has the following properties:
* **Url** string
* **Name** string
* **Menu** string
* **Identifier** string
* **Pre** template.HTML
* **Post** template.HTML
* **Weight** int
* **Parent** string
* **Children** Menu
And the following functions:
* **HasChildren** bool
Additionally there are some relevant functions available on the page:
* **IsMenuCurrent** (menu string, menuEntry *MenuEntry ) bool
* **HasMenuCurrent** (menu string, menuEntry *MenuEntry) bool
## Adding content to menus
Hugo supports a couple of different methods of adding a piece of content
to the front matter.
### Simple
If all you need to do is add an entry to a menu, the simple form works
well.
**A single menu:**
---
menu: "main"
---
**Multiple menus:**
---
menu: ["main", "footer"]
---
### Advanced
If more control is required, then the advanced approach gives you the
control you want. All of the menu entry properties listed above are
available.
---
menu:
main:
parent: 'extras'
weight: 20
---
## Adding (non-content) entries to a menu
You can also add entries to menus that aren’t attached to a piece of
content. This takes place in the site wide [config file](http://gohugo.io/overview/configuration).
Here’s an example (in TOML):
[[menu.main]]
name = "about hugo"
pre = ""
weight = -110
identifier = "about"
[[menu.main]]
name = "getting started"
pre = ""
weight = -100
Here’s an example (in YAML):
---
menu:
main:
- Name: "about hugo"
Pre: ""
Weight: -110
Identifier: "about"
- Name: "getting started"
Pre: ""
Weight: -100
---
## Nesting
All nesting of content is done via the `parent` field.
The parent of an entry should be the identifier of another entry.
Identifier should be unique (within a menu).
The following order is used to determine identity Identifier > Name >
LinkTitle > Title. This means that the title will be used unless
linktitle is present, etc. In practice Name and Identifier are never
displayed and only used to structure relationships.
In this example, the top level of the menu is defined in the config file
and all content entries are attached to one of these entries via the
`parent` field.
## Rendering menus
Hugo makes no assumptions about how your rendered HTML will be
structured. Instead, it provides all of the functions you will need to be
able to build your menu however you want.
The following is an example: