# Menus and the mega menu

> Build the header menu from direct links and dropdowns — including automatic category and brand dropdowns — or switch to a designed mega menu.

Product: NijeesWeb online store builder · Source: https://www.nijeesweb.com/docs/ecommerce/design/menus-and-mega-menu · Updated 2026-10-06

Your header shows one menu at a time: the **general menu** built under **Layout → Menu Links**, or a designed **mega menu**.

## Menu links

![Menu links](https://www.nijeesweb.com/marketing/img/docs/ecommerce/admin/menu-links-1200.webp "Menu Links: the starter store's Home, Women, Men and About")

Go to **Layout → Menu Links** and select **Add New**. Choose the **Type**:

- **Direct Link** — one link: a page, a category, a brand, a product or any URL. Set the **Link Text** and where it goes, and whether to **Open in a new window**.
- **Dropdown** — a menu item that opens a list. Add its **Dropdown items**: each is a link, or a **sub-dropdown** that opens its own list beside it. Drag them into order; **Expand all** / **Collapse all** help with long menus.
- **Categories Dropdown** — lists **every live category automatically**. Tick **Show sub-categories as nested dropdowns** to open them beside each parent (on phones, as a page of their own).
- **Brands Dropdown** — the same for brands.

Drag rows in the Menu Links list to set the order across the header.

> [!TIP]
> A **Categories Dropdown** keeps itself up to date: add a category and it appears in the menu, with no menu editing.

## The mega menu

A mega menu opens **designed panels** from the menu bar — columns of links, pictures, text and buttons, laid out however you like. Great for stores with many categories.

![The mega menu](https://www.nijeesweb.com/marketing/img/docs/ecommerce/admin/mega-menu-1200.webp "Mega Menu: choose which menu the header shows, and build its bar items")

1. Go to **Layout → Mega Menu** and select **Add item** (or **Create the first one**).
2. Each **bar item** is a word in the menu bar, with a panel you design: links, images, text and buttons.
3. Set items live, and drag them into order.
4. At the top, switch **Menu shown in the header** from **General menu** to **Mega menu**.

Switching deletes nothing: the general menu keeps its links in Menu Links, and the mega menu items stay here. Until at least one mega menu item is live, the header keeps showing the general menu.

## On phones

Both menus collapse into the menu button on small screens, with dropdowns opening as their own pages.