Part 2 – Setting up and Customizing your menu in WordPress:

In the past, there has never been a standard way to implement a menu in WordPress.   There are solutions ranging from elegant custom written code, to hacks and static hard-coding that is difficult to manage and maintain.

With the recent launch of WordPress 3, a new navigation and menu system has been introduced.   Many of you will want to learn how to implement this powerful new function to your existing WordPress theme, so we have produced a series of screencast tutorials.

There are generally 4 steps required to do this:

1. Add menu capabilities to your theme
2. Define/create your menu using the WordPress administration
3. Modify your page template(s) to display the menu
4. Style the menu

We have developed a video tutorial to walk you through the basics of each of these steps.

Introduction
[See post to watch Flash video]

Part 1: Enabling menus in your WordPress Theme

In Part 1, we modify our theme functions file (functions.php) to enable one custom menu:

Here is the code to add to functions.php:

add_action( ‘init’, ‘register_menu’ );
function register_menu() {
register_nav_menus(
array(
‘menu-1′ => __( ‘Main Menu’ )
)
);
}

In Part 2, we will look at how to configure the menu in the WordPress admin.  Stay tuned!

Update: Part 2 has been added.  Check it out!

For those of you who’d like to see more about the panel discussion, Dave has provided access to the slide presentation that accompanied the discussion.

I know Dave had a great time at the event and thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet so many of you.  Great job and many thanks to all of the organizers who put together such a terrific event this year at such a beautiful venue!

Hope to see you all next year!

Wordcamps are a great opportunity to network with other WordPress users and learn some new tips and tricks for making the most of your WordPress site or learning WP development skills.

Our very own Dave Zille is going to be contributing on stage as well, by participating in the panel discussion on WordPress as a CMS, alongside of Cam Cavers and Christine Rondeau.  He’s also going to be part of the Genius Bar, although, we are downplaying that angle – we want to make sure Dave can get his head through the door when he arrives

Unfortunately, the event is already sold out but if you are still wanting to go, they have announced that they are hoping to release more tickets in the coming days.  Check the Event Brite page or the Wordcamp blog often to see if tickets have been released.

Judging by the twitter feedback, lots of you really enjoyed Dave’s presentation on Custom Post Types in WordPress 3.  If you missed it or you want a refresher, we’ve made the presentation slides available on Dave’s blog at dazil.com.  If you have any questions, leave us a note in the comments and Dave will be happy to get you some more information.

For those of you new to WordPress, Wordcamps are local WordPress “mini-conventions” with a more intimate feel to them.  WordCamp Victoria has a great line up of speakers so if you live in the Victoria area and have always wanted to know more about WordPress and what it can do, or if you’ve already got your feet wet and want to move to the next level, consider going to the event.

You will learn a lot, have some fun, and have the opportunity to meet other like minded WordPressians (is that a word? We don’t know but we’re going to take credit for it!)