Title: Converting HTML theme with submenu into WordPress theme
Last modified: May 18, 2021

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# Converting HTML theme with submenu into WordPress theme

 *  Resolved [anon2694](https://wordpress.org/support/users/anon2694/)
 * (@anon2694)
 * [5 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/converting-html-theme-with-submenu-into-wordpress-theme/)
 * A client has asked me to convert their static html site into a wordpress theme
   with blogging functionality. The only problem I’m having is setting up the navbar
   properly in header.php as the navbar has 3 sub menus. Here is a link to codepen
   with the html for the navbar that is in my header.php – [https://codepen.io/GKM3/pen/PopGrVE ](https://codepen.io/GKM3/pen/PopGrVE)
 * From the research I’ve done it seems that under ‘menus’ in wordpress I need to
   create a category which will be the submenu and place my menu links under the
   relevent category. So for example, create a category for “boiler” and place the
   appropiate menu links in it.
 * Normally I would add the following php to my navbar in header.php and assign 
   css styling to the list that it creates.
 *     ```
       <?php
                       wp_nav_menu (
                           array (
                               'theme_location' => 'navbar',
                               )
                               )
                               ?>
       ```
   
 * However, with this navbar, the submenu category has span with a class of “arrow”.
   How would I add this using wp_nav_menu and is placing the wp_nav_menu code within
   the opening unordered list tags even the right thing to do in this case?
 * Thanks
    -  This topic was modified 5 years ago by [anon2694](https://wordpress.org/support/users/anon2694/).

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [Joy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/joyously/)
 * (@joyously)
 * [5 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/converting-html-theme-with-submenu-into-wordpress-theme/#post-14454653)
 * No, you don’t need to create a category for the submenu. At least, not a category
   as WP knows it (a taxonomy). WP menus can have whatever links you want to put
   in them, including placeholders (which is likely what you meant).
    The `wp_nav_menu`
   function has parameters so you can assign some classes. There are also filters
   called, so you can modify the output that way, and even write your own menu walker
   which you can pass in. [https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_nav_menu/](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_nav_menu/)
 * You don’t have to keep the same class names as before. Your menu CSS can simply
   style the menu as it is output.
    And if you want a vertical menu, you could just
   use a menu widget instead of the theme making it a menu_location. I have that
   on one of my client sites. The menu is in the sidebar and it’s a widget. The 
   theme can still style it so it looks like you want.
 *  Thread Starter [anon2694](https://wordpress.org/support/users/anon2694/)
 * (@anon2694)
 * [5 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/converting-html-theme-with-submenu-into-wordpress-theme/#post-14457719)
 * Thanks for your reply. I’ve worked out how to add a placeholder by creating a
   custom link with # and then created the sub menu.
 * My problem now is when I add wp_nav_menu into the div where the nav links were
   in the original html navbar, the links are stacked as a column and not in a row
   like the original template. Here’s a link to the site – [https://wordpress-572627-1929875.cloudwaysapps.com/](https://wordpress-572627-1929875.cloudwaysapps.com/)
 * Using the broswer inspector I can see that wp_nav_menu has created a div with
   a class of “menu-navbar-container” which contain my submenu and links. I’ve tried
   applying some stlying to this div using “display: flex”, “flex-direction: row”
   but it’s not doing anything.
 * What am I doing wrong?
 * Thanks again for your help, it’s much appreicated as I’ve been pulling my hair
   out all week over this.
 *  [Joy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/joyously/)
 * (@joyously)
 * [5 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/converting-html-theme-with-submenu-into-wordpress-theme/#post-14458151)
 * The menu is the trickiest part of theme styling. You can copy from existing themes
   or work on adapting the HTML version’s CSS to work with the new markup.
    You 
   can also adjust parameters on `wp_nav_menu` to change what is used for the wrapper
   and put classes on the menu.
 *  Thread Starter [anon2694](https://wordpress.org/support/users/anon2694/)
 * (@anon2694)
 * [5 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/converting-html-theme-with-submenu-into-wordpress-theme/#post-14458970)
 * I’ve got it working by adding ‘menu_class’ to wp_nav_menu and using the original
   classes from the html navbar. Thanks for your help!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Converting HTML theme with submenu into WordPress theme’ is closed to
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## Tags

 * [menu](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/menu/)

 * In: [Developing with WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/wp-advanced/)
 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [anon2694](https://wordpress.org/support/users/anon2694/)
 * Last activity: [5 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/converting-html-theme-with-submenu-into-wordpress-theme/#post-14458970)
 * Status: resolved

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