Title: Is using wp_nav_menu compulsory?
Last modified: October 27, 2017

---

# Is using wp_nav_menu compulsory?

 *  [mikewhitehead00](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikewhitehead00/)
 * (@mikewhitehead00)
 * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-is-using-wp_nav_menu-compulsory/)
 * I’ve built a site as a stand alone front-end site which I’m now loading onto 
   WordPress to utilise the CMS facility. I’m using a child theme for HTML5 Blank
   Theme. Everything’s good and everything is working in my localhost. However, 
   I’ve been told I’m breaking WordPress conventions by not using the wp_nav_menu
   to build my Home page navigation, instead I’m using a standard frontend html 
   code version with CSS styling applied –
 *     ```
       <header>
               <nav>
                   <a href="<?php the_permalink(4); ?>#particle-slider">Home</a>
                   <a href="#what">What we do</a>
                   <a href="#who">Who we are</a>
                   <a href="#partners">Who we work with</a>
                   <a href="#contact">Say hello</a>
                   <a href="<?php the_permalink(70); ?>">Blog</a>
               </nav>
           </header>
       ```
   
 * So, will this navigation work when the site is launched? I understand that WordPress
   convention may dictate that I use the WP menu but will my version still work?
   I’m quite new to WordPress so using the html blank theme seemed the most straightforward
   way to set up a pre-built site. Do I need to change this?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [Jacob Peattie](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jakept/)
 * (@jakept)
 * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-is-using-wp_nav_menu-compulsory/#post-9626245)
 * It’s not compulsory (it might be if you’re submitting to the theme repository),
   but it means that it’s not going to be editable via the CMS, which seems to defeat
   the purpose of moving it to a CMS.
 *  Thread Starter [mikewhitehead00](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikewhitehead00/)
 * (@mikewhitehead00)
 * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-is-using-wp_nav_menu-compulsory/#post-9626273)
 * [@jakept](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jakept/) Ah, I see. I guess I’m
   okay to leave it as it is then – my main menu is set up with some javascript 
   to scroll to sections on the home page so I’d rather leave it as it is. I won’t
   be submitting anything to the theme repository, I’m using the html5 blank child
   theme as I’ve been led to believe it’s a good way to handle front-end files to
   move across to wordpress. I’ve set up quite a bit on the CMS site so it was worth
   moving it to wordpress but I doubt the nav menu will change at all really. I 
   can also see why it would be a good idea to do nav menus the conventional way.
   Thanks, Jacob.
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-is-using-wp_nav_menu-compulsory/#post-9627133)
 * If you will not be distributing your theme, you can do as you please. (Well, 
   within what’s legal for your jurisdiction anyway 🙂 ) You certainly don’t need
   to use wp_nav_menu(), but I would advise you to at least make use of the nav_menu_item
   post type created by the default admin menu screen. It’s going to make future
   maintenance of the site much easier. Even though you anticipate the menu never
   changing, in my experience, somewhere down the line it always does change eventually.
   You could directly query for these posts and loop through the results to generate
   any sort of menu structure you may desire. The posts basically provide the labels
   and destination for each menu item, it’s up to your custom menu function how 
   to make use of the data. My two cents worth 🙂

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Is using wp_nav_menu compulsory?’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [css](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/css/)
 * [html5](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/html5/)
 * [php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php/)

 * In: [Developing with WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/wp-advanced/)
 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * Last activity: [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-is-using-wp_nav_menu-compulsory/#post-9627133)
 * Status: not resolved

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