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School of Medicine IT

Left Navigation

Covered in This Tutorial

The left navigation is an automatically generated list of pages that displays related pages for each section of a site (for example: Research, Education, About Us).

It helps visitors:

  • Understand what section they are in
  • See all related pages in that section
  • Move easily between related content

Site editors never need to build or maintain this menu manually. It is created entirely from your page hierarchy.

How the Left Navigation Works

The “Parent Page” setting organizes your pages into hierarchies. A “parent” is an upper-level page with “child” pages nested under it. This hierarchy controls what appears in the left navigation and how it is grouped.

A page can be:

  • A parent – a page with children
  • A child – a page that belongs under another page
  • Both – a child page can also have its own children which creates deeper levels of navigation that the left navigation shows as nested lists

The navigation automatically:

  • Displays all child pages in the current section
  • Updates when pages are added, removed, or reordered
  • Keeps navigation consistent across the site

Organization Matters

Give thought to overall site structure before adding or rearranging pages because your page structure determines how visitors move through your site.

  • Good navigation gets people quickly to what they came for, while great navigation also exposes related content they did not know to search for (for example, related policies or support pages grouped under a section landing page).
  • Visitors should be able to predict where content lives just by looking at the navigation.
  • Group pages into logical sections (e.g., About, Services, Research) and avoid creating new sections when a page could reasonably live under an existing one.
  • While pages can easily be moved, changing a page’s parent also changes its URL so it’s best to plan your structure before adding content.

When pages are organized well:

  • Visitors move through your site more easily
  • Sections feel clear and intentional
  • Accessibility and SEO improve
  • Maintenance becomes much easier

Assign a Parent

Use the Page Attributes panel to assign a Parent and control the Order in which pages appear in the left navigation. If you don’t see Page Attributes, enable it under Screen Options at the top right of the editor.

Screenshot of the Page Attributes panel where the parent and order of a page can be defined.Parent

The Parent setting determines which section of the site a page belongs to and where it appears in the left navigation (for example: About, Research, or Education).

To assign a parent:

  1. Locate the Page Attributes panel in the right-hand sidebar.
  2. Click on the Parent dropdown.
  3. Select the page that should act as the parent. (Only published pages appear in this list.)
  4. Save your changes.

Order (In Which Pages Display)

The Order field controls the sequence in which sibling pages appear in the left navigation.

  • Lower numbers appear closer to the top.
  • Pages with the same number sort alphabetically by page title.

Reorder the Left Navigation

The order in which pages appear in the left navigation is determined by the Order field. This can be set when creating or editing a page (see above documentation).

When reorganizing multiple pages within the same section, the All Pages screen is often the fastest and most efficient option. It allows you to see parent and child relationships at a glance and quickly adjust page order without opening each page individually.

How to Reorder Pages From All Pages

  1. In the Dashboard, select Pages.
  2. Locate the section you want to reorganize.
    • Child pages are indented beneath their parent. Learn more about page hierarchy.
  3. Hover over a page title and click Quick Edit.
  4. In the Order field, enter a number.
    • Lower numbers appear higher in the left navigation.
    • Pages with the same number sort alphabetically by page title.
  5. Click Update.
  6. Repeat for other pages in the same section as needed.
  7. After reordering, refresh the front-end page to confirm the navigation displays as expected.

Top-Level Pages vs Section Pages

Section landing pages and their child pages play different roles in your site’s structure, and knowing the difference helps keep navigation clear and predictable.

Top-level Pages (section landing pages)

A top-level (or section landing) page is the highest parent page in a section. It has child pages but does not itself have a parent. They:

  • Do not have a parent. (If it had a parent, it would no longer be a section landing page.)
  • Usually appear in the top navigation
  • Control the layout for their entire section

Child Pages

  • Appear in the left navigation
  • Belong to a specific section
  • Inherit layout and navigation from their parent
Example of the left navigation from the Psychiatry website showing multiple levels of related pages within a single section. Click for a larger view.

Page URLs

Parent and child page relationships are reflected in a page’s URL. This accurately mirrors the site structure and is considered good practice.

For example, if you had a top-level page titled “Programs” with a child page titled “MD Program,” and that page had a child page named “Curriculum” (Programs → MD Program → Curriculum), the URL would look like this: med.unc.edu/site/programs/md-program/curriculum.

This structure helps visitors understand where they are in the site and how the content is organized.

If a Page Is Missing from the Left Navigation

Check the following:

  1. Is the page Published?
  2. Is it assigned to the correct Parent?

Only published pages with a valid parent appear in the left navigation. Drafts, private pages, or pages with the wrong parent will not display.

If the Left Navigation Is Missing

First, confirm that the page layout is set to display the left navigation.

If the layout supports left navigation but nothing appears, the Navigation Widget (Section) may have been removed. This widget is what generates the left navigation on School of Medicine websites.

The widget is included by default on all SOM sites and can be re-enabled if it was deleted. See the Navigation Widget Section documentation for instructions.

Best Practices

• Plan your page hierarchy before building pages
• Keep related content under the same parent
• Use clear section landing pages
• Avoid deep, confusing nesting
• Remember, good structure creates good navigation

Well-organized pages lead to better usability, accessibility, SEO, and happier visitors.