Adding an external link to wordpress menu

Question

I am currently using wordpress menu like this ...

$args=array('menu'=>'menu',
            'menu_class'=>'',
            'before'=>'<span>',
            'after'=>'</span>',
            'link_before'=>'',
            'link_after'=>''
            );

      wp_nav_menu($args);

But what if want is to add a specific link to a menu item. Other than a wordpress page. Say an external link. What do i do?

Answer 1

You're _doing_it_wrong(). When you call wp_nav_menu(), you should be referencing theme_location, not menu.

The way the custom navigation menu functionality is intended to work:

1. The Theme registers locations for navigation menus to appear, via register_nav_menus( array( 'location_slug' => 'Location Name' ).
2. Then the Theme instructs WordPress where to output those menus, via wp_nav_menu( array( 'theme_location' => 'location_slug' ) ).
3. The user defines the menu itself, via the UI at Dashboard -> Appearance -> Menus
4. Then the user assigns a defined menu to the Theme-registered locations, via that same UI.

So, by calling menu instead of theme_location in your wp_nav_menu() call, you prevent the user from assigning a menu to that location. Very likely what's happening is that the user hasn't defined a menu with the name you're calling via the menu argument, and so WordPress is simply falling back to the default wp_page_menu() output.

Once you correct this issue, then you can define a menu with whatever links in it that you want, and then assign that menu to the appropriate location.

Answer 2

Adding links to a menu is done from the Admin area. You will find the menu editor under Appearance -> Menus.

Additional instructions can be found on the WordPress codex.