When you look at different websites, certain things grab your eye quickly. One of those things is cool custom icons in the menu. These little symbols next to menu choices give the site a neat, professional style. They also make it easy to quickly see and understand the menu options.
If you have a WordPress site, adding those stylish custom menu icons is simple thanks to plugins like WP Menu Icons. This helpful plugin lets you easily upload and put icons next to any menu choice on your WordPress site’s menus. With a few clicks, you can give your plain text menu a big visual boost.
But using the WP Menu Icons plugin has benefits beyond just looking nice. Carefully using familiar icons can actually make your website better for users. Icons provide helpful visual clues about each menu choice, making it faster for visitors to find what they want. That’s good for you and anyone visiting your site.
So let’s look at how this menu icon feature works and how you can use WP Menu Icons on your WordPress site.
Installing and Setting Up
First, you need to install and turn on the WP Menu Icons plugin. Just go to the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard, search for “WP Menu Icons”, and install and activate it.
Once it’s active, a new “Menu Icons” section will appear in the WordPress Customizer. This is where you’ll be able to assign icons to each of your existing menu items.
The plugin comes loaded with over 240 icons to choose from out of the box, including icons for common menu items like home, contact, about, cart, and more. But you can also easily upload your own custom icon images if you want something totally unique.
Using the Customizer, just browse through the available icons, select the one you want for a particular menu item, and assign it. You can adjust the position, alignment, and visuals like color and size too.
With the free version of the plugin, you can only assign one icon style across all menu items. But upgrading to the premium version gives you more advanced options like assigning different icon designs and setting different colors and sizes per menu item.
Choosing the Right Icons
Just putting any random icons next to your menu items won’t make things better for users. You should choose icons that everyone can easily recognize and understand. The icons need to clearly show the meaning or purpose of that menu link.
For example, using a home icon for your site’s homepage link is a no-brainer. Similarly, an envelope icon for a “contact” link or a shopping cart icon for a shopping cart or checkout link are smart choices that users will instantly understand.
But you can have fun with more unique icons too, as long as they’re still relevant and clear. Let’s say you have a menu item for a blog – using a pen or pencil icon could be an interesting way to represent that section of your site.
Get creative, but keep it simple. The goal is to use concise, intuitive icons that enhance the menu navigation, not confuse or distract visitors.
You can also use the WP Menu Icons plugin to add icons to other areas of your WordPress site beyond the main navigation menu. For example, you could use it to mark up admin menu items in the WordPress dashboard. Or you could use it to add icons to other menus or content sections on your website pages and posts.
Pro Tips for Using Custom Menu Icons
To get the most out of the WP Menu Icons plugin and really take your menu icons to the next level, keep these tips in mind:
1) Be consistent with your icon style and sizing across menu items. Using all the same general icon style with uniform sizing will look much cleaner and more cohesive.
2) Make sure all custom menu icons have good contrast from your menu text and background colors. You want those icons to stand out!
3) Consider using animations or hover effects if the premium version supports it. Having an icon or menu item subtly animate on hover can add a nice interactive touch.
4) Scale icons appropriately for mobile experiences. You may want to make icons smaller on mobile menu versions to avoid overcrowding.
5) Use icons to support and enhance your existing menu text labels – don’t rely solely on the icons with no text labels.
With a little creativity and these tips in mind, adding well-designed custom menu icons can be a total game-changer for the look and usability of your WordPress website menus. Install the WP Menu Icons plugin today and see what a difference those little symbols can make!
