--- title: "Joomla Menu Item Types" description: "What is a Joomla Menu Item Type? When setting up a Joomla menu item, you need to choose the menu item type. The menu item type defines what and how the content on the next page will look like. For..." url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/joomla/joomla-3/menu-item-types/ date: 2014-01-09 modified: 2023-06-07 author: "Brad Markle" categories: ["Joomla", "Joomla 3"] tags: ["Joomla v3"] type: post lang: en --- # Joomla Menu Item Types ## What is a Joomla Menu Item Type? When [setting up a Joomla menu item](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/joomla/joomla-3/add-menu-item/), you need to choose the **menu item type**. The *menu item type* defines what and how the content on the next page will look like. For example, if you choose the [*Single Article* menu item type](#single-article), that link will direct users to one individual article. Selecting the [*Category List* menu item type](#category-list) will link to a page listing all of the articles belonging to the category you choose. ## How do I set the Joomla Menu Item Type? When you are in the **Edit Menu Item** area of your Joomla Dashboard, one of the first settings you will see is **menu item type**. When you click **Select** next to this option, you will see a listing of item types you can choose from. ## What does each menu item do? Below, you will find a brief summary and example screenshots for all default menu items. The default menu items fall under these main categories: [Articles](#cat-articles), [Configuration Manager](#cat-configuration-manager), [Contacts](#cat-contacts), [Newsfeeds](#cat-newsfeeds), [Search](#cat-search), [Smart Search](#cat-smart-search), [System Links](#cat-system-links), [Tags](#cat-tags), [User Manager](#cat-user-manager), [Weblinks](#cat-weblinks), and [Wrappers](#cat-wrapper). ### Articles ## Articles: [Archived Articles](#archived-articles) [Create Article](#create-article) [Featured Articles](#featured-articles) [Single Article](#single-article) ## Categories: [Category Blog](#category-blog) [Category List](#category-list) [List All Categories](#list-all-categories) #### Archived Articles **Archived Articles:** Display all archived articles. [![Archived Articles](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/archived-articles.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/archived-articles.gif) The **Archived Articles menu item type** shows a listing of all articles archived. As you can see in the screenshot to the right, our admin dashboard shows the *Custom HTML Module* and *What’s New in 1.5?* articles as archived, and those two articles show on the front end of the website. This menu type also includes a filter at the top of the page to show archived articles based upon Month and Year. #### Category Blog **Category Blog:** Displays article introductions in a single or multi-column layout. [![Category Blog](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/article-category-blog.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/article-category-blog.gif) The **Category Blog menu item type** displays the *article introductions* from a category of your choosing. We have an article category called *Park Blog* with two articles in it: *First Blog Post* and *Second Blog Post*. The screenshot to the right shows these articles as they appear in our Joomla admin dashboard *(left)* and the frontend of our website *(right)*. #### Category List **Category List:** Displays a list of articles in a category. [![Category List](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/article-category-list.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/article-category-list.gif) The **Category List menu item type** creates a page that simply lists the articles in a category of your choosing. To the right, you can see that our frontpage is showing all of the articles in the *Joomla!* article category. There are more than 10 articles in this category, so pagination is enabled. #### Create Article **Create Article:** Create a new article. [![Create Article](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/submit-an-article.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/submit-an-article.gif) If you want to allow your users to write their own articles, the **Create Article** menu item will help you accomplish this. Users clicking this link will go to a page where they can enter a *title*, *alias*, and enter the text for the article. They will also have access to manage *publishing settings*, *Language settings*, and *Metadata settings*. #### Featured Articles **Featured Articles:** Show all featured articles from one or multiple categories in a single or multi-column layout. [![Featured Articles](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/featured-articles.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/featured-articles.gif) The **Featured Articles menu item type** shows articles in a manner similar to the a category blog layout, except that the articles displayed are those set as featured articles. #### List All Categories **List All Categories:** Shows a list of all the article categories within a category. [![List All Categories](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-categories.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-categories.gif) In the example provided, the frontend view lists the following: *Joomla!*, *Park Site*, and *Fruit Shop Site*. These are all sub categories of the *Sample Data-Articles* category. #### Single Article **Single Article:** Displays a single article. [![Single Article](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/single-article.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/single-article.gif) The sample data includes an article named *Australian Parks*. As you can see in the example, the **single article** menu item points to a page that displays just one article. ### Configuration Manager ## Menu Item Types: [Site Options](#site-options) [Template Options](#template-options) #### Display Site Configuration Options **Display Site Configuration Options:** Displays basic site configuration options. [![Display Site Configuration Options](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/display-site-configuration-options.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/display-site-configuration-options.gif) If you want to allow your administrators to edit *site settings*, the **display site configuration options** menu item will allow them to do just that. As you can see in the screenshot, your site administrators will be able to change (*without logging into /administrator*) settings such as: *Site Name*, *Site Offline*, and even your *Site Meta Description* and *Site Meta Keywords*. #### Display Template Options **Display Template Options:** Displays template parameter options if the template allows this. [![Display Template Options](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/display-template-options.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/display-template-options.gif) The **Site template options** is another menu item that allows your administrators to edit the look and feel of your site without */administrator* access. In the screenshot to the right, you can see our admins can make some pretty significant changes to the template, such as the *Template Colour*, *Background Colour*, and even the *Logo* used. ### Contacts ## Menu Items: [Featured Contacts](#featured-contacts) [Contact Categories](#contact-categories) [Contacts in a Category](#contacts-in-a-category) [Single Contact](#single-contact) #### Featured Contacts **Featured Contacts:** This view lists the featured contacts. [![Featured Contacts](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/featured-contacts.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/featured-contacts.gif) The **Featured Contacts** creates a page that displays contacts set as featured in a table. In the screenshot to the right you can see that in the admin dashboard *Buyer*, *Contact Name Here*, *Owner*, and *Shop Address* are all contacts that are starred (*aka set as featured*). To the right, they are listed on the **Featured Contacts** page along with their *Name*, *Position*, *Phone number*, *Suburb*, *State*, and *Country*. #### List All Contact Categories **List All Contact Categories:** Shows a list of contact categories within a category. [![List All Contact Categories](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-contact-categories.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-contact-categories.gif) We have a parent *Contact Category* of *Sample Data-Contact*. Within this category are sub categories, *Park Site* and *Shop Site*. As you can see, the **list all contact categories** menu item is displaying these sub categories. #### List Contacts in a Category **List Contacts in a Category:** This view lists the contacts in a category. [![List Contacts in a Category](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-contacts-in-a-category.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-contacts-in-a-category.gif) *Buyer* and *Owner* are contacts that belong to the **Staff** *contact category*. As you can see in the screenshot, the **List Contacts in a Category** menu item is listing the contacts that belong to the category chosen, the *Staff* category. #### Single Contact **Single Contact:** This links to the contact information for one contact. [![Single Contact](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/single-contact.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/single-contact.gif) The **Single Contact** page allows you to choose an individual contact and create a page showing just their information. In the screenshot to the right, the user selected is *Contact Name Here* and the *single contact* page for that user displays their contact info (*Address, phone number, etc.*), a contact form visitors can fill out, links, and miscellaneous information about that contact. ### Newsfeeds ## Menu Item Types: [List All Categories](#list-all-newsfeed-categories) [List Feeds in a Category](#feeds-in-a-category) [Single News Feed](#single-news-feed) #### List All News Feeds Categories **List All News Feed Categories:** Show all the news feed categories within a category. [![List All News Feeds Categories](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-news-feed-categories.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-news-feed-categories.gif) We have two news feed categories, *Sample Data-Newsfeeds* and *Newsfeeds category 2*. In the screenshot to the right, you can see that these two news feeds categories are listed on the **list all news feeds categories** page. #### List News Feeds in a Category **List Feeds in a Category:** Show all news feeds within a category. [![List News Feeds in a Category](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-news-feeds-in-a-category.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-news-feeds-in-a-category.gif) Within our *Sample Data-Newsfeeds* category, we have three feeds: *Joomla Announcements*, *Joomla! Connect*, and *Joomla! Security News*. In this screenshot, you can see links to these three RSS feeds are shown on the **list news feeds in a category** page. #### Single News Feed **Single News Feed:** Show a single news feed. [![Single News Feed](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/single-news-feed.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/single-news-feed.gif) The **Joomla! Connect** news feed, at the time when this tutorial was published, had the following two pages listed: *Phoca Gallery 4.1.0 Released* and *JoomlaMagazin: Die Ausgabe 1/2014 ist da*. The **single news feed** menu item shows the RSS feed for the particular news feed that you choose. ### Search #### Search Form or Search Results **Search Form or Search Results:** Display search results. [![Search Form or Search Results](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/search-form-or-search-results.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/search-form-or-search-results.gif) In the screenshot to the right, you can see a search form with settings such as *All words*, *Any words*, and *Exact Phrase*. Creating a **search form or search results** menu item will create a standard Joomla search page. ### Smart Search #### Search **Search:** The default search layout. [![Smart Search](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/search.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/search.gif) The **Search** menu item, by default, looks much simpler than the *search form or search results* menu item. It displays a search box, and the advanced search features are only visible after clicking the **Advanced Search** button. ### System Links ## Menu Item Types: [External URL](#external-url) [Menu Heading](#menu-heading) [Menu Item Alias](#menu-item-alias) [Text Separator](#text-separator) #### External URL **External URL:** An external or internal URL. [![External URL](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/external-url.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/external-url.gif) The **External URL** menu item in our testing is setup to point to *https://www.joomla.org*. **Joomla.org** is listed in our right menu, and it will direct users to *https://www.joomla.org*. #### Menu Heading **Menu Heading:** A heading for use within menus, useful when separating menus with a separator. [![Menu Heading](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/menu-heading.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/menu-heading.gif) If you have many links in a single menu, the **Menu Heading** gives you a way to add text between links to help separate them. In the screenshot to the right, the text **Menu Heading** is a *Menu Heading* menu item. #### Menu Item Alias **Menu Item Alias:** Create an alias to another menu item. [![Menu Item Alias](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/menu-item-alias.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/menu-item-alias.gif) In the screenshot to the right, the links *Single News Feed* and *This is a menu item alias* both point to the same exact URL. If you want one menu item to point to another menu item, use the **Menu Item Alias** menu item to accomplish this. #### Text Separator **Text Separator:** A text separator. [![Text Separator](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/text-separator.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/text-separator.gif) The **text separator** menu item is very similar to the **Menu Heading** menu item. It helps you to organize a long list of menu items by adding text between them. The *menu heading* is a heading and therefore stands out more, where the *text separator* is supposed to be more subtle. ### Tags ## Menu Item Types: [Compact List of Tagged Items](#compact-list) [List of all tags](#list-all-tags) [Tagged Items](#tagged-items) #### Compact list of tagged items **Compact list of tagged items:** List of items that have been tagged with the selected tags. [![Compact list of tagged items](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/compact-list-of-tagged-items.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/compact-list-of-tagged-items.gif) The **compact list of tagged items** menu item allows you to choose one or more tags and create a page that lists all articles tagged with those tags. It appears to be very simliar to the **tagged items** menu item, the only exception being that the list or article links displayed is much more compact. #### List of all tags **List of all tags:** This links to a details list of all tags. [![List of all tags](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-of-all-tags.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-of-all-tags.gif) In the screenshot to the right, you can see that we have 4 tags setup: *Green*, *Lime*, *Red*, and *Yellow*. The **List of all tags** menu item creates a page that lists all of these tags. As you click each tag, it takes you to a page listing all articles tagged as such. #### Tagged Items **Tagged Items:** This links to a list of items with specific tags. [![Tagged Items](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/tagged-items.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/tagged-items.gif) We have 4 articles tagged with *Red*. The screenshot to the right shows that the **Tagged Items** menu item creates a page listing all articles that have been tagged *Red*. ### Users Manager ## Profile Menu Items: [Edit User Profile](#edit-user-profile) [Registration Form](#registration-form) [User Profile](#user-profile) ## Login Menu Items: [Login Form](#user-login-form) [Password Reset](#password-reset) [Username Remind Request](#username-remind-request) #### Edit User Profile **Edit User Profile:** Edit a User Profile. [![Edit User Profile](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/edit-user-profile.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/edit-user-profile.gif) The **Edit User Profile** menu item goes to a page where logged in users can edit settings such as their *Name*, *Password*, and their *Email Address*. #### Login Form **Login Form:** Displays a Login Form. [![Login Form](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/login-form.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/login-form.gif) The **login form** creates a page for users to enter their username and password. If they don’t know their credentials, the user can user the *forgot your password* and *forgot your username* tools. The *don’t have an account yet?* tool will link them to the *user registration* page. #### Password Reset **Password Reset:** Displays a request to Reset Password. [![Password Reset](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/password-reset.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/password-reset.gif) The **password reset** page will show the user their *profile* details and the *basic settings* for their account. They can then click the **Edit Profile** button to go to a page where they can reset their password. #### Registration Form **Registration Form:** Displays a Registration Form. [![Registration Form](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/registration-form.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/registration-form.gif) The **Registration Form** menu item brings the user to the *User Registration* page. Here, they can enter in their name, desired username, etc. and register for a new account on your site. #### User Profile **User Profile:** Displays a User Profile. [![User Profile](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/user-profile.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/user-profile.gif) The **User profile** menu items links users to a page very similar to the *password reset* page. The two pages actually appear to be identical. #### Username Remind Request **Username Remind Request:** Displays a Username Reminder Request. [![Username Remind Request](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/username-remind-request.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/username-remind-request.gif) The **Username Remind Request** page allows users to enter their email address, and Joomla will email the user their username. ### Weblinks ## Menu Item Types: [List all Categories](#list-all-weblink-categories) [List Links in a Category](#links-in-a-category) [Submit a Link](#submit-a-link) #### List All Web Link Categories **List All Web Link Categories:** Show all the web link categories within a category. [![List All Web Link Categories](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-web-link-categories.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-all-web-link-categories.gif) In our *Weblinks* we have a parent category of **Sample Data-Weblinks**, and two children categories: *Park Links* and *Joomla! Specific Links*. The **List All Web Link Categories** menu item creates a page listing the two child categories. The user can then click on any of the categories listed to see a listing of links belonging to the chosen category. #### List Web Links in a Category **List Web Links in a Category:** Displays a list of Web Links for a category. [![List Web Links in a Category](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-web-links-in-a-category.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/list-web-links-in-a-category.gif) In our weblinks category of **Joomla! Specific Links**, we have three links: *Joomla!*, *Joomla! Forums*, and *OpenSourceMatters*. The **List Web Links in a Category** menu item creates a page showing all of the *weblinks* in the *weblinks category* we chose. #### Submit a Web Link **Submit a Web Link:** Display a form to submit a web link in the frontend. [![Submit a Web Link](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/submit-a-weblink.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/submit-a-weblink.gif) On the **Submit a Web Link** page, users can submit their own weblinks. They’ll be directed to a submission page, where they can enter details about the link such as the *link title*, *link alias*, and any *tags* to associate the weblink with. ### Wrapper #### Iframe Wrapper **Iframe Wrapper:** Displays a URL in an Iframe. [![Iframe Wrapper](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/iframe-wrapper.gif)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/menu-item-types/iframe-wrapper.gif) When configuring an **Iframe Wrapper** menu item, the most important setting is the URL. In our testing, you we entered *https://www.joomla.org* as the URL. As you can see in the screenshot to the right, the *Iframe Wrapper* page shows *https://www.joomla.org* in an iframe – showing the user *joomla.org* while keeping them on our site.