The Joomla Menu Manager controls all site navigation. A Joomla site can have multiple independent menus — each rendered by its own mod_menu module. Every page on a Joomla site is ultimately defined by a menu item: the menu item type determines what component renders, what layout is used, and what appears in the URL.

Go to Admin → Menus → Manage → Add New Menu. Give it a title and a unique type (used as the module's menu source). Then add a mod_menu module and set its Select Menu param to the new menu.

Every menu item has a type that determines what the page renders. Key types:

TypeRenders
Articles → Single ArticleOne specific article
Articles → Category BlogArticles in a category as a blog layout
Articles → Category ListArticles in a category as a list
Articles → Featured ArticlesAll featured articles in blog layout
URLExternal or internal URL redirect
AliasPoints to another menu item
SeparatorNon-clickable heading in a dropdown

Menu Item Hierarchy

Menu items can be nested to create dropdown menus. Set the Parent Item on any menu item to make it a child. The mod_menu module renders the hierarchy as Bootstrap dropdowns automatically in MokoCassiopeia.

Home Menu Item

Exactly one menu item across all menus must be marked as Default (the home page). This is shown with a star icon in the Menu Manager. Click the star on any menu item to change the home page.

Module Assignment

Every module has a Menu Assignment tab. Modules can be set to appear on all pages, only on selected menu items, or on all pages except selected ones. This is the primary mechanism for page-specific module visibility in Joomla.

Tip: Use an Alias menu item to place the same page in two different menus without creating duplicate content or managing two menu items separately.