Woocommerce Product Menu How To Make Expandable

Creating an Expandable WooCommerce Product Menu: A User-Friendly Guide

Introduction:

In the world of e-commerce, a well-organized and easily navigable website is paramount to success. A clear product menu helps customers find what they’re looking for quickly, ultimately boosting sales and enhancing user experience. One powerful technique to enhance your WooCommerce store’s navigation is implementing an expandable product menu. An expandable menu, often referred to as an accordion menu, allows you to neatly categorize and present your products, revealing subcategories or specific items only when a user interacts with them. This is particularly useful for stores with a large inventory, preventing overwhelming users with an endless list of options. This article will guide you through the process of creating an expandable product menu in WooCommerce, making your site more user-friendly and search engine optimized.

Why Use an Expandable Product Menu?

Before diving into the “how-to,” let’s explore the benefits of this approach:

Improved User Experience: An expandable menu reduces clutter, presenting only the essential categories initially. Users can then expand specific sections to explore further.
Enhanced Navigation: Easier for users to browse a large number of products or services.
Better Mobile Responsiveness: Expandable menus are naturally mobile-friendly, as they collapse efficiently on smaller screens.
SEO Benefits: A well-structured menu helps search engines understand your site’s architecture and category organization, potentially boosting your ranking for relevant keywords. Check out this post: How To Disable Quantity In Woocommerce Clear categories and subcategories improve crawlability.
Clean Design: Contribute to a cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing website design.
Reduced Bounce Rate: Users can find what they are looking for faster, reducing the likelihood of them leaving your website.

How to Create an Expandable WooCommerce Product Menu

There are a few different approaches you can take to implement an expandable product menu in WooCommerce:

1. Using a Plugin: This is often the easiest and most user-friendly option, especially for those without coding experience.

2. Custom Coding: This gives you the most control over the menu’s appearance and functionality but requires a deeper understanding of PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

We will cover both methods:

Method 1: Using a Plugin

Several plugins are available that can easily add an expandable product menu to your WooCommerce store. Some popular choices include:

WooCommerce Product Category Accordion: This plugin offers a simple way to create an accordion-style menu of your product categories.
Product Category List Widget: It is an easy-to-use plugin for the presentation of product categories in a tree format.
Max Mega Menu: While a full-featured mega menu plugin, it can also be used to create simple expandable menus for product categories.

Example: Using WooCommerce Product Category Accordion

1. Install and Activate the Plugin: Go to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “Plugins” > “Add New,” and search for “WooCommerce Learn more about How To Add My Disclaimer In Woocommerce Product Category Accordion.” Install and activate the plugin.

2. Configure the Plugin (Optional): Most plugins will have a settings page where you can customize the appearance and behavior of the menu. Look for a settings page under “WooCommerce” or in the “Appearance” > “Widgets” section.

3. Add the Widget to Your Sidebar or Desired Location: Go to “Appearance” > “Widgets.” Find the “WooCommerce Product Category Accordion” widget and drag it to the sidebar (or other widget area) where you want the menu to appear. You can configure the title, whether to show product counts, and other settings.

4. Check your Frontend: Reload your website and check if the menu is displaying as you want it to.

Method 2: Custom Coding (Advanced)

This method requires some coding knowledge. We’ll outline the general steps involved:

1. Create a Custom Widget or Modify Your Theme: You can create a custom widget or modify your theme’s `functions.php` file to add the code. Modifying a theme directly is not encouraged as changes may be lost when the theme is updated. Using a Child Theme is a better approach.

2. Retrieve Product Categories: Use WordPress and WooCommerce functions to retrieve the product categories and their subcategories.

 'product_cat', 'orderby' => 'name', 'show_count' => 0, // 1 for yes, 0 for no 'pad_counts' => 0, // 1 for yes, 0 for no 'hierarchical' => 1, // 1 for yes, 0 for no 'title_li' => '', 'hide_empty' => 0 // 1 for yes, 0 for no );

$all_categories = get_categories( $args );

3. Generate the HTML Structure: Create the HTML structure for the expandable menu, using `

` elements. Include classes to control the appearance with CSS and for JavaScript to target.
- ‘;
  
  echo ‘slug, ‘product_cat’) .'”>’. $cat->name .’‘;
  
  $args2 = array(
  
  ‘taxonomy’ => ‘product_cat’,
  
  ‘child_of’ => $category_id,
  
  ‘hide_empty’ => 0
  
  );
  
  $sub_categories = get_categories( $args2 );
  
  if($sub_categories){
  
  echo ‘
  - slug, ‘product_cat’) .'”>’. $sub_category->name .’
  ‘;
  
  }
  
  echo ‘
4. Add CSS Styling: Style the menu with CSS to achieve the desired appearance, including hiding the subcategories initially and providing visual cues for expansion.

.product-category-menu ul.sub-menu {

display: none;

}

.product-category-menu li a:after {

content: ‘+’; /* Or a custom icon */

float: right;

}

.product-category-menu li.expanded > ul.sub-menu {

display: block;

}

.product-category-menu li.expanded > a:after {

content: ‘-‘; /* Or a custom icon */

}

5. Implement JavaScript Functionality: Use JavaScript (jQuery is common) to handle the expanding and collapsing of subcategories when a user clicks on a category.

jQuery(document).ready(function($) {

$(‘.product-category-menu > li > a’).click(function(e) {

e.preventDefault();

$(this).parent(‘li’).toggleClass(‘expanded’);

// Close other expanded menus if needed

$(this).parent(‘li’).siblings().removeClass(‘expanded’);

});

});

6. Enqueue the JavaScript and CSS: Make sure you correctly enqueue your JavaScript and CSS files in your theme’s `functions.php`.
```
 function my_theme_enqueue_scripts() { wp_enqueue_style( 'my-custom-style', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/css/custom-menu.css' ); wp_enqueue_script( 'my-custom-script', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/js/custom-menu.js', array('jquery'), '1.0', true ); } add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_theme_enqueue_scripts' ); 
```
Important Considerations for Custom Coding:
- Child Theme: Always use a child theme when making modifications to your theme files to prevent losing your changes during theme updates.
- Accessibility: Ensure your expandable menu is accessible to users with disabilities by using appropriate ARIA attributes and keyboard navigation.
- Performance: Optimize your code to ensure the menu loads quickly and doesn’t negatively impact your site’s performance.
- Security: Be careful when handling user input or database queries to prevent security vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

Implementing an expandable product menu can significantly enhance your WooCommerce store’s user experience and SEO. While plugins offer a quick and easy solution, custom coding provides greater flexibility and control. Choose the method that best suits your technical skills and project requirements. Remember to prioritize user experience, accessibility, and performance when implementing your expandable menu. A well-designed and implemented expandable menu can help customers find what they need, boosting sales and contributing to a more successful online store.