Utility Navigation
Learn how to edit your site’s utility navigation, the maroon bar at the top-most section of your website that contains a link back to the primary university website and other optional links.
What is the utility navigation?
In Aggie UX, the utility navigation is the maroon bar at the top-most section of your website. At a minimum, it should contain a link to Texas A&M University (www.tamu.edu) in the upper left corner. The utility navigation sits above the primary navigation.
An example utility navigation with two CTA links and two drop downs.
How to Edit Your Utility Navigation
- Open any page in the preview pane and click on the red Edit Utility Navigation Block link in the top left corner of the preview pane. This link will open the utility navigation currently in use on your site.
- The red link text will change based on which site identity display option is active.
- If you change the site identity display option on your site, it will change which block controls the utility navigation on your site. Any changes made to your utility navigation using one display option will not transfer if you change the site’s identity option.
- Fill out the content fields as desired
- Click Preview Draft
- Click Submit
- Enter version comments
- Click Submit again
- If your site is live, republish your entire site to see the changes to the navigation on every page.
Utility Navigation Options
When editing the utility navigation in Cascade, there are two main sections you can edit: links and drop downs.
Links
Use this section to edit all links in the utility navigation.
Note, only internal links are enabled for the utility navigation. If you wish to link to a destination that is not on your website, you will need to first create an external link asset.
Additional Link for Microsites
In the links section you will need to identify if the utility navigation is being used for the site as a whole or as part of a microsite. When used as part of a microsite, an additional field is added.
To enable a second link next to the “Texas A&M University” link in the upper left corner, select Microsite when editing the utility navigation. This will enable fields to allow you add a second link next to “Texas A&M University” to link back to a parent organization. For example, on the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences website, this link is used to link back to the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
CTA Links (up to 3)
To enable CTA links in the utility nav, select Yes, add CTA links when editing the utility navigation. For each CTA link (up to 3) you will need to set the link text and destination.
We recommend using these links to pull out important CTAs that don’t make sense as primary navigation items and put them here. Examples may include: “How to Apply,” “Make a Gift,” “Schedule a Visit,” or “Request Information.”
Drop Downs
Use this section to add 1-to-2 dropdowns in the right corner.
To enable drop down menus in the utility nav, select Add Dropdown when editing the utility navigation.
Each drop down has the following options:
- Drop Down Icon and Label: Use these to change the text and icon you see on the drop down before you open it.
- Drop Down Item: Use these to add the link text and destination for drop down items.