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JC Submenu

By jcollings

Site Structure & Navigation / Menu Management & Mega Menus

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

JC Submenu Review - In-Depth Analysis

Automatically populate navigation menus with custom post types, taxonomies, or child pages.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.74/10

User Rating

4.6/5 (based on 49+ reviews)

Active Installations

4,000+

Update Frequency

Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

JC Submenu plugin allows you to automatically populate your navigation menus with custom post_types, taxonomies, or child pages. An easy to use plugin created to be a lightweight menu extension.

Also output a selected section of your dynamic menu through our advanced submenu widget.

Comparing to Alternatives

JC Submenu is a useful plugin for managing submenus in WordPress, with a few close alternatives available that offer similar functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Easy to use and integrates well with WooCommerce product categories.
Helps keep menus up-to-date automatically.
Strong positive user feedback on functionality and design.
No known security vulnerabilities reported.
Free to use without a paid version.

Weaknesses

Lacks the ability to maintain manual sorting of categories, which some users need.
No 'Menu Order' option in 'Populate from taxonomy' feature.
No pro version with advanced features.
Some compatibility issues reported with the latest WordPress versions.

User Sentiment Analysis

The plugin holds a strong positive rating of 4.6 out of 5 based on 49 reviews, with most users praising its usefulness and ease of use. However, a small minority report functionality issues with recent WordPress versions.

Positive highlights

"Great little plugin! Pls just keep the original sorting of WooCommerce product categories and it will work perfectly." — peterh4
"Very cool plugin, thanks to you… please add ‘Menu Order’ option for ‘Order’ in ‘Populate from taxonomy’." — amirosein
"Wonderful plugin, works perfectly with my pages to populate menus easily and keep my entire website up-to-date." — Picturgency
"Superb Plugin, Well designed and strongly developed. Thanks Team 🙂" — gagan92wp
"Great Plugin, very useful for big shops… almost perfect!" — chusterclock

Common complaints

Plugin is completely non-functional with WordPress 6.6.2 as reported by a user.

Weaknesses

Lacks support for manual sorting of categories.
Missing 'Menu Order' option in taxonomy population.
Compatibility issues with latest WordPress versions.
No premium support or advanced features due to lack of pro version.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users looking for a free, straightforward submenu plugin that integrates well with WooCommerce and helps automate menu updates without needing advanced customization.

Not ideal for

Users who require manual control over menu sorting or need guaranteed compatibility with the latest WordPress versions, as well as those seeking premium features or support.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers core submenu management features that satisfy most basic needs without any cost.

Final Verdict

JC Submenu is a well-regarded free plugin that effectively manages submenus and integrates nicely with WooCommerce, earning high praise for its ease of use and functionality. It stands out for having no known security vulnerabilities and offers good value for users who need basic submenu automation.

However, it lacks advanced features like manual sorting and a pro version, and some users have reported compatibility issues with recent WordPress updates. Those needing more control or guaranteed compatibility might consider alternatives.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free JC Submenu plugin.

Custom post type

Dynamic menu

Submenu

Screenshots

FAQ

** What is a WordPress Split Menu **

A WordPress Split Menu is the process of creating a multi level menu, and displaying a menu section relative to the currently viewed object/page. For Example if a site has the following menu and pages:

Page 1
– Page 1.1
– Page 1.2
Page 2
– Page 1.3
`

Creating a split menu section for this example, you would set the start depth of 1, this means that when you are viewing any page or child page of Page 1 the split menu would output related items only:

Page 1
– Page 1.1
– Page 1.2
`

and if you were viewing any page or child page of Page 2 the split menu section would be:

Page 2
– Page 1.3
`

** WordPress Split Menu Widget **

JC Submenu plugin comes with a widget titled “Split Menu Widget” which allows you to output your split menu within a wordpress sidebar.

It is located under Appearance > Widgets in your wordpress administration area.

Widget Settings:

Choose Split Menu widget from the list of avaliable widgets
Select Menu – Choose the menu you wish to split
Start Level – Choose the starting depth to display
Menu Depth – Choose how many levels you wish to display
Show Parent – Choose to display the split menu’s parent item
Show Hierarcy – Choose to display a flat or nested list
Trigger Depth – Choose how many levels of children you would like to display in relation to the activate page, 0 = show all. (Added in v 0.62)

** Split Menu Action **

JC Submenu plugin comes with a built in wordpress action to easily output a split menu anywhere within your theme.

hierarchy – Whether to display a flat list instead
start – Menu depth you wish to split from
depth – Amount of levels you wish to display
show_parent – Whether to display the parent item
trigger_depth – how many levels of children you would like to display in relation to the activate page, 0 = show all. (Added in v 0.62)
menu_class – Set the class of the menu element
menu_id – Set the id of the menu element
container – what to wrap the ul in
container_id – Set the id of the container element
container_class – Set the class of the container element

** Menu Section Widget **

JC Submenu plugins comes with a widget titled “Section Menu Widget” which allows you to output a section of your wordpress menu within a sidebar.
It is located under Appearance > Widgets in your wordpress administration area.

Widget Settings:

Choose Section Menu widget from the list of avaliable widgets
Select Menu Part – Choose the menu section you wish display
Menu Depth – Set how many levels of the menu you wish to display
Show Parent – Choose whether to display the parent item

** Menu Section Action **

JC Submenu plugin comes with a built in wordpress action to easily output a section of a menu anywhere within your theme.

hierarchy – Whether to display a flat list instead
start – Menu item you wish to display from
depth – Amount of levels you wish to display
show_parent – Whether to display the parent item
menu_class – Set the class of the menu element
menu_id – Set the id of the menu element
container – what to wrap the ul in
container_id – Set the id of the container element
container_class – Set the class of the container element

** Menu Section Shortcode **

Display a section of your wordpress menu within your visual editor using wordpress shortcodes.

[jcs_menu_section menu=”” hierarchy=”1″ start=”1″ depth=”5″ show_parent=”0″ /]

menu – Choose the menu you wish to display
hierarchy – Whether to display a flat list instead
start – ID Menu item you wish to display from (can be found by hovering over the menu item within the wordpress menu admin page)
depth – Amount of levels you wish to display
show_parent – Whether to display the parent item

JC Submenu WordPress plugin takes the hassle out of creating menus, by removing the manual addition of items and allowing you to automatically populate menu items from posts, categories, tags, custom post types, and taxonomies.

Each with many customisable options allowing you to refine your final menu.

** Enabling Automatic Menu Population **

Once you have the JC Submenu installed, from the menus section

Add a menu item that you wish to have posts as a submenu and click on save menu.
When the page reloads, click on the arrow on the right hand side of the menu item to display the advanced options.Tick the checkbox labelled JC Submenu – Automatically populate submenu to show an accordion of population options.

** Populate WordPress Menus with Posts **

Click on the section labelled Populate from post type.

* Post Type – Make sure Post is selected from from the drop down labelled Post Type
* Taxonomy – If you wish to only show posts from a certain category/taxonomy choose the appropriate taxonomy from the drop down labelled Taxonomy (otherwise choose All), If you wish to filter it down further by choosing a term within that taxonomy choose the appropriate term from the drop down labelled Terms.
* Order – Choose which field you want to order and how you’d like it ordered Ascending or Descending.
* Post Limit – Setting the number of posts to display, Set to 0 if you wish not to have a limit.

** Populate WordPress Menus with Taxonomies **

Click on the section labelled Populate from taxonomy.

* Taxonomies – Choose the taxonomy from the drop down you wish to populate from.
* Order – Choose which field you want to order and how you’d like it ordered Ascending or Descending.
* Hide Empty Terms – Hide terms that do not have any posts / custom posts.

** Populate WordPress Menus with Child Pages **

Click on the section labelled Populate from pages.

* Parent Page – Choose the parent page to fetch the child pages.
* Order – Choose which field you want to order and how you’d like it ordered Ascending or Descending.

** jcs/menu_item_args **

jcs/menu_item_args filter is used to edit wp_nav_menu options on a per menu item basis allowing a truely customizeable menu output.

Example – Display Menu Item Image

This example shows how to add an image before a menu item depending on that items object type.

add_filter( ‘jcs/menu_item_args’, ‘jcs_menu_item_args’, 10, 2);
function jcs_menu_item_args($args, $item){

switch($item->object){     case 'page':         // add blue 10 pixel image before the menu item name         $args->link_before = '<img alt="" src="http://placehold.it/10x10/0000FF" />';     break;     case 'term':         // add green 10 pixel image before the menu item name         $args->link_before = '<img alt="" src="http://placehold.it/10x10/00FF00" />';     break;     case 'post':         // add red 10 pixel image before the menu item name         $args->link_before = '<img alt="" src="http://placehold.it/10x10/FF0000" />';     break; } return $args;

}
`

** jcs/item_classes **

Add extra classes to menu items containing their item type.

add_action( ‘jcs/item_classes’, ‘jc_edit_item_classes’, 10, 3 );
function jc_edit_item_classes($classes, $item_id, $item_type){

$classes[] = "item-$item_type"; return $classes;

}
`

** jcs/item_title **

Display the dynamic menu type at the end of the item title.

add_filter(‘jcs/item_title’, ‘jc_edit_item_title’, 10, 3);
function jc_edit_item_title($title, $item_id, $item_type){

if($item_type == 'term'){     $title .= ' (term)'; }elseif($item_type == 'page'){     $title .= ' (page)'; }else{     $title .= " ($item_type)"; }  return $title;

}
`

JC Submenu allows you to disable its custom menu walker making it compatible with themes which uses there own menu walkers.

To enable compatability with other menu walkers add the following code into your themes functions.php file.

// enable compatibility with theme custom menu walkers
add_filter(‘jcs/enable_public_walker’, ‘jc_disable_public_walker’);
function jc_disable_public_walker($default){
return false;
}
`