The new Ollie Menu Designer plugin has caused quite a stir in the scene of the popular open source CMS WordPress, since it arrives to solve (totally free) a major shortcoming of the current block editor regarding menus. Until now there has been a valid menu system in WordPress core. You can create menus and dropdowns and it works, but what was really needed was the ability to add more things to menus and not just links in the way many other CMS do (mega menus).
According to The Repository, this plugin was initially launched as a premium offering for Ollie subscribers, but it is now available free of charge for everyone, and moreover it is not a simplified product meant to cash in later, it is practically identical to the original premium version and only the option for embedded videos has been removed to comply with .org rules.
It is no surprise then that it has created a buzz, as it is something long awaited that no one doubts should be incorporated into WordPress core as soon as possible. Before the launch, Jamie Marsland, YouTube Director at WordPress.org, already stoked interest by reviewing a pre release version and generating a good number of positive comments, including one from the very Matt Mullenweg, co founder of WordPress.
How does Ollie Menu Designer work?
Simply download the plugin for free, install it, activate it, and you will be able to easily enhance the menus of your WordPress based site. It should be clarified here that everything we generate with this plugin will be fully responsive, that is, it will look good on all devices, which is absolutely essential.
As shown in the video, the workflow is essentially quite simple, especially if you already use patterns that are designed to add as a mega menu. You can now include anything in menus, since it supports the blocks from the block editor (formerly Gutenberg) including cards, images, buttons, and more.
The operation is simple. In the menu, within the block settings, you go to a new panel called mobile menu, you can use a template or something predefined, but you can also create a template from scratch. Additionally there are some more options to give a more eye catching format to the mobile hamburger menu.
Also very useful is the option to show the mega menu on hover and to disable it on mobile if it does not display well.
In conclusion, this is a great initiative from the creators of the Ollie theme that we all hope will end up in WordPress core, and it may also be one of the best launched plugins in recent times, since both its release and the plugin page have been perfectly planned and its effect has been exactly what was expected, a major stir.
* Original article written in Spanish, translated with chatGPT and reviewed in English by Jorge Mediavilla.
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