How To Add Links To the Header and Footer
You can quickly and easily add any content page or category to the global header or footer of the customer interface. In addition, using the system's Redirects and Application Messages functions, you can add any text, linked to any URL to either the header or footer.
Adding Links To Content Pages or Categories
It is very easy to add a link to any content page or category page to the global header or footer. Simply use the "Is Linked in Header" and "Is Linked in Footer" flags.
The result will show links to the pages in the customer interface header and footer, with the name of the content page or category shown as the linked text.
Adding Links to Other Common Pages
Under the "Header and Side Panel Settings" screen, you can also very quickly control whether other common links such as the home page appear in the header or footer. To do so, adjust the "Header Top Links", "Nav Bar Links Before Content and Category Pages", "Nav Bar Links After Content and Category Pages", and "Footer Links" settings:
Adding Any Other Link to the Header or Footer
Apart from the above built-in possibilities, you can add any link text, linked to any URL, to either the header or footer.
Start by coming up with a keyword for the link. The keyword identifies the new link you are creating and can be any term that does not have a space or special character. In this example, we want to add a link to an external home page, so we will use "externalHome" for the keyword.
Next, add the keyword to the one of these settings: "Header Top Links Options", "Nav Bar Links Before Content and Category Pages Options", "Nav Bar Links After Content and Category Pages Options", and "Footer Links Options". These settings can be found under the "Customer Navigation Options" heading on the Advanced System Settings screen:
This has the effect of adding the link to the above settings on the Header and Side Panel Settings screen, and you can check off the new link on that screen:
Next, to control what the linked text is, add an Application Message. Under Site Content, click "Application Messages" and then click the plus icon to add one.
For the "Message Key" field, enter "page." followed by the keyword you are using. In this case the value should be "page.externalHome". For the "Content" field, enter the text you would like to appear in the header or footer.
Next, add a redirect for the keyword. The redirect tells the system to send the user to another URL when they click the link. Go to Site Content -> Redirects and click the plus icon to add a new redirect.
For the "Incoming Path" field, enter a slash ("/") followed by the keyword you are using. In this case the value should be "/externalHome". For the "Destination," enter the URL you wish to send users to. Leave the "Is Forward" and "Is Temporary" fields disabled.
Note: The destination does not have to be an external URL! It can be a relative URL. A very common case is adding a link to the site's own contact form to the header or footer. In this case the destination would be something like "/form/contact" where "contact" is the form's code field.
You should see the results within a few minutes in the customer interface.
Note: After you add or edit a redirect or an application message, it may take a few minutes to see the effect in the customer interface.