Do you want to add image icons in your WordPress navigation menus? Recently, one of our users asked for an easy way to add menu icons. In this article, we will show you how to add image icons with navigation menus in WordPress.
Why You Should Add Image Icons with Navigation Menus?
Usually, WordPress navigation menus are plain text links. These links work for most websites, however, you can make your navigation menu look more interactive by adding image icons.
Image icons can also be used to make your menu more noticeable. For example, a beautiful image icon next to your contact page can make it standout among other links in your menu.
With that said, let’s take a look at how to easily add image icons with navigation menus in WordPress.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t want to watch the video tutorial, then you can continue reading the text version below:
Method 1: Adding Menu Icons Using a Plugin
This method is easier and it’s recommended for beginner users because it doesn’t involve code.
The first thing you need to do is to install and activate the Menu Image plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you need to visit Appearance » Menus page.
From here, you can click on any menu item in the in the right column to expand it. You’ll see the ‘Menu image’ and ‘Image on hover’ buttons in settings for each item.
Using these buttons, you can select or upload the menu image icon you want to use. If you want, then you can just upload a menu image and ignore the hover image.
In the ‘Image size’ dropdown, you can select a size for the image icon. This size will apply to both the menu icon image and image on hover.
The plugin comes with multiple options to choose from. However we recommend to keep menu icons small by using 24×24 or 36×36 sizes.
If you want to add your own custom size for the menu images, then you can do that by adding this code in your theme’s functions.php file or site-specific plugin.
add_filter( 'menu_image_default_sizes', function($sizes){
// remove the default 36x36 size
unset($sizes['menu-36x36']);
// add a new size
$sizes['menu-50x50'] = array(50,50);
// return $sizes (required)
return $sizes;
});
You can also set the title position above, below, before, or after the image icon. It also allows you to hide the title and only display the image icon for each navigation menu.
Once you have configured the settings, simply add image icons to all your navigation menu items separately. Next, you need to click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to see menu icons in action.
Method 2: Adding Menu Icons Using Code Snippet
This method is for more experienced users who know their way around CSS.
First, you need to visit Media » Add New to upload all your image icons in WordPress. Once uploaded, you need to copy their URLs and paste them in a text editor like Notepad.
Next, you need to go to Appearance » Menus and click on the ‘Screen Options‘ button at the top right corner of your screen. In the screen options, you need to check the ‘CSS Classes’ option.
After that, scroll down and click on any menu item to expand its settings. You’ll notice a ‘CSS Classes (Optional)’ field where you need to add a CSS class name for the menu item.
Now you need to add this custom CSS to your theme.
.homeicon {
background-image: url('http://www.example.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/home.png');
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: left;
padding-left: 5px;
}
In this CSS snippet, .homeicon is the class name that you added in the CSS Classes field above.
Depending on your theme, you may need to tweak the CSS a little bit to get the perfect placement for menu icons. Once you are satisfied with the result, repeat the process for all menu items.
That’s all. We hope this article helped you learn how to add image icons with navigation menus in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guide on how to style WordPress navigation menus.
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JT says
hi with CSS method how do have the icons placed above the menu items instead of to the side?
WPBeginner Support says
It would depend on your specific theme for what would need to be added for that, for the time being we would recommend using the plugin method for what you are wanting to do.
Admin
Linsey Retcofsky says
Hi, how could I modify the code to hide the menu link and only show the icon? Thanks for your help.
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to use the plugin and that would allow you to do what you are wanting.
Admin
Kyle says
Hi,
Im wondering if you can help me.
Using Css how would i make the posts in my menu show their respective featured image.
Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
That would require more than CSS, we would recommend reaching out to your theme’s support and they should be able to assist with your featured image display
Admin
Nick says
I try this plugin but facing issue while creating sub-menu. All things I set it up as per guidelines. but those menu have have sub-menu there i’m unable to see the image.
please help me out.
WPBeginner Support says
We would first recommend reaching out to the plugin’s support and they should be able to assist.
Admin
Quy says
thanks for useful article.
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome
Admin
Carlos Reddy says
You guys are awesome!
Thank you very much for this!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you like our content
Admin
Sotir says
Hey thanks a lot for this advise
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome
Admin
Richmond Sagoe says
I used Method 2 and it worked. However, I see ‘home’ besides the icon
WPBeginner Support says
This tutorial is for placing the icon next to the word in your menu. If the positioning isn’t correct, you can use inspect element to test CSS changes that you can do to the site: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/basics-of-inspect-element-with-your-wordpress-site/
Admin
Jo Lee says
I have done all of the above and within the menu I can see the image that I have uploaded so looks like it’s all worked but when I go to the front page of the website the images are not showing, can’t understand why it’s not working
WPBeginner Support says
If you’re using the plugin you may want to reach out to the plugin’s support otherwise, you would want to reach out to your theme’s support in case it is being overridden by your theme’s settings
Admin
Saviour Ukpong says
Nice one, but how do we do it with font awesome??
Christina says
Love you guys!!!! You always have what I need. This is perfect!!!! Thank you!
zviryatko says
Hello, I’m author of Menu Image plugin, and first of all thanks for great article and video manual! May I use link for this tutorial in plugin official description?
And feel free to contact me in case if it misses some useful features, I can add it in new releases.
Btw, there is new version with new title positions: below and above the image.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi zviryatko,
Yes, please feel free to add the link and we appreciate it. However, we do not allow full copy of an article. Thank you for letting us know about the new version.
Admin
Steph Reed says
Hey, I’ve been trying to get the newest version of this to work (totally breaks the menu for me, links included) and it looks like all support is dead air. @zviryatko do you intend on maintaining your plugin? I really like it when it works but I’m considering ditching it for a custom coded solution.
zviryatko says
Hello Steph,
I’m doing some small steps, usually helping people with some custom css to fix their theme. But still, have some plan for fixing supports of old themes and providing a version with better support per user.
Ivan says
Thanks!
hamied hassan says
i would like icon to other menu i can do it by this way
NenaRahin says
I can’t edit files . I want to add custom image sizes but when I try to save , it shows
“Unable to save file: Permission denied ‘/var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/menu-image/menu-image.php’ ”
The message also displays whenever I try to edit any files [by atom editor]. Can you please help. Thanks in advance
Jenna says
I was wondering if there was a way to have the image line up evenly with the title? That way the image doesn’t fall in the middle but aligns on the bottom.
David says
I’m sure this is going to be helpful. Especially that font-awesome will always not have enough icons.
Catalin says
The plugin is not available. Please upload a new link, or change the plugin refeer.
CC says
Hi There! I’ve been using Menu-Icons but there is no way to place icon ABOVE the Menu Text with that plugin. Does the Menu Image plugin allow this option? If not, how would I tweek either plugin to make this work. PS: Not a developer so the simpler/more detailed the instructions the better! Thanks much!
YJ says
Hi, i added a shortcode in the description textbox there :[glt language=”English” Label=”English”],
after using this plugin, this shortcode no function and display icon only on my page,anyone can help?
Chris says
that worked really well, thanks!
Geoff Cox says
Hello
‘have just tried the “Menu Image” plugin and have added the Facebook and the Youtube pics form my own Media Library.
But !! I am using the Twenty Sixteen Theme which uses genericons for the social media menu and they are still there!
I want to replace them with my own images. How do I remove the genericons?
Cheers
Geoff
Amanda says
This plugin isn’t working. But I do have an option for icons … but I don’t have the Font Awesome Menu Icons installed … is it possible that maybe it’s built into the theme and it’ conflicting with this plugin?
Sean Vandenberg says
Sheesh, thanks. This saved me lots of time I would have spent coding otherwise. Typically, I use ionicons or font awesome for menus – but the customer is always right!
Again, super thanks!
Jay says
I basically added this to the Menu label
………………………..
It basically turns the text white and my background is white.
A proper solution would be ideal.
Evik says
Hi, this plugin would be perfect, if the hide of the original text would work. I prefer just having my image instead of the text and even if I set “hide”, the text is still showing, on the left of the image. Any ideas why?
Thanks for help.
Madeline says
This all works great, except that each image is stuck behind the text in the navigation bar instead of sitting to the side of it. I think the problem is that each section of the nav bar menu is the exact size of the text so it’s pushing the images inwards to fit into the space. I’ve tried various things with padding, image size etc but can’t get it to work. Thanks for any help with fixing this!
Madeline says
Hi guys, does anyone have any thoughts on this please? I’m really stuck and I feel like there should be a straightforward way of fixing it! Thanks,
Madeline says
I found a solution so am posting in case this is of use to others. I set a ‘min-width’ element for each item in the navigation menu, and reduced padding, margins and text-size to make sure there is enough room for all the items to fit on one line. It’s not a 100% ideal solution because it will look slightly different depending on screen size, but this is the best I could come up with.
Kristine says
Thank you for this! I looked all over before I found this as the solution to my client’s problem. Love that I could replace ONE BUTTON instead of EVERYTHING.
Mahilet says
if you have no Navigation Label. then it deletes your menu item. for example I have a youtube icon and i don’t want any text, just a link so i have to a ‘.’ inthere
Tim Dehring says
One I use heavily and recommend is Menu Icons (https://wordpress.org/plugins/menu-icons/). Allows you to choose from Font Awesome, Genericons, and many other free icon fonts for menu icons.
Mike Hale says
Tim – I use Font Awesome 4 Menus https://wordpress.org/plugins/font-awesome-4-menus/ on a site, but I’ll have to check that one out. Thanks for the tip.
Tim Dehring says
No problem, happy to share!