The navigation widget is pretty limited for me in its current state though I would love to utilize it on my Web site.
Navigation typically does not directly mirror the structure of a Web site. Most Web sites prioritize and separate different sections into main navigation and utility navigation. Structure-wise these areas are all top-level and the Navigation Widget displays them as such with no way to remove certain top-level sections from displaying in one area and appearing in another.
There are two workarounds I’ve heard of:
- Don’t use the Navigation Widget and create a Rich Text shared asset (the route I am going)
- Use the Navigation Widget and hide elements using CSS. To me, though possible to do, this is an unacceptable solution and really just a band-aid. HTML structure is important and hiding elements for display purposes isn’t a good solution.
I suggest looking at how Google Sites manages sections and navigation. Structure and navigation function independently and it works really well.
I want to use the widget as it does keep track of links which is important when working with large Web sites. But in its current state I’m going the rich text route.