WP Better Sub Menus

WP Better Sub Menus improves the Appearance → Menus screen when you manage large nested menus.

• Click the colored bar on a parent item to collapse or expand its branch
• Sticky, scrollable left column (Pages, Posts, categories, etc.) while you edit
• Depth colors so nested levels are easier to scan
• Visual changes only — front-end navigation is unchanged

Especially useful when a menu has dozens of items and several levels deep.

1. Install from Plugins → Add New (search “WP Better Sub Menus”), or upload a zip whose top-level folder is wp-better-sub-menus.
2. Activate the plugin.
3. Go to Appearance → Menus. Parent items with children show a colored expand control on the left.

If your menu has no sub-items, the screen looks the same as before.

1. 

   Before: a long menu is hard to scan.

2. 

   After: branches collapse; the left panel stays sticky and scrollable.

3. 

   Click the colored bar to collapse or expand a branch.

1.1.0

• Verified for WordPress 6.x and 7.x; Tested up to 7.1.
• Replace polling with MutationObserver when menu items change (drag-and-drop, add, delete).
• Fix depth detection for menus deeper than nine levels.
• Expand/collapse uses the colored bar only — no longer hijacks the whole row click.
• Colored expand bar (8px, grows on hover) for clearer visual affordance.
• Accessible toggle button with aria-expanded.

1.0.5

• Ten levels of menu items with gradient colors.
• All items collapsible, including items just drag-and-dropped while editing.

1.0.4

• Ten levels of menu items with gradient colors.
• All items collapsible, including items just drag-and-dropped while editing.

1.0.3

• Screenshots and description added.

1.0.2

• Color bars and sticky menu features added.