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Signal Theme Docs

Set up your navigation

Signal has no separate menu builder. It reads your Shopify navigation menu and decides how to present it — a menu item with sub-items opens a panel; one without is a plain link.

So the shape of your menu in admin is the shape of your header.

Do this

Section titled “Do this”

  1. Build the menu in admin.

    Shopify admin → Content → Menus → Main menu.

    Add your top-level items. Under any of them, add sub-items — those are what turn a link into a panel.

    The Main menu screen under Content, Menus in Shopify admin. About us has Lookbook and Articles nested beneath it. Shop All has Bags and Gear nested beneath it, which in turn has Travel Pack and Manny Pack nested a third level deep.

  2. Nest a third level if you want it.

    Sub-items can have their own sub-items. Signal renders all three levels: a heading, its links, and smaller links beneath those. Useful for Shop → Bags & Gear → individual products.

  3. Point the theme at the menu.

    Theme editor → Header section → Menu. Pick your menu. Most stores use Main menu and never change this.

  4. Add a promo to a panel, optionally.

    With Header selected, Add Mega panel promo. Give it an image, heading and link, and set Menu position to say which dropdown it belongs to — position 1 is the first menu item that has a dropdown.

  5. Save, then test on a phone width.

What that produces

Section titled “What that produces”
The theme editor with the Header section selected. The storefront preview shows the About us menu item open as a dark panel listing Lookbook and Articles. On the right, the Header settings panel shows the wordmark field, a Menu picker set to Main menu, and a Mega panel note field.

The two sub-items under About us became that panel. Nothing was configured in the theme to make it happen — the Header’s only navigation setting is which menu to read.

How Signal decides what to show

Section titled “How Signal decides what to show”

You don’t choose between a dropdown and a mega panel. The content decides:

What’s in the menu itemWhat shoppers get
No sub-itemsA plain link
A few sub-items, no third levelA compact panel — just the links
Four or more sub-items, or any third level, or a promo with an imageThe full-width mega panel

This is why adding one product under a category can change how the whole menu looks. It’s deliberate — a panel with two links in it wastes the width.

On mobile

Section titled “On mobile”

The same menu becomes a drawer. Tapping a parent expands it rather than navigating, so Signal adds a row at the top of each expanded item that leads to the parent page itself — otherwise your About us page would be unreachable from the menu.

That row reads Go to [name] by default. Rename it under Header → Mobile menu parent link; [title] is replaced with the menu item’s own name.

If it looks wrong

Section titled “If it looks wrong”

My menu item doesn’t open a panel. It has no sub-items. Add some in admin.

I get a compact panel and wanted the full one. Add a fourth sub-item, nest a third level, or attach a promo with a real image.

The promo is on the wrong dropdown. Menu position counts only items that have dropdowns, not all menu items. If your first two items are plain links, position 1 is the third item.

Changes in admin aren’t showing. The theme reads the menu live, so it’s usually a cached preview — hard-refresh. Check you edited the menu the Header setting points at, not a different one.

Next

Section titled “Next”