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Navigation Menus

I recently ran into an issue where the Menus’ admin page (/wp-admin/nav-menus.php) was showing a 404 error. I had just added support for menus in the function file and figured that must be it. I deleted all my changes, still broken. I redid the menu 3 different ways, still broken.

I found this core ticket and tried a few things it mentioned ↓

Menus are sometimes limited in the number of items they can have – I had a LOT of pages and categories because I had imported the Theme Unit Test data – plus added content of my own. The default menu was pulling in everything which pushed the count way up. I went in to the Categories page and deleted all but 5, still broken. Then I deleted a bunch of pages, still broken.

I switched to the Twenty Eleven theme to make sure it wasn’t a theme issue, still broken.

Several comments suggested it could be a host problem, more specifically with the suhosin.post.max_vars and suhosin.request.max_vars setting which limits the number of variables allowed. I found my host php.ini file in the root directory and added:

suhosin.post.max_vars = 5000
suhosin.request.max_vars = 5000

The page was now giving me a Server Error instead of a 404 Error, different but still broken!

FINALLY I look in my database through PhpMyAdmin. I clicked on the wp_terms table and all of the category items I had deleted were still in the database. Huh! I manually deleted the terms I’m no longer using and headed back to /wp-admin/nav-menus.php → PROBLEM SOLVED!

Of course, it won’t always be possible to just delete pages and categories. Check out the comments on the core ticket I mentioned above – as well as ‘How to Fix the Custom Menu Items Limit in WordPress‘ on wpbeginner.com for a few different solutions.

Next month is my 6-year anniversary of blogging. I started by sharing art and then DIY Planners quickly took over. I love creating free templates to share with you and I’ve also made a little money selling the DIY Printable Planner set through 2015, which is very awesome – if you purchased it thank you thank you thank you!

Here’s the thing though – in my real life, planners take up about 1% of my time/thoughts/energy. I have been a little better about using mine since I discovered discbound notebooks but really, you’re probably more into planners than I am. I want to blog more this year, but to blog as I have in the past means I need to be working on planners and templates and that’s just not what I’m into these days.

I’ve thought a lot about other topics. Being a new(ish) mom to a seriously fantastic kid is a huge part of my life – but when I wrote about that before it felt forced and too personal.

And then my direction shifted.

Last weekend, out of nowhere, it hit me that I enjoy working with clients more than I originally thought. I haven’t been accepting new clients for the past year but starting in April I’d love to work on some new projects. Want to work with me or discuss an idea?

Also, this morning I wrote an estimate for a potential client. I wanted to send her some links to get an idea of my style and what it’s like to work with me. Oh wait, I’ve never even written about it anywhere – WHAT?! Most of you probably don’t know that I’m a WordPress theme designer and developer that’s really stinkin’ great at balancing design AND code.

Something new.

wordpress-logoI still want to blog more this year but it’s going to be different. I want to write about WordPress because I love it. I’ve learned so much from other developers sharing their code, solutions and mistakes – I would love to help others in the same way, if even a little. I want to write about client work that I’m proud of and about my process and the tools I use. I definitely want to write tutorials to help you make your own websites too.

I’m very excited about all of this.

P.S. If you’re here because you love pictures of planners and free templates I still love you, and I’m not saying that I’m totally giving it up – not at all. I’m just changing things around a little. xo

Amanda Hawkins

Amanda Hawkins

Take care of little humans,
stare at tiny computer,
scribble on paper,
daydream.
Maker of DIY Planners and 🎨 artist; front-end web developer and designer well-versed in CSS & WordPress. Make music with RBK & as Love Morris. Check out littlebird.ahhh.co if you're interested in hiring me for WordPress dev. Subscribe to a newsletter I never send out. Connect on Instagram & Twitter.

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