Parent/Child menus in Joomla - Setting up the drop down menu in Joomla:

In order for the drop down menu to have child items (eg items that are sub menu items of the main navigation items) you will need to set the menu accordingly in the Joomla backend.

1. In the back end of Joomla navigate to menu ---> main menu (or the name of the menu you selected in the previous step.

2. The top level or parent menu items are seperators rather than menu items. The setup for a separator is the same as a menu item except you are creating a separator rather than a menu link. Create the separator item and give it the name that you want to use for your top level item eg the item that opens the panel with the sub menu items underneath.

3. Write the name of the menu item.

4. Publish the menu item.

5. Set the parent item for the menu item. So if you want to have the menu appear on the main level of the menu then dont select anything here or make sure the menu item is set to top. If you want the menu item to be a sub level menu item then simply select the menu item that already exists that you want the sub level to appear under.

6. Configure any other options that may be relevant for your menu link.

7. Click Save.

8. Chech menu module setting.

It is important to check menu module and make sure you have enabled Child Menu Items. See image:

If you have followed all of the preceding steps then you should have a sliding panel menu that saves its state from page to page. This means that if a specific menu panel was open on the previous page then it will be open on the subsequent page.