Navigation: How to Build Your App & Site Menu

Adding Items to Your Navigation
Display Name
Category Selection
- When to choose a specific category
- When to choose “All Categories”
View Types
Custom Icons (Apps Only)
Reordering Items
Saving Your Navigation

💡 Bamboo Pro Tip:

Before you can start building your navigation menu, you must first build your category tree.

Your menu depends on your categories — without categories to organize your content, you can't create pages or send users to it.

Create your category structure first, then build your navigation menu.

The Navigation page defines the entire structure of your Bamboo Site and Bamboo Apps.

Every item you add becomes a page your viewers can access.

Important:

The first item in your navigation becomes your homepage.

Its category and view type determine how the homepage looks and behaves.

Go to OTT → Navigation and click Add Item to create each page you want to appear in your menu.

Each item includes:

Display Name
Category selection
View Type
Link (for Webviews only)
Custom icons (apps only)

2. Display Name

This is the title your end-users will see in the app and site menus.

Choose a clear and intuitive name, such as:

Movies
Kids
Live TV
My Purchases
Help

3. Category Selection

Some page types require a category. Others don’t.

You may select a specific category or leave the page set to All Categories, depending on your needs.

When to choose a specific category

Use this for content pages in your video library — such as Movies, Series, Kids, Documentaries, etc.

You can choose:

A parent category (recommended for multi-level structures)
A sub-category (for focused pages)

Tip:

With Netflix view, parent categories work best — each sub-category becomes a row.

When to choose “All Categories”

Use this when:

1. You want the Netflix page to use your entire category tree

Netflix will automatically generate a row for every category.

2. You’re adding a page type that does not rely on categories, such as:

Channels
Full EPG
In-App Webview
External Webview
User Purchases
User History

These page types function independently from your category tree.

⚠️ Warning: Your category structure defines your layout

If your category tree is messy or inconsistent, your navigation pages may look messy too.

4. View Types

The View Type determines how each page looks on your site and inside the apps.

📌 Tip: Preview All View Types

To see real examples of every view type and UI element, visit:

https://yourdomain.com/color-reference

Example: https://demo.bamboo-cloud.com/color-reference

This page shows how layouts, row styles, and card styles look across platforms.

1. Netflix Look (Recommended for larger category trees)

Best for parent categories with multiple sub-categories
Automatically creates a row for each sub-category
Ideal for Movies, Series, Kids, Documentaries, etc.

📌 Advanced:

The Netflix view uses category-level view types to determine how each row appears

(e.g., Slider, Gallery, Vertical Cards, Horizontal Cards).

If you want full control over these row styles, see the Advanced View Types tutorial.

2. Gallery

Displays all videos in one category in a row or grid, depending on device.

3. 2 Columns

Shows all sub-categories or videos in a multi-column layout:

2 columns → mobile
3 columns → tablet
4 columns → desktop & TV

4. Channels

Displays all your linear channels in a multi-column layout.

5. Full EPG

Shows:

All channels
Their TV guide
A live player

Ideal for TV-first platforms.

6. In-App Webview

Displays a webpage inside your Bamboo Site and inside mobile apps.

(Not supported on TV apps.)

You must fill in the Link field with a full URL.

7. External Webview

Opens the selected link outside your site/app in the user’s default browser.

Use only when intentionally sending users out of Bamboo.

You must fill in the Link field with a full URL.

⚠️ Warning: Missing links will break Webview pages

8. User Purchases

Shows all purchases for the logged-in user, including expiration timers and quick-access links.

9. User History

Displays:

Continue Watching
Watch Again
My List

5. Custom Icons (Apps Only)

These icons appear only inside the apps, not on your Bamboo Site.

You can upload:

Icon

Colored version
Used in mobile apps
Used for focused items on TV

Icon Grey

Grey version
Used for unfocused items on TV

⚠️ Warning: Icons do not appear on your Bamboo Site

6. Reordering Items

Drag and drop to reorder your navigation.

👉 The first item becomes your homepage.

Its category + view type determine:

Whether you have a slider
What rows appear
Whether the homepage looks correct

⚠️ Warning: Homepage issues are usually caused by the first navigation item’s settings

Click Save to apply changes.

Your Bamboo Site and Bamboo Apps update instantly.