Per default the list of entities a user is able to create looks like the following:
You as the user have either to memorize the entity type of each sub menu item available or you have to hover over each option and check your browsers status bar. Just based on the title it is impossible to directly know that Article and Basic page creates nodes, Document and Image media items and User a User. In case you have redundant names, I've created and added a block type and a media type called Article, to the content menu, things become even more challenging:
Article/admin/structure/menu/manage/contentAt the moment only top level menu items have icons. I am not sure if it would break any design patterns for the navigation in general but adding the corresponding icon of the entity type a respective sub menu item belongs to would provide an easy visual cue for sighted users about the general context a sub menu item is in. I've created a rough draft to illustrate the general idea (it is not in any way near properly arranged, it is chopped together in affinity photo to communicate the idea in general) :
How to label the menu titles more clearly in-between entity types for screen reader users is covered in #3439721: Make the link descriptions more descriptive, helpful, and clear.
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| mockup.jpg | 45.12 KB | rkoller | |
| redundant.jpg | 27.37 KB | rkoller | |
| default.jpg | 19.04 KB | rkoller |
Comments
Comment #2
rkollerComment #3
rkollerComment #5
tim-dielsThis looked straight forward to me that we were able to add this. I was suprised I could not do this. What are the next steps? Are there any pointers on adding this?
Comment #6
rkollerthere is another issue created after this one taking a slightly different approach #3457729: Grouping or prioritisation for items in create menu by grouping by entity types. one downside about the grouping approach, it still masks the group labels by not adding additional cues aside the group label - the user still has to read everything. so at the very least the group labels would need icons as well.
and in regard to which of the two approaches to take, personally i think it heavily depends on the number of entity types a site has. so i would probably combine both approaches and make the visual presentation of available options configurable. so that you can have either a list view or a grouped view and each mode uses icons to "unmask" the available objects to provide visual cues and make them distinguishable. i've put those two issues on the shortlist for the ux meetings #3574712-2: Drupal Usability Meeting 2026-02-27 with a few other issues related to the navigation module. just wanted to discuss these set of problems in a bigger group. in case you are interested to join the discussion and you have availability @tim-diels, the meetings start at 3pmCET. the link to the zoom call is announced 10 minutes before the meeting on the
#uxchannel on the drupal slack.Comment #7
rkollerUsability review
We discussed this issue at #3574712: Drupal Usability Meeting 2026-02-27. The link to the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7ESB2dVsT0. The attendees at the usability meeting were @benjifisher, @pallavi singh3013, @rkoller, @simohell.
I am closing this issue in favor of #3457729: Grouping or prioritisation for items in create menu. Both issues solve the same problem in a different manner. We had the clear consensus that the way these menu items are displayed heavily depends on the number of entity types a site has set up and the preference of the site builder. Even though we haven't had enough time finishing the discussion we'Ve agreed on to continue the work and discussion on the issue that has more participation. I will leave a more detailed comment summarizing our discussion over in #3457729: Grouping or prioritisation for items in create menu.