As of March 29, 2010, you can change the Menu Link Title for any menu item.  Previously, this was always the same as the title, but this relationship proved buggy.

Menu Link Title vs. Node Title

Menu Link Titles are the text displayed in the left-side navigation menu.

Node titles are used as the Heading 1 above the body of the node (and also appear in search results and at the top of browser windows).  The node's title is found in the "Title" field of any node (although it is sometimes called "Name" or another appropriate semantic term). 

Menu link titles and node titles are often the same, but may need to be different in certain situations, such as when the node title is too long to work effectively in the menu.

IMPORTANT: Review Menu Link Title When Changing a Node Title

If you change a node's title, review the menu link title. They should always reflect each other, either by being identical, or by using the same terms, only shorter for the menu title. Otherwise, users could get lost or confused by the change.

How to Change Menu Link Title

To change a node's menu link title:

  1. Go to the node you wish to change.
  2. Edit it.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
  4. Change the text in Menu Link Title field.
  5. Save the node.

Best Practices

A node's title and it's Menu Link Title should always be closely related, and should be identical when possible. When a user clicks a menu item, they reasonably expect to see content relevant to the link text they just clicked on.  When you change words, you make it harder for users to determine if they are at the right spot.

Use these guidelines when writing Menu Link Titles:

  1. Whenever possible, the node's title and its menu link should be identical.
  2. If they are not identical, they should be as similar as possible and should use at least some of the same words (or roots of those words).
  3. Unless an acronym is nearly universal use on-campus and off-campus (such as FAFSA or SAT), don't use it.  This includes MAP, JRC, and CDO.
  4. Never use two synonyms in the titles.  Use the same word.

Example

A page called "Mission Statement" could be reasonably shortened to "Mission" in the menu (assuming that this does not make it too similar to other menu items).  However, it would be inappropriate to give a "Mission Statement" page a menu item title such as "Our Vision."  While this may seem like it's the same thing, it is important to meet a user's expectations as closely as possible.