idea Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap in ArcGIS StoryMaps Ideas

Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

EmelieAxelsson — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 12:04:12 GMT

Hi,

Include subcategories in the navigation bar based on subheadings.

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

OwenGeo — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 15:26:04 GMT

Hi @EmelieAxelsson -- Thanks for submitting this idea! We have discussed adding subheadings to story navigation, but we're concerned that this would overload the navbar and make the experience more complicated for readers.

Do you have an example of a story where you feel that adding the subheadings would be helpful to your readers? If so, please share that here so we can take a look and evaluate your idea further?

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

Anneka_France — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 13:28:24 GMT

What if we could show subheadings by clicking on the main heading and displaying a drop down? A bit like a menu bar on a website. It could be an optional setting, so you can keep it simple if you need to.

This would be really useful for stories with a lot of narrative and content, especially as you can't make the text size smaller or make the column width wider.

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

EmelieAxelsson — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 15:49:54 GMT

I mean like a drop down meny under the main heading just like Anneka_Fracne explained it. 👍

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

jennywilliams — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 21:25:39 GMT

All the suggestions are really good.

In the simplest form, there could just be a second location for the heading contents or a list of subheadings, this could then be cross referenced on the main heading bar.

As we are specifying Sub-Headings it makes sense to be able to reference this information separately.

Would be so useful:

See my StoryMap for reference: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f540b764fc6c47db886b38515560852f

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

tmo — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 21:49:39 GMT

This is an old thread but was there an update completed? This agency created sub categories that I am trying to replicate but cannot find the option to create subcategories. Any suggestions? @EmelieAxelsson @OwenGeo @Anneka_France @jennywilliams

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/9f95490e03de471da538098bad6e073d?item=6

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

PeterKnoop — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:10:45 GMT

@tmo, the example you provided is a StoryMap Collection, which contains six StoryMaps. The link you provided goes directly to the sixth story in the collection; you can also link to the top-level of the collection.

So what you are seeing when viewing a story within the collection, is the Collection's navigation bar on the top, and the StoryMap's navigation bar on the bottom:

Using a StoryMap Collection is a helpful way to present readers with a two-level hierarchy for navigation, when you have enough content to warrant an additional layer of grouping.

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

Heidi_Kristenson — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 20:40:43 GMT

@OwenGeo

In terms of specific applications, it would be particularly useful for some of the more technical StoryMaps that I've published, which are designed as reference guides for software or services.

It would be great if there was the option to include secondary headers as drop-down components of the main headers in the navigation bar. This would make it easier for users to skip directly to the precise section that they want to access without making the Navigation bar longer than is reasonable.

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

lmarun — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 00:06:56 GMT

@PeterKnoop, I have a StoryMap Collection where I'd like to add StoryMap navigation to each of our stories, but I can't figure out how to do this. Also, I haven't found a way to change the StoryMap Collection navigation so that I can see the text (instead of numbers, as below) for each of the StoryMaps.

Can you (or anyone who knows) point me in the right direction for both of these navigation questions?

Thank you!

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

PeterKnoop — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:36:26 GMT

@lmarun check out Create a Collection and Change collection layout and navigation.

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

lmarun — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 17:36:25 GMT

Thanks, @PeterKnoop. I should have been clearer as my questions were based on my having gone through the obvious steps already. However, thank you for the links as, since they were all you provided, they forced me to go through the interations of steps again. As it turns out, I had changed the main collection navigation from compact to tabbed...but I had not published my changes since I had done that(!). Ahh...so I had missed an obvious step after all! 🙂 Problem solved. (Thanks again!!)

Second, for each StoryMap, the only header that appeared for the story/section header was 'Credits', and that's the only heading that showed up in when I opened up the header gear (see below), so the problem wasn't that the others are unchecked. I was able to solve that by changing all headers that I wanted to appear to H1. I didn't make the automatic assumption that that needed to be the case given that it's neither explined explicitly (I don't think) nor is 'Credits' in H1, yet it does appear. Unfortunately, I would prefer to have smaller headings for the sections I want to appear in the navigation bar, but at least I have a working navigation.

Thanks again!!

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

PeterKnoop — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 13:53:13 GMT

@lmarun the documentation could be improved in this area ( @OwenGeo ?)

Add story navigation refers extensively to "headings", and one learning StoryMaps could reasonably assume that "headings" is being used as a general term, rather than the specific Text block type of "Heading 1". There is a note on that page about it, however, again, it likely assumes too much prior knowledge, "To convert text into a heading, highlight the text you want to edit and select Heading from the text editing toolbar." There is no "Heading" option, but rather one needs to select "Heading 1."

Unfortunately the Add credits documentation is lacking an explanation of how it integrates with navigation. By default, under Design, and under Optional story sections, Credits is toggled on for new stories, however, the Credits section will not appear by default in the Navigation until you put some text into the field "Add a credits heading (optional)". Once you've entered text into that field, then that text is what appears in the Navigation bar.

Re: Include subheadings in Navigation bar, Storymap

OwenGeo — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 14:32:24 GMT

Thanks for the feedback on this @PeterKnoop. I agree the doc should be improved in this area.

We are working on a complete overhaul of the ArcGIS StoryMaps documentation in conjunction with migrating to a new, more flexible doc management system. The timeline is not totally in our control since another team is responsible for the system upgrades, but we are hoping that it will be rolled out later this year or early next year. We will add this to the list of updates we intend to make!