Okay, I’ve analyzed teh provided JSON data representing MLB website navigation. Here’s a breakdown of the structure and key elements:
Overall Structure
The data represents a hierarchical navigation menu. It’s an array of NavItem objects. Each NavItem can have:
linkText: The text displayed for the navigation item (e.g., “Shop”, “News”, “Scores”).
linkUrl: The URL the navigation item links to.
linkTarget: Specifies how the link should open (e.g., _blank for a new tab).
visible: A boolean or string indicating whether the item is visible. Values like "true", "false", or null are used.
icon: A string representing an icon (e.g., “group”, “milb”). placement: Indicates where the item is placed (e.g., “mobile“). customPropertiesString: A string containing custom properties, often delimited by semicolons (e.g., “amp:true;mobile:true”). These properties seem to control behavior on different platforms (AMP, mobile).
subNav: An array of SubnavColumn objects, which define the sub-navigation menu for that item.
Each SubnavColumn has:
title: A title for the column in the sub-navigation.
navigation: An array of NavItem objects, representing the items within that sub-navigation column.
key Observations and Patterns
- Mobile vs. Desktop: The
placementandcustomPropertiesStringattributes are used to tailor the navigation for mobile and desktop experiences. Items withplacement: "mobile"are likely only shown on mobile.ThecustomPropertiesStringoften includesmobile:trueoramp:true(likely for Accelerated Mobile Pages).
- Visibility Control: The
visibleattribute is used to show or hide navigation items. It can be a string"true"or"false", ornull(which likely defaults to visible).
- Sub-navigation Structure: The
subNavstructure allows for multi-level navigation menus. Each main navigation item can have multiple columns of sub-items.
- Custom Properties: The
customPropertiesStringis a flexible way to add custom behavior or metadata to navigation items. Theamp:trueproperty suggests integration with Google’s AMP framework.
- URLs: The
linkUrlvalues are a mix of relative and absolute URLs. Some URLs include affiliate ids (affiliateId=mlbMENU).
- Icons: The
iconfield uses string identifiers, presumably mapped to specific icon assets within the MLB website’s codebase.
Example Breakdown
Let’s take the “News” NavItem as an example:
json
{"typename":"NavItem","customPropertiesString":"amp:true;mobile:true","icon":null,"linkTarget":null,"linkText":"News","linkUrl":"https://www.mlb.com/news","placement":"mobile","visible":null,"subNav":[{"typename":"SubnavColumn","title":null,"navigation":[ ... ]}]}
linkText: “News” – This is what the user sees in the menu. linkUrl: “https://www.mlb.com/news” – This is where the link goes.
placement: “mobile” – This item is specifically for the mobile version of the site. customPropertiesString: “amp:true;mobile:true” – further indicates it’s for mobile and AMP.
* subNav: Contains an array of SubnavColumn objects,defining the sub-menu items under “News” (Probable Pitchers,Starting Lineups,etc.).
this JSON data provides a structured depiction of the MLB website’s navigation menu,with features for mobile optimization,visibility control,and multi-level sub-navigation.