diff --git a/otterwiki/preferences.py b/otterwiki/preferences.py
index f36a049..d098719 100644
--- a/otterwiki/preferences.py
+++ b/otterwiki/preferences.py
@@ -94,12 +94,14 @@ def handle_mail_preferences(form):
 
 
 def handle_sidebar_preferences(form):
-    custom_menu_js = json.dumps(
-        [   x
+    custom_menu_js = json.dumps([
+            {
+                "link": x[0],
+                "title": x[1],
+            }
             for x in list(zip(form.getlist("link"), form.getlist("title")))
             if x[0].strip() or x[1].strip()
-        ]
-    )
+    ])
 
     _update_preference(
         "SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU", custom_menu_js
diff --git a/otterwiki/sidebar.py b/otterwiki/sidebar.py
index 2812d55..af08284 100644
--- a/otterwiki/sidebar.py
+++ b/otterwiki/sidebar.py
@@ -32,21 +32,21 @@ def __init__(self):
                 f"Error decoding SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU={app.config.get('SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU','')}: {e}"
             )
             raw_config = []
+        # generate both config and menu from raw_config
         for entry in raw_config:
-            if len(entry) != 2: continue # FIXME: print warning
-            if empty(entry[0]) and empty(entry[1]): continue
-            self.config.append(entry)
-        for entry in self.config:
-            link, title = entry
+            if not entry.get("title", None) and not entry.get("link", None):
+                continue
+            link, title = entry.get("link",""), entry.get("title", "")
+            self.config.append({"link": link, "title": title})
             if empty(link):
                 if empty(title): continue
-                self.menu.append([url_for("view", path=title), title])
+                self.menu.append({"link":url_for("view", path=title), "title": title})
             elif self.URI_SIMPLE.match(link):
                 if empty(title): title = link
-                self.menu.append([link, title])
+                self.menu.append({"link": link, "title": title})
             else:
                 if empty(title): title = link
-                self.menu.append([url_for("view", path=link), title])
+                self.menu.append({"link": url_for("view", path=link), "title": title})
 
     def query(self):
         return self.menu
diff --git a/otterwiki/templates/admin/sidebar_preferences.html b/otterwiki/templates/admin/sidebar_preferences.html
index f793601..a43b4bd 100644
--- a/otterwiki/templates/admin/sidebar_preferences.html
+++ b/otterwiki/templates/admin/sidebar_preferences.html
@@ -38,13 +38,13 @@ <h3 class="card-title">Custom Menu</h3>
         <th>&nbsp;</th>
     </thead>
     <tbody id="custom-page-index">
-{% for link,title in custom_menu + [["",""]] %}
+{% for entry in custom_menu + [{"link":"","title":""}] %}
         <tr>
             <td class="pr-10">
                 <span class="btn btn-square btn-sm btn-handle"><i class="fas fa-arrows-alt"></i></span>
             </td>
-            <td><input type="text" name="link" placeholder="..." class="w-200 form-control" value="{{link}}"/></td>
-            <td><input type="text" name="title" placeholder="" class="w-200 form-control"/ value="{{title}}"> </td>
+            <td><input type="text" name="link" placeholder="..." class="w-200 form-control" value="{{entry.link}}"/></td>
+            <td><input type="text" name="title" placeholder="" class="w-200 form-control"/ value="{{entry.title}}"> </td>
             <td class="pl-10">
                 <span class="btn btn-square btn-sm" onclick="cloneRow(this);"><i class="fas fa-clone"></i></span>
                 <span class="btn btn-square btn-sm btn-danger" onclick="deleteRow(this);"><i class="far fa-trash-alt"></i></span>
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ <h3 class="card-title">Page Index</h3>
         var tbody = document.getElementById('custom-page-index');
         var table = tbody.closest("table");
         var lastrow = document.getElementById('custom-page-index').lastElementChild;
-        if (lastrow.querySelector("input[name='title']").value == "")
+        if (lastrow.querySelector("input[name='link']").value == "")
             row = lastrow;
         else
             row = cloneRow(null, true);
diff --git a/otterwiki/templates/snippets/menu.html b/otterwiki/templates/snippets/menu.html
index 676a764..ed06c62 100644
--- a/otterwiki/templates/snippets/menu.html
+++ b/otterwiki/templates/snippets/menu.html
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
         <div id="custom-menu" class="collapse-content">
             <!-- menu [[ -->
             <ul class="sidebarmenu parent-sidebar-menu">
-            {%- for link, title in custom_menu -%}
-            <li> <a href="{{link}}">{{title}}</a> </li>
+            {%- for entry in custom_menu -%}
+            <li> <a href="{{entry.link}}">{{entry.title}}</a> </li>
             {%- endfor %}
             </ul>
             <!-- ]] menu -->
diff --git a/tests/test_sidebar.py b/tests/test_sidebar.py
index faef5b3..f2d9a65 100644
--- a/tests/test_sidebar.py
+++ b/tests/test_sidebar.py
@@ -95,20 +95,20 @@ def test_sidebar_custom_menu(create_app, test_client, req_ctx):
     links = get_sidebar_menu(test_client)
     assert links is None
 
-    create_app.config["SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU"] = """[["Home", ""]]"""
-    assert [['Home', '']] == SidebarMenu().config
+    create_app.config["SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU"] = """[{"link": "Home", "title": ""}]"""
+    assert [{'link':'Home', 'title':''}] == SidebarMenu().config
     links = get_sidebar_menu(test_client)
     assert links
     assert ('Home', '/Home') in links
 
-    create_app.config["SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU"] = """[["https://example.com", "Example"]]"""
-    assert [['https://example.com', 'Example']] == SidebarMenu().config
+    create_app.config["SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU"] = """[{"link":"https://example.com", "title":"Example"}]"""
+    assert {"title":"Example", "link":"https://example.com"} in SidebarMenu().config
     links = get_sidebar_menu(test_client)
     assert links
     assert ('Example', 'https://example.com') in links
 
-    create_app.config["SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU"] = """[["/Example", ""]]"""
-    assert [['/Example', '']] == SidebarMenu().config
+    create_app.config["SIDEBAR_CUSTOM_MENU"] = """[{"link": "/Example", "title": ""}]"""
+    assert [{'link':'/Example', 'title':''}] == SidebarMenu().config
     links = get_sidebar_menu(test_client)
     assert links
     assert ('/Example', '/Example') in links