protected function render_navigation_node(navigation_node $item) {
        $content = $item->get_content();
        $title = $item->get_title();
        if ($item->icon instanceof renderable && !$item->hideicon) {
            $icon = $this->render($item->icon);
            $content = $icon.$content; // use CSS for spacing of icons
        }
        if ($item->helpbutton !== null) {
            $content = trim($item->helpbutton).html_writer::tag('span', $content, array('class'=>'clearhelpbutton', 'tabindex'=>'0'));
        }
        if ($content === '') {
            return '';
        }
        if ($item->action instanceof action_link) {
            $link = $item->action;
            if ($item->hidden) {
                $link->add_class('dimmed');
            }
            if (!empty($content)) {
                // Providing there is content we will use that for the link content.
                $link->text = $content;
            }
            $content = $this->render($link);
        } else if ($item->action instanceof moodle_url) {
            $attributes = array();
            if ($title !== '') {
                $attributes['title'] = $title;
            }
            if ($item->hidden) {
                $attributes['class'] = 'dimmed_text';
            }
            $content = html_writer::link($item->action, $content, $attributes);

        } else if (is_string($item->action) || empty($item->action)) {
            $attributes = array('tabindex'=>'0'); //add tab support to span but still maintain character stream sequence.
            if ($title !== '') {
                $attributes['title'] = $title;
            }
            if ($item->hidden) {
                $attributes['class'] = 'dimmed_text';
            }
            $content = html_writer::tag('span', $content, $attributes);
        }
        return $content;
    }