Well, since you can currently only have one ngView directive... I use nested directive controls. This allows you to set up templating and inherit (or isolate) scopes among them. Outside of that I use ng-switch or even just ng-show to choose which controls I'm displaying based on what's coming in from $routeParams.
EDIT Here's some example pseudo-code to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. With a nested sub navigation.
Here's the main app page
<!-- primary nav -->
<a href="#/page/1">Page 1</a>
<a href="#/page/2">Page 2</a>
<a href="#/page/3">Page 3</a>
<!-- display the view -->
<div ng-view>
</div>
Directive for the sub navigation
app.directive('mySubNav', function(){
return {
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
current: '=current'
},
templateUrl: 'mySubNav.html',
controller: function($scope) {
}
};
});
template for the sub navigation
<a href="#/page/1/sub/1">Sub Item 1</a>
<a href="#/page/1/sub/2">Sub Item 2</a>
<a href="#/page/1/sub/3">Sub Item 3</a>
template for a main page (from primary nav)
<my-sub-nav current="sub"></my-sub-nav>
<ng-switch on="sub">
<div ng-switch-when="1">
<my-sub-area1></my-sub-area>
</div>
<div ng-switch-when="2">
<my-sub-area2></my-sub-area>
</div>
<div ng-switch-when="3">
<my-sub-area3></my-sub-area>
</div>
</ng-switch>
Controller for a main page. (from the primary nav)
app.controller('page1Ctrl', function($scope, $routeParams) {
$scope.sub = $routeParams.sub;
});
Directive for a Sub Area
app.directive('mySubArea1', function(){
return {
restrict: 'E',
templateUrl: 'mySubArea1.html',
controller: function($scope) {
//controller for your sub area.
}
};
});