manuel proposes splitting Discourse’s combined user and notifications menu into two distinct menus — one for notifications (bell icon) and one for user settings (avatar icon) — to simplify the interface for casual users and accommodate sidebar-less layouts. He shares mockups showing how each menu would appear expanded, including tabs for staff and site navigation in the user menu. While he considers implementing this via a theme component, he seeks advice on aligning with future core changes. Stephen notes that a similar change may already be in progress, referencing a meta thread discussing moving the logout button under a bell icon. manuel acknowledges this but still seeks guidance. mcwumbly cautions that since the UI is evolving, compatibility is uncertain, and suggests using the new hamburger menu for items like About, FAQ, and Groups if a sidebar is absent.
I’d like to split the new combined user & notifications menu into two distinct menus for these reasons:
I generally find the new menu a bit overwhelming for casual users and want to be able to offer a simpler alternative
I want to keep using and making interfaces for Discourse that only offer a sidebar with reduced options. Or no sidebar at all. Then I need a place for items that have been on the hamburger menu so far, like about, faq, groups..
So the idea for the header would be to have two icons, one for notifications, on for user:
I guess I can cobble this together in a theme component. But I wonder what would be the approach that will stay best aligned with future changes in core?
Thanks for any feedback on this from more experienced devs!
