Hi Guys, Just setting up a new forum, looking to add a directory of businesses/services?
Any ideas?
AI-generated summary
In a discussion titled āHow to add a directory of people/businesses to my theme?ā, users explore options for creating a business directory within a Discourse forum. Tennisboy initiates the thread seeking ideas. pfaffman suggests using categories and tags to organize businesses. Heliosurge recommends theme components like custom headers, link banners, and responsive footers, pointing to relevant resources in #theme-component. simon proposes using Discourseās āgroupā model as a natural fit for businesses, citing features like descriptions, members, badges, and permissions ā and notes the existing groups directory could serve as a ready-made business directory. pfaffman adds that categories might be better if open contributions are desired, though they lack membership features. simon expands on this, imagining a future ācustom group typesā feature that could enable URLs like https://forum.example.com/g?type=business, making the groups directory ideal for business listings ā especially if businesses are central to the forumās purpose.
Maybe create a category for them and allow people to create topics for each business?
Maybe use tags for services?
Jay has a really good idea. If it is a set number of businesses there is a variety of options from Page Publishing.
To a variety of Theme components like
A variety of header menu options.
Header Submenus
There are more possible options in Customization > Theme component
Link Banners
There are more possible options in Customization > Theme component
Easy Responsive footer
And likely a whole lot more. It is Discourse of course. 
Maybe think of it in terms of what aspect of Discourse (technically, what model in the Discourse database) comes closest to representing the key elements of a business.
None of these seem to fit:
- post
- topic
- tag
- category
I think a āgroupā is a good match for a business. Discourse groups have fields for:
- name
- description
- owners
- members
- an (optional) badge that can be used to distinguish group members
- an (optional) email domain that can be used to automatically add users to the group
- an (optional) incoming email address that can be used to message the group on the forum via email
- permissions (that can be used to manage category permissions, etc)
Those fields seem to map to the aspects of a business that you might want to represent on a forum. Discourse also has a āgroups directoryā and individual group pages. I suspect that the groups directory could become your business directory with little to no custom work.
Obviously, this all depends on your specific use case. If businesses are not a key part of your forum, you might want to take a different approach.
Interesting idea. If you need to be able to have users be members of the businesses and know a priori what they are so that an admin can add them, this is a test idea.
If you just want a list of these businesses, using a category, perhaps with a template, may be what you want to do. This way anyone could contribute new businesses. But youād not be able for people to join the business.
It would be a great idea if it was possible to create ācustom group typesā:
That would give you a business directory at https://forum.example.com/g?type=business
Without that feature, it could work well if businesses were the primary focus of the forum - so the groups page would essentially become a business directory.