Hi everyone, sometime back somebody mentioned to me a component (or was it a plugin?) that would allow me to have more control over what is currently my category navbar. I unfortunately can’t for the life of me find it again (brain fail) :anxious_face_with_sweat::cry:. Help? It was something that would allow me to have a horizontal menu bar for navigation but put in pretty much whatever I wanted, IIRC.

Hm… I’d be surprised if there’s something that can mix arbitrary links in with Header Categories Navbar. :thinking: Custom Header Links can add things to the very top, though.

That might be Custom Top Navigation Links - Theme component - Discourse Meta. Another cool navigation alternative is the sidebar “add custom section” button: [image]

Thanks! That might very well be it. [image] ToddZ: Another cool navigation alternative is the sidebar “add custom section” button: That changes it for all users, not just for me (ETA: the above was a question, question mark missing, apologies for any confusion)

[image] stephtara: That changes it for all users, not just for me Custom Top Navigation Links is always global, but sidebar custom sections can be personal with “Visible to everyone” unchecked. I have a whole sidebar section for myself: [image] As an admin do you see the same visibility option I do?

Sorry there was a question mark missing at the end of my last post… it wasn’t an affirmation, I wanted to be sure it would change things for everyone and not just me. So it’s a good option if I can change things there for everyone!

So, I’ve checked out Custom Top Navigation Links and it’s not really what I was thinking about – it may, however, be what was shared with me previously (I’d made a mental note to check it… but hadn’t). This doesn’t apply to the top navbar space that Header Categories Navbar creates, and that I would like to keep.

ooh, that is not exactly what I thought it was, but it’s really useful! Thanks :slight_smile: Maybe I can do away with the category navbar (though I do like the idea…)

[image] ToddZ: Hm… I’d be surprised if there’s something that can mix arbitrary links in with Header Categories Navbar. :thinking: @ToddZ @stephtara I think you can, but you’d need to fork the component. You might be able to get away with adding more links below the each block. javascripts/discourse/components/custom-categories-navbar.gjs main {{#each this.site.categories as |sc|}} {{#unless sc.parentCategory}} {{categoryLink sc extraClasses=(if (eq this.activeSlug sc.slug) "active") }} {{/unless}} {{/each}} For example, I added a bunch of links before the category list: javascripts/discourse/components/custom-categories-navbar.gjs main {{#each settings.links as |route|}} {{route.label}} {{/each}} {{#each this.site.categories as |sc|}} {{#unless sc.parentCategory}} {{categoryLink sc extraClasses=(if (eq this.activeSlug sc.slug) "active") }} {{/unless}} {{/each}} Settings: [image] This looks like this: [image] Link to repo: GitHub - NateDhaliwal/discourse-categories-navbar: Shows a horizontally scrolling nav of categories in your Discourse site header · GitHub Hope this helps!

Wanted to credit you with a Like… but also: :exploding_head:

[image] stephtara: That changes it for all users, not just for me Have you tried how the sidebar works for mobile users?

Alternative component (plugin?) to categories navbar

Product Support

stephtara (Stephanie Booth) February 14, 2026, 7:35pm 3

Thanks! That might very well be it.

That changes it for all users, not just for me

(ETA: the above was a question, question mark missing, apologies for any confusion)

Topic		Replies	Views
Header Categories Navbar Theme component official , categories-navbar	38	5093	October 19, 2026
Custom Top Navigation Links Theme component official , top-navigation-links	33	19228	December 14, 2025
Toolbar under site header per category Development	13	1350	January 25, 2023
How to make some categories like Bugs and Features here visible in top menu? Product Support	1	2193	September 12, 2018
Ability to create Custom Navigation Filters in top menu Product Support top-navigation-links	4	281	May 6, 2026

Alternative component (plugin?) to categories navbar

Related topics