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)

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

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ToddZ February 14, 2026, 7:44pm 4

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:

As an admin do you see the same visibility option I do?

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Alternative component (plugin?) to categories navbar

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