# Changing layout with themes
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-layout-with-themes/127783
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [September 6, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-layout-with-themes/127783 "2019-09-06T09:33:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@klemstance](https://meta.discourse.org/u/klemstance)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-layout-with-themes/127783/1 "2019-09-06T09:33:04Z")
Hi there,
Just to avoid wasting time trying something that’s not feasible, is it possible to significantly change the layout of pages using themes? Specifically, we would like to change the linespacing and remove the user badges from the topic listing, and widen the horizontal space used when viewing the actual posts. Is this a simple matter of CSS tweaking, or are we going to collide with things that are more hard coded?
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### Author:  [@Johani](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Johani)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2019, 9:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-layout-with-themes/127783/2 "2019-09-06T09:50:11Z")
Hi and welcome to Meta @klemstance 👋
> [@klemstance](#):
>
> is it possible to significantly change the layout of pages using themes?
Yes, the Discourse theme system allows you to pretty much customize everything on the client-side, nothing is hardcoded.
We have a couple of guides that can help you get started
> [@Beginner's guide to using Discourse Themes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginners-guide-to-using-discourse-themes/91966):
>
> This is a crash course in Discourse theme basics. The target audience is everyone who is not familiar with Discourse themes. If you’ve already used Discourse theme / theme components, this guide is probably not something you need to read. What are themes and theme components? A theme or theme component is a set of files packaged together designed to either modify Discourse visually or to add new features. Let’s start with themes. Themes In general, themes are not supposed to be compatible …
> [@Developing Discourse Themes & Theme Components](https://meta.discourse.org/t/developer-s-guide-to-discourse-themes/93648):
>
> Discourse Themes and Theme Components can be used to customize the look, feel and functionality of Discourse’s frontend. This section of the developer guides aims to provide all the reference materials you need to develop simple themes for a single site, right up to complex open-source theme components. This introduction aims to provide a map of all the tools and APIs for theme development. If you prefer a step-by-step tutorial for theme development, jump straight to: Themes vs. Theme Compon…
and a collection of open source themes and components for you to look at in the #Customization > Theme category
As for the specifics in your post
> [@klemstance](#):
>
> change the line spacing
✅ Line spacing can be changed easily with CSS
> [@klemstance](#):
>
> remove the user badges from the topic listing
✅ I’m not sure I understand what you’re referring to, but you can add or remove elements with a theme / component. You can also hide elements with CSS.
> [@klemstance](#):
>
> widen the horizontal space used when viewing the actual posts
✅ This is doable with CSS but you’d need to be aware of the effects your changes might have on the timeline (the scrollbar on the right-side of topics). That said, this is all just CSS and you can make whatever changes you want if you know what you’re doing.
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### Author:  [@klemstance](https://meta.discourse.org/u/klemstance)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2019, 9:55am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-layout-with-themes/127783/3 "2019-09-06T09:55:14Z")
Wow - I appreciate the detailed reply!
Sounds promising - I’ll dig in and have a play around, then. Thanks again.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2019, 9:55am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-layout-with-themes/127783/4 "2019-10-06T09:55:34Z")
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