Topic List Sidebars

:information_source: Formerly “Discourse Category Sidebars” — the name of this theme component has been updated to Topic List Sidebars now that it supports both categories and tags.

:discourse2: Summary Topic List Sidebars takes a topic and applies it as a sidebar for a category or tag’s topic list.
:eyeglasses: Preview Preview on Discourse Theme Creator
:hammer_and_wrench: Repository Link https://github.com/discourse/discourse-topic-list-sidebars
:open_book: New to Discourse Themes? Beginner’s guide to using Discourse Themes

Install this theme component

Features

This theme component takes a topic and applies it as a sidebar for a category or tag’s topic list. These sidebars are only visible when the browser is 767px or wider (most tablets and monitors).

What can I do with this theme component?

  • Choose a topic and display its content as a sidebar for a category or tag.

  • Set a sidebar to be displayed on the /latest, /new, /unread, and /top pages by using all as the category name in your settings.

  • Choose for the sidebars to appear on the left or the right of the topic list.

  • By default a category’s sidebar will also display for all its subcategories unless a subcategory has its own sidebar defined (you can disable this by unchecking the inherit parent sidebar setting).

How do I configure it?

Choose your categories and tags, and add the id of the topic (e.g. example.com/t/example-topic/57) that you would like to use to populate the sidebar’s content

I recommend creating sidebar topics in their respective categories/tags, closing the topic so there are no replies, and unlisting it (so it doesn’t appear in the topic list).

Note that you cannot use a topic in a private category as a sidebar in a public category (you can technically, but users without access to that private topic will just see a empty sidebar!).

Settings

Name Description
sidebars Add and remove sidebars
sidebar side Choose from Left or Right
inherit parent sidebar If checked subcategories will inherit their parent category’s sidebar (unless the subcategory has its own sidebar assigned).

When unchecked subcategories will only display a sidebar if one is specified.
stick on scroll When checked sidebar has a sticky position on scroll

Developer Notes

Each category sidebar is wrapped with a class that contains the category slug, so for the staff category that would be .category-sidebar-staff. You can use these classes to style the individual sidebars.

The body tag on pages with sidebars also has a class added so you can use body.custom-sidebar to apply styles on all pages that have a sidebar.

Credits

:heart: Special thanks to @xrav3nz for laying the groundwork to make this component possible!


:discourse2: Hosted by us? Theme components are available to use on our Standard, Business, and Enterprise plans.

Last edited by @JammyDodger 2024-06-18T11:18:45Z

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