# Estimated timeline on a project? **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/estimated-timeline-on-a-project/117288 **Category:** Marketplace **Created:** [May 9, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/estimated-timeline-on-a-project/117288 "2019-05-09T16:17:30Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 2
### Author: ![angus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/angus/32/341715_2.png) [@angus](https://meta.discourse.org/u/angus) #### Post date: [May 10, 2019, 12:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/estimated-timeline-on-a-project/117288/2 "2019-05-10T00:35:33Z")
Hey! Welcome 🙂 Yes, those features are all possible. Generally speaking Discourse is highly extensible. It has server-side and client-side plugin apis and hooks, which make pretty much anything possible. There are two types of customisations “Themes” (client-side only) and “Plugins” (server and client). If it’s possible to only make client-side changes it’s best to use a theme as they’re easier to modify and update and pose less of a stability risk. If you need to display new data, or want to change things like list algorithms, i.e. you need any server-side work, you’ll need a plugin. In terms of hiring a developer to build stuff, the price ranges are quite variable and tend to depend on the familiarity the developer has with Discourse. Familiarity with the Discourse codebase is a significant benefit in terms: - basic ability to pull off new feature(s) - time it takes to build new feature(s) - stability of new feature(s) over time as Discourse changes - ability to integrate new feature(s) with existing or other new features You could hire a developer on freelancer marketplace, but they would struggle with each of the above points. Which is why folks often spend a little bit more on a developer who has a history working with the Discourse codebase, and will continue to work with it in the future. In terms of price you’re typically looking at between $100 to $200 USD per hour for a senior Discourse developer. Some give you a discount if you’re willing to open-source the resulting code. I give a 20% discount for open source work. In terms of overall time, I tend to use this basic heuristic: - Simple stuff: I’ll get it done within a week - Complex stuff: I’ll get it done within a month. I’ve given you some rough hour estimates below. > [@Tomoe](#): > > - a feed of popular or hot topics There’s a few pre-existing options here, including the standard Discourse ‘Top’ list and the [Discourse Hot Topics](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-hot-topics/48215) plugin. Changing list sorting / filtering algorithms is relatively straightforward in a plugin. Maybe 3 to 4 hours of work for a simple algo change. > [@Tomoe](#): > > - sign up field in the top banner if you aren’t currently logged in Are you thinking of having email and password inputs directly in the header, rather than having them in a modal (i.e. to reduce clicks)? Sure, this is also doable. Off the top of my head it would take roughly 6 hours. > [@Tomoe](#): > > - additional analytics tools or maybe unique dashboard data Often folks use the [Data Explorer Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/data-explorer-plugin/32566) to produce custom stats, but you can also add custom stats to the admin Dashboard in a plugin. For example, I recently did a job for someone who wanted specific stats from some [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) Queries: [[Paid] Data explorer queries for ticketing system use case](https://meta.discourse.org/t/paid-data-explorer-queries-for-ticketing-system-use-case/109402) > [@Tomoe](#): > > fixed sidebar navigation You’ve got a number of options here, for example: - [Topic List Sidebars](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-category-sidebars/107561) - [Layouts Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-layouts-plugin/55208) - [Discourse Sidebar Blocks](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-sidebar-blocks/51457) The best choice depends on what kind of navigation you want. If none of the out of the box solutions suit, personally I would suggest you make a widget that works with my [Layouts Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-layouts-plugin/55208). For example, I recently built a custom navigation widget for someone for $250 USD. The price and time really depends on the detail of what you want. > [@Tomoe](#): > > more robust gamification system (a sidebar with a leaderboard and different amount of points awarded based on different actions) There’s a fair amount of interest in this feature (and ways to use the existing Discourse feature set to achieve the desired outcome). I would initially suggest doing a search for “gamification” here on meta. In terms of getting it built, given the interest in this feature, one option would be to get a co-sponsorship going (i.e. getting multiple folks to sponsor a gamification plugin). We did something similar [for a “Follow” plugin recently](https://meta.discourse.org/t/follow-plugin/110579). You’d be looking at \> $1k USD for this. It would take at least a couple of weeks, if not a month. --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/estimated-timeline-on-a-project/117288)._