I built a userscript called Discourse Sidebar Feed Panel:
It turns the native Discourse sidebar into a compact topic feed, so I can browse more discussions without opening many separate tabs.
The main motivation is practical rather than cosmetic:
- reduce the number of open topic tabs
- reduce browser memory / CPU pressure
- make Discourse browsing more usable on lower-performance devices
For me, this has been especially helpful on weaker hardware where keeping many Discourse tabs open has a noticeable cost.
Right now this is only a userscript, so it is good for experimentation but not a great long-term integration model.
I would like feedback on what direction makes the most sense if I continue this project:
-
Theme component
- likely the lightest path if this remains mostly front-end behavior
-
Plugin
- likely better if this needs deeper integration, settings, or long-term maintenance
-
Core feature discussion
- not necessarily this exact implementation, but possibly the broader idea of a more feed-oriented sidebar browsing mode
What I want to ask the Meta community is:
- Which route would be most acceptable for something like this: theme component, plugin, or keeping it external?
- Does this problem sound worth solving in a more official way?
- Are there clean extension points for this kind of sidebar/header integration, or would it still be too fragile?
- If this should never be core, what would make it acceptable as a community extension?
I am not assuming this belongs in core. I mainly want honest feedback on whether the problem is real enough, and which implementation path fits Discourse best.
If useful, I can also design a more concrete migration plan from userscript → theme component/plugin.
