Hi, I’m a newbie. I have created a Welcome category and the description which seems to function as the first topic. I have altered the category order so that it at the top of the list and General at the bottom and that lists okay, but the landing page always shows General at the top - then feedback then other categories which has to be opened to reveal the welcome category and description. How can I get the landing page to show the Welcome category first. I would ideally like the other categories to land opened. I’m sorry if this has been asked before as it seems very basic.

Hi wrcstewart! I’m not sure from your description how you’ve altered the category order, but you’re probably close. If we started from scratch, there are a couple of things to look at… First, the site setting fixed_category_positions should be enabled: [image] Then on your /categories page, click the wrench to see Reorder Categories. The order you set for categories here is reflected in the sidebar: [image] If this doesn’t get you there, maybe some screenshots would help illustrate what you’re seeing.

Screenshots would help! You mentioned a ‘sidebar’ in the title but I see no indication of that in your post. Could you elaborate further on this? [image] wrcstewart: I would ideally like the other categories to land opened. Hmm… I’m not getting this part. Could you explain more? Are you referring to nested categories? I also take it that the ‘landing page’ is in fact the Categories (/categories) page?

Hi - thanks for reply. I have in fact done what you suggest and am left with the single problem that when the user lands on the landing page - the hamburger menu is closed whilst it would be much better if it were open showing the categories. Please can you click on the url : butterflydreaming and you will see what I mean - thanks for any advice on how to configure so the hamburger arrives open

The problem is that you have used the default “about this category” topic. It’s only made as a place to save the category description, and because of that there is special code that hides it from /latest. If you copy its content to a new topic, things should work much better.

Aha - I’m getting it now - when I put in a link to the my forum I can put in /categories at the end then it will open as the categories list. Sorry to be dense.

thanks - I have sort of figured out I can direct the browser to open just about anywhere by putting in the appropriate link - obvious once you realise!

When I arrive at your site, the hamburger menu (sidebar) is open. Do you mean that you want your other categories to appear in the sidebar list, something like this? [image] If that’s what you mean, look in Admin for the site setting “Default navigation menu categories” and add your other categories to that list.

RE: my earlier comment:Aha - I’m getting it now - when I put in a link to the my forum I can put in /categories at the end then it will open as the categories list. Sorry to be dense.

i suggest reading this topic [image] Configuring the default sidebar for your users Administrators The sidebar provides quick access to important sections of your Discourse site. While users can customize their own sidebar to suit their preferences, providing a thoughtful default setup helps especially new users and visitors of your forum by making it easier for them to navigate. This guide explains how to customize the existing sections and create additional sections in the sidebar. You will also learn which settings you can adjust to configure defaults for the user preferences related to t…

You can also configure /categories to be the default homepage by changing the order of the items in the top menu site setting. The one at the top is your default homepage [image]Default Homepage [IMG_1133]

Getting rid of general on the landing page sidebar

Product Support

Lilly (Lillian ) March 20, 2026, 10:34am 11

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Getting rid of general on the landing page sidebar

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