Hello,
We use Discourse as Q&A website and i found the wordpress theme below which the idea behind its design is awesome
see how the list is in middle and 2 sidebars… my question is how to achieve something like this in discourse ?
The discussion revolves around customizing Discourse to have two sidebars with the topic list in the middle. Jay91 shared an image of a WordPress theme that inspired this design and asked for help achieving it.
Stephen and merefield suggested using the search function and a post about a native sidebar system, but Jay91 found these unhelpful.
bts provided links to plugins, such as Custom Layouts and Discourse Sidebar Blocks, which could provide a good starting point. Jay91 clarified that he had tested these plugins and found them unsuitable.
Stranik shared his experience with customizing Discourse using components and modifying the discovery.hbs file. He noted that this approach can be difficult to repeat and may require working with CSS and HTML.
Jay91 expressed his appreciation for the help but admitted to not being good with coding. Stranik explained the complexity of creating dynamic content for sidebars and the challenges of making it universal.
merefield suggested using the Custom Layouts plugin and hiring a developer to create custom widgets, as this approach would be more feasible and protect against core upgrades.
Hello,
We use Discourse as Q&A website and i found the wordpress theme below which the idea behind its design is awesome
see how the list is in middle and 2 sidebars… my question is how to achieve something like this in discourse ?
My first step would be to use the search function. See how far you get with that then follow-up if there are any specifics you can’t figure out.
Take a look at the post A native sidebar system
Nothing helpful ![]()
There’s nothing out of the box that will let you do this with zero customization; it would definitely require a plugin + custom configuration. But as others have mentioned, you have some options that may provide a good starting point! These plugins for example both look very promising:
If you’ve installed and tested these plugins and are having problems, I’m sure folks could help further. But just replying “nothing helpful” when multiple people direct you to the most likely places to learn more…is itself not really a helpful reply ![]()
We did this, and this is quite simple for one site, but our approach proved difficult to repeat further.
In any case, you may have to work with the file:
We used to use plugins, but for more rational use you need to do on components. They do not require a restructuring of Discourse. And you can change everything on the fly.
The links above are a 100% solution to what you need. Maybe not ready, and you have to work with CSS (html).
in fact i tested these plugins before not working the way i want to go with here in this post, i said not helpful i meant the search results, not the friends answers.. So maybe yo got me wrong. and i gave likes to them before i reply to show my appreciation.
Gotcha, no worries! Didn’t realize you’d tested various plugins already. More a general point that it can be hard to give more detailed suggestions without knowing exactly what you’re trying to do and where you’re getting stuck. Good luck!
Am not good with coding so you can say i cant start it anyway. all is i want to achieve is having 2 sidebars.
And the way my friend Stranik is suggesting is a little bit difficult… so your help is much appreciated.
The difficulty is not to make another 2 columns, if static html code will be placed there.
And the fact that these columns contain dynamic (changing) content. Which is very individual from the desire, and accordingly from site to site.
One person wants to have tags, another, categories, and a third last answers or statistics. This is the complexity. It is difficult to do something so that it is a constructor and that will suit many.
Moreover, the same should probably be not only on the central page, but also on the category page … And again. It is not recommended to do this plugin. The plugin must be installed, components, it is preferable. But the universal component (as a designer), which is suitable for many, here is the complexity.
I myself still think how best to do it. If we think of something, we will definitely publish it here.
Jay,
Imho the best solution to this is to use the Custom Layouts plugin and add your own custom widgets. The former takes care of most of the heavy layout lifting and neatly isolates you from the main Discourse elements and protects you from core upgrades to a large extent.
Given you don’t appear to have the personal expertise, unless you are willing to put in the extensive time it would take to learn, you should probably consider hiring a developer to help build your widgets. Put an ad with mockups in Marketplace