# Indented Subcategories
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838
**Category:** Theme component
**Tags:** sidebar
**Created:** [January 20, 2026, 3:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838 "2026-01-20T03:22:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2026, 3:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/1 "2026-01-20T03:22:24Z")
| | | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ℹ | **Summary** | Automatically indents subcategories in the sidebar |
| 👓 | **Preview** | [https://discourse.theme-creator.io/theme/Lilly/discourse-indented-subcategories](https://discourse.theme-creator.io/theme/Lilly/discourse-indented-subcategories) |
| 🛠 | **Repository** | [https://github.com/Lillinator/indented-subcategories](https://github.com/Lillinator/indented-subcategories) |
| ❓ | **Install Guide** | [How to install a theme or theme component](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-install-a-theme-or-theme-component/63682) |
Install this theme component
## ℹ Overview
This simple theme component automatically indents all subcategories in the sidebar - works in desktop, tablet and mobile viewport sizes.
There is one setting to change the indent size - the default is `1em`, minimum `0.5em` and maximum `3em`.
**Settings:**
**Screenshot of example result in sidebar:**
* * *
### 💡 Notes
This theme component is only intended for single level subcategories. If your forum has sub-subcategories enabled, this component will probably break, or at least not look very good in your sidebar.
This component replaces the now deprecated [Indented / Nested Sidebar Categories or Subcategories](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-nested-sidebar-categories-or-subcategories/329437).
* * *
**[Check out my other Discourse stuff](https://meta.discourse.org/filter?q=category%3Acustomization%20created-by%3ALilly%20order%3Acreated)**
---
### Author:  [@ishua\_wang](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ishua_wang)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2026, 10:29am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/2 "2026-02-02T10:29:05Z")
nice job! It will be wonderful if it can fold or unfold for the parent categories. Is it possible?
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2026, 2:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/3 "2026-02-02T14:38:29Z")
no - sorry, but i have no plans to add more options to this component.
---
### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2026, 10:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/4 "2026-02-06T22:44:02Z")
Nice work Lilly - delightfully simple and effective. A marked improvement!!
Also, I love the clear admin notice about it.
---
### Author:  [@Neil\_Evans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Neil_Evans)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2026, 12:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/5 "2026-02-18T12:45:25Z")
It would be useful to have the option to indent on mobile too
---
### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/6 "2026-02-18T14:54:31Z")
I agree - and hadn’t noticed that it doesn’t until you pointed it out just now!
@Lilly, did the old TC indent on mobile?
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2026, 4:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/7 "2026-02-19T04:34:44Z")
i refactored this component and it should work for you on mobile now. let me know if there are issues. edited OP.
---
### Author:  [@tknospdr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tknospdr)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/8 "2026-02-20T14:28:09Z")
What was the thought/reason for deprecating a more full featured component (Nested categories) in favor of this one with less control?
Can I keep using the old one even though it’s deprecated or is it going to eventually break?
---
### Author:  [@Neil\_Evans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Neil_Evans)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2026, 9:29am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/9 "2026-03-19T09:29:21Z")
Works great - thanks so much Lilly! I can remove my CSS workaround now 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Neil\_Evans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Neil_Evans)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2026, 11:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/10 "2026-03-19T11:41:17Z")
Ahah - it indents fine in portrait, but not in landscape (using an iPad)
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/11 "2026-03-19T12:49:30Z")
works on my ipad 🤷♀️
let me guess, it’s doing that two-column sidebar view?
---
### Author:  [@Neil\_Evans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Neil_Evans)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2026, 1:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/12 "2026-03-19T13:05:15Z")
Ahah - sorry, forgot to mention my custom CSS forces it to single column on mobile. It works fine in portrait (indented like desktop) but is a plain-flat list in landscape
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2026, 2:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/13 "2026-03-19T14:44:18Z")
this is what i see on my iPad in both landscape and portrait views:
i think firefox view was sometimes weird on tablet with 2-columns. i pushed a fix that should force it to use single column all the time.
---
### Author:  [@Neil\_Evans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Neil_Evans)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/indented-subcategories/393838/14 "2026-03-19T15:47:19Z")
Ah -it’s working for me now too, sorry! It seems to go “flat” when you rotate the device - but fixes itself if you refresh. Thanks for checking!!