We use a deep, two-level category structure (all public libraries of our city with their individual branches, plus a central library with its own top-level categories). Recently we needed to introduce a third nesting level in some category branches.
As soon as one category anywhere in the tree has a grandchild category, the categories homepage switches its rendering mode: instead of the compact grid of boxes (parent category with its direct children listed inside), all categories are rendered as a long, single-column list. This makes the homepage extremely long and hard to scan for our ~1,200 staff users.
This appears to be governed by the isGrandParent property described in this related thread: When you add an additional nesting level, all categories, including child categories, are displayed on the categories page
What we’d like
Our preferred option: a way to keep the standard “boxes” homepage layout even when a category has a third nesting level — e.g. by simply not showing the grandchild categories on the homepage (they’d still be reachable via the parent category page).
Alternatively, a native, expandable/collapsible view for categories with grandchildren directly on the categories homepage, so users can expand only the branches they need instead of everything being listed flat.
Why we’re asking for a native/official solution
We’re aware there are theme-component/CSS or JS workarounds (e.g. overriding isGrandParent via modifyClass) discussed in the older thread linked above. We’d prefer not to go down that route: we don’t have deep front-end expertise in-house, and we’re concerned about unexpected side effects or breakage on future Discourse updates if we override core rendering logic ourselves. A supported setting or official option would be much safer for us to maintain long-term.
We’re aware that Discourse doesn’t officially recommend deep nesting, but for our organizational structure (multiple institutions, each with several physical locations, each needing their own space) it isn’t optional for us.
A supported way to control the homepage display for these cases would help a lot and we are sure, since 2021 there could be the need for a hidden 3rd level in other organisations, too?
Screenshots attached: our current 2-level homepage layout
and how it currently breaks once a 3rd level is introduced.
