# Our First Partner: How-To Geek

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575
**Category:** Blog
**Created:** [3 Abril, 2013 22:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575 "2013-04-03T22:42:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [3 Abril, 2013 22:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/1 "2013-04-03T22:42:46Z")

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It’s been almost exactly two months since [we launched Discourse](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/02/civilized-discourse-construction-kit.html), and I’m pleased to announce that yesterday we launched the first of our three partners:

That’s right, [**How-To Geek**](http://www.howtogeek.com/142551/building-the-how-to-geek-community-the-discourse-project/)!

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This topic is for comments on the original blog entry, at [Our First Partner: How-To Geek](http://blog.discourse.org/2013/04/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/)

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### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [3 Abril, 2013 23:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/2 "2013-04-03T23:48:22Z")

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I am a huge fan of the design work by @awesomerobot , I think he did a smashing job.

It fascinating that the entire facelift / modification to base discourse theme is done in a site customisation that is 450 lines long (a feature built into discourse). What more as we amend and improve our base CSS, htg should get most of the goodness. (even though some gardening required)

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### Author: ![awesomerobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/awesomerobot/32/142900_2.png) [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 00:19 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/3 "2013-04-04T00:19:38Z")

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Thanks! I’ll be able to chop that down to be even shorter too. It’s a bit messy because this entire How-To Geek project _took less than a week_ to implement (hell, and some of us have day jobs :wink2:).

Really I think the whole process being turned around in such a small amount with a product that’s still very much in beta (and changing daily) is a great testament to how well this whole thing has been built. Yay team!

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### Author: ![geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/geek/32/102154_2.png) [@geek](https://meta.discourse.org/u/geek)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 00:20 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/4 "2013-04-04T00:20:56Z")

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I am incredibly impressed at the work that he did making Discourse look exactly like a part of the HTG site.

That was my number one worry about Discourse, and it isn’t even a problem.

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### Author: ![mcwumbly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mcwumbly/32/103861_2.png) [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 04:06 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/5 "2013-04-04T04:06:05Z")

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Great work everyone. Looks nice, fits the rest of the site, and feels really snappy too.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [6 Abril, 2013 07:40 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/6 "2013-04-06T07:40:12Z")

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I moved 3 posts to a new topic: [Discourse Hub nickname uniqueness not working?](http://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-hub-nickname-uniqueness-not-working/5664)

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### Author: ![PabloC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pabloc/32/49633_2.png) [@PabloC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/PabloC)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 12:02 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/7 "2013-04-04T12:02:45Z")

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Can you share some tips about how the design was made?

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### Author: ![kuba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/kuba/32/6049_2.png) [@kuba](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kuba)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 14:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/8 "2013-04-04T14:48:08Z")

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Well, if you examine the source code of the site, you’ll find a nice included CSS file: [http://discuss.howtogeek.com/uploads/stylesheet-cache/7e9278bd-51ba-4813-a56a-f7de6ddc007c.css?17ebb74886f14d738ba5c10e8f1979f3](http://discuss.howtogeek.com/uploads/stylesheet-cache/7e9278bd-51ba-4813-a56a-f7de6ddc007c.css?17ebb74886f14d738ba5c10e8f1979f3)

Which contains _all the customization_ that was done. Seriously, that’s it! Try disabling this file in your browser and you’ll get the completely same look as you have here on [meta.discourse.org](http://meta.discourse.org).

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### Author: ![PabloC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pabloc/32/49633_2.png) [@PabloC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/PabloC)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 15:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/9 "2013-04-04T15:08:05Z")

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I think I love you.  
Tks. 😄

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### Author: ![awesomerobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/awesomerobot/32/142900_2.png) [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 19:00 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/10 "2013-04-04T19:00:05Z")

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Yep, @kuba got it. Best advice I could give is to use a decent set of developer tools like the ones built into Chrome or Firebug to help wrap your head around the HTML structure… and you often have to use !important to override the existing styles in the main theme.

I’m also working on a second complete theme for Discourse that’s a fairly more involved process (and Discourse doesn’t yet have the tools to implement). I’ll post a writeup of some kind on that process when it’s done which is still rather TBD.

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### Author: ![NinjaFoodstuff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ninjafoodstuff/32/103796_2.png) [@NinjaFoodstuff](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NinjaFoodstuff)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2013 22:01 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/11 "2013-04-04T22:01:52Z")

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I had no idea there was a wordpress plugin for this. Time to get to work!

Edit: and utterly painless. Best 0.0.1 version plugin ever!

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### Author: ![steelmaiden](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/steelmaiden/32/125527_2.png) [@steelmaiden](https://meta.discourse.org/u/steelmaiden)
#### Post date: [5 Abril, 2013 12:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/12 "2013-04-05T12:08:33Z")

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Which plugin?

Is there a plugin to migrate from bbpress to discourse?

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### Author: ![NinjaFoodstuff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ninjafoodstuff/32/103796_2.png) [@NinjaFoodstuff](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NinjaFoodstuff)
#### Post date: [5 Abril, 2013 12:19 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/13 "2013-04-05T12:19:56Z")

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[https://github.com/discourse/wp-discourse/](https://github.com/discourse/wp-discourse/)

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### Author: ![steelmaiden](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/steelmaiden/32/125527_2.png) [@steelmaiden](https://meta.discourse.org/u/steelmaiden)
#### Post date: [5 Abril, 2013 12:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/14 "2013-04-05T12:46:44Z")

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I need to know if you are going to publish the bbPress → Discourse migration plugin or should i do the migration manually?

Thanks

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### Author: ![geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/geek/32/102154_2.png) [@geek](https://meta.discourse.org/u/geek)
#### Post date: [5 Abril, 2013 15:50 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/15 "2013-04-05T15:50:21Z")

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There is no bbPress migration plugin at this point - I did not want to migrate the old stuff over, so we just started with a clean slate.

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### Author: ![PabloC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pabloc/32/49633_2.png) [@PabloC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/PabloC)
#### Post date: [6 Abril, 2013 22:55 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/16 "2013-04-06T22:55:17Z")

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@geek could you update us on this few days with Discourse integrated in your blog?

People post new topics?

One interesting aspect I see is that most notable comments are part of your blog, which is really great indexed, which will add more original content to your site.

Any short story or feedback that you could share with us?

Tks!

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### Author: ![sdaugherty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sdaugherty/32/102997_2.png) [@sdaugherty](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sdaugherty)
#### Post date: [7 Abril, 2013 12:23 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/17 "2013-04-07T12:23:24Z")

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The forum-blog integration that’s demonstrated with the Wordpress-Discourse integration is hands down the most polished I’ve ever seen. Amazing.

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### Author: ![geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/geek/32/102154_2.png) [@geek](https://meta.discourse.org/u/geek)
#### Post date: [7 Abril, 2013 14:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/18 "2013-04-07T14:33:17Z")

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After 5 full days of running Discourse, I’m absolutely thrilled with how it’s going. It’s so much easier to keep up with everything, and the community moderation features are so great - I don’t have to worry about spammers because the community can handle them.

Most of what I’ve been trying to do is just help train the users on the proper usage for the forum (getting the old forum members to use the Like button instead of “me too” has been interesting).

The interesting thing is that my old forum was BORING. Nothing but tech support requests. The new forum is immediately better, there are still tech support questions, but a lot less of them for some reason.

I’ll do a writeup about the forum at some point.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [20 Mayo, 2013 19:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/19 "2013-05-20T19:34:10Z")

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I moved 2 posts to a new topic: [Is Discourse still looking for partners?](http://meta.discourse.org/t/is-discourse-still-looking-for-partners/6742)

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### Author: ![jab](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jab/32/105206_2.png) [@jab](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jab)
#### Post date: [20 Mayo, 2013 11:07 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575/21 "2013-05-20T11:07:20Z")

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I remember reading about linked accounts or name reservation before, so I just registered on HTG and logged in using my Google account, it didn’t automatically suggest jab for the username, but when I changed it to jab it recognised that my email matched the registered username.

Is this how registration on other sites is supposed to work?  
Should it suggest the reserved/registered username automatically?  
Is it up to the individual site if they choose to use/respect existing registrations or have a separate namespace for usernames?

[Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/our-first-partner-how-to-geek/5575.md?page=2)
