[RFP] Discourse UX Overhaul, Theme Customization & Plugin Audit

[thadeus (Ted)]

I hope I will not make it too complex below, but as a Project Manager with techie’ background - I’ll do my best to provide as functional description as possible we are looking for an experienced Discourse developer/company to help us revitalize our existing community forum (running on Discourse). This is paid job offer

Scope of Work

1. Theme Selection & Customization (No scratch-built themes needed)

   1. We do not need a custom theme built entirely from scratch;
   2. We need your expertise to select a solid, existing theme/framework and customize it to align with our brand identity (minimalist aesthetic, custom typography/fonts);
   3. Deliver a fully polished Dark Mode and mobile layout with corresponding logo variations (mobile & dark-specific logos);
   4. Clean up minor UI/CSS bugs (e.g., footer wrapper glitches) - but not sure if this will be a case if we rebuild.

2. Database & Content

   1. Data retention: We would prefer to keep 100% of our existing users, threads, posts, and community history;
   2. Database cleanup: Help us merge, rename, and clean up categories and duplicates without losing valuable user contributions.

3. Plugin & Admin Settings Audit
   Our current instance has several plugins installed, but many are misconfigured or inactive. We need you to:

   1. Audit our current plugin stack;
   2. Advise on which plugins to keep, which to replace with better/standard out-of-the-box alternatives, and which require custom tweaks;
   3. Key areas of interest: gamification/custom badges , support deflection (Solved plugin, knowledge base integrations) , and product feedback tracking (Topic Voting, Issues & Requests category setup).

4. UX & Composer Tweaks

   1. Composer Overhaul: Replace the default, space-consuming preview panel with a modern helper panel/content assistant;
   2. Navigation: Improve thread-view navigation.

5. Integrations (optional, possible in future)

   1. Set up extended OAuth login flows;
   2. Connect the forum with our product and support stack (specifically Freshdesk and GitHub integrations).

What We Provide?

• Access to the dev forum (Docker on AWS EC2 instance);
• Low-fidelity wireframes, UX directions;
• Project Manager (me )

If you have more questions - please feel free to post here, so all can have the same set of information to quote from

If you are interested please reach out with:

• Examples of Discourse forums you have customized (especially those involving third-party theme adaptations);
• Your estimated availability and typical pricing model (hourly vs. project-based) - ranges are also okay, I will reach out directly with more information to the offerents

[chapoi]

@thadeus

1. Composer Overhaul: Replace the default, space-consuming preview panel with a modern helper panel/content assistant;

Just an FYI that any composer work is usually a massive undertaking. The phrasing of this makes me wonder if you have enabled Rich Text Mode?

This mode doesn’t have a preview at all anymore, or better said, is the preview.

[merefield (Robert)]

@chapoi

The phrasing of this makes me wonder if you have enabled Rich Text Mode?

Or Nested Replies?

@thadeus

2. Navigation: Improve thread-view navigation.

[thadeus (Ted)]

Thx for quick repiles! I am not the Discourse specialist, so let me show you how the composer looks for us:

It’s some kind of “popup frame” from the bottom up, but it’s narrow/tight space. I can theoretically turn it on to “fullscreen” but it only resizes the “text frame” to fullscreen, not whole “composer”.

Maybe it’s just our design or the theme makes it look “unfriendly”, but that’s the impression from a lot of people internally and some of the users returned negative feedback about it a well.

Apologies for using my “noobish” wording, I am not sure if I call things properly (but doing my best to explain as good a I can ).

[pacharanero (Marcus Baw)]

Hi @thadeus I’ll reply more fully by PM

[jahan_gagan]

Hi @thadeus,

I’ve sent you a PM with a detailed proposal covering my approach, relevant examples, and a few questions to help scope the project accurately. Happy to discuss further once you’ve had a chance to review it.

Thanks.

[thadeus (Ted)]

Thanks for all your interest - I’ve already replied to all of you who DM’ed me. I have also edited first comment - of course it’s paid job, although budget is not decided yet. I need to know “market value”, none will be rejected without knowing the reason and chances for negotiations

I’ll keep the offer opened until the end of the week and will report back to my bosses next week, so feel free to post additional questions or ping in PM.