Sub-categories push new topics out of view

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The discussion revolves around the issue of sub-categories pushing new topics out of view in the sidebar, particularly on desktop. maiki highlights the problem with a screenshot, noting that the large sub-category boxes make it difficult to see new topics. mcwumbly acknowledges the issue and has already reduced the size of the boxes by simplifying category descriptions. However, tvavrda points out that the problem persists on mobile. mcwumbly outlines several potential solutions, including hiding sub-categories, reorganizing the sidebar, or applying custom CSS to adjust visibility on mobile. tvavrda suggests a

1

I love seeing new topic counts on the sidebar. When I click on a category with many sub-categories, the new topics are pushed out of my view. Here’s an example:

Screenshot 2022-09-26 at 12-45-37 New documentation topics - Discourse Meta
Screenshot 2022-09-26 at 12-45-37 New documentation topics - Discourse Meta1919×963 134 KB

Here is the full page view:

Screenshot 2022-09-26 at 12-45-47 New documentation topics - Discourse Meta
Screenshot 2022-09-26 at 12-45-47 New documentation topics - Discourse Meta1919×1281 238 KB

Is there a way to hide the sub-categories or re-sort the order of content to have new topics prominent on the page? :thinking:

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2

The boxes are big and we have more of them now than we used to…

It’s easy to hide the subcategories. Let me try one other things before I do that though.

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4

I’ve updated the category descriptions and removed the images, so the boxes are much smaller now.

Perhaps its still too much, but it should be much better than before.

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5

That doesn”t fix the problem on mobile though. Maybe “Expand” button like when you go to Inbox on mobile would solve this?

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6

Yeah, the mobile UX leaves something to be desired in its current state.

I’m a bit torn about next steps. I see the following options:

  1. Do nothing.
  2. Remove documentation from the default sidebar categories and replace it with some of the subcategories directly.
  3. Stop showing these subcategory boxes altogether
  4. Show them on desktop, but not on mobile (a bit of custom CSS, I think)
  5. Slim down the boxes further on mobile and don’t show descriptions (a bit if custom CSS, I think)
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8

Or hide them under an Expand >> like button (e.g. “Subcategories >>) so you know there is something but it is hidden by default.

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