# Try out the new sidebar and notification menus!

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/try-out-the-new-sidebar-and-notification-menus/238821
**Category:** Announcements
**Tags:** notifications, sidebar, new-feature
**Created:** [September 20, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/try-out-the-new-sidebar-and-notification-menus/238821 "2022-09-20T14:07:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 184

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### Author: ![Canapin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/canapin/32/119591_2.png) [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2022, 1:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/try-out-the-new-sidebar-and-notification-menus/238821/184 "2022-10-02T13:50:57Z")

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> [@LeoDavidson](#):
>
> **Show categories in the proper order.**
> 
> The categories list is alphabetical. Discourse categories have a specified order explicitly set by the admins, but the sidebar currently ignores that and makes quite a jumble of things.

See:

> [@Try out the new sidebar and notification menus!](https://meta.discourse.org/t/try-out-the-new-sidebar-and-notification-menus/238821/11):
>
> We initially had it implemented this way but found it even more problematic in earlier testing. Part of the problem is that the UI for choosing things doesn’t allow you to easily reorder them. At some point, custom ordering may be on the table, but we need a better UX for that if we want to support it. For now, alphabetical felt like the better tradeoff. I’m not sure I understand this one. Can you clarify what you mean by “causing a bit of confusion on the top side of the screen?”

But like others, I agree that by default the categories should be listed in the same order as on the forum overall. It’s a little bit of a deterrent for me as it focuses my attention -my eyes always go up the list…- on categories that I don’t prioritize, or aren’t prioritized by the forum (through admin settings or activity).

> [@LeoDavidson](#):
>
> **Option to hide Tags entirely.**

Seconding this.  
Also because my own use of tags on one of my forums is [customized](https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-tagging-only-in-some-categories/45335/16) (tags and inputs are hidden overall except for 1 category 😄)

* * *

After using it a bit, I still don’t have a definitive opinion. Plus things are changing. A few things bother me.  
But I looked at the old hamburger menu on my forum and… I realized that the only purpose I had for it was to click the admin button. I almost forgot that it had other options in it, my brain simply ignored them for a long time.  
In the current state, I can say that the new menu seems a real improvement.

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