# Why am I finding Discourse so difficult to customize?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-am-i-finding-discourse-so-difficult-to-customize/303671
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [April 13, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-am-i-finding-discourse-so-difficult-to-customize/303671 "2024-04-13T13:51:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 8

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### Author: ![traceymoko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/traceymoko/32/483235_2.png) [@traceymoko](https://meta.discourse.org/u/traceymoko)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2024, 7:01am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-am-i-finding-discourse-so-difficult-to-customize/303671/8 "2024-04-14T07:01:11Z")

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> [@P\_O](#):
>
> Now if I add another component for example ‘Discourse Topic Cards’ and then go back to the custom css file, apply the changes, click save and then refresh the page, the custom css does not apply.

> [@P\_O](#):
>
> If I want to edit the ‘Discourse Topic Cards’ templates I have to ssh into the discourse docker and edit what to make changes?

If you want to add changes on top of the the Discourse Topic Cards theme component, you can do this:

1. Install Discourse Topic Cards and add it to your active theme
2. Make a new theme component
3. Add the new theme component to the active theme too

You don’t have to ssh into the server or change anything in the source code, or fork the repo.

For an example, here is what I did to make some changes to Discourse Topic Cards for the theme Minima:

> [@Minima Adjustments for Topic Cards](https://meta.discourse.org/t/minima-adjustments-for-topic-cards/303733/1):
>
> ## Instructions
> 
> 1. Install [Discourse Minima](https://meta.discourse.org/t/minima-a-minimal-theme-for-discourse/108178)
> 2. Install [Discourse Topic Cards](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-topic-cards/296048) and add as a theme component to Discourse Minima
> 3. Install this theme component and add as a theme component to Discourse Minima

This way, you still get new updates from the theme, and all the theme components are organised and separated (so you can easily disable/enable for debugging)

But yes I do think this process could be explained a bit better for admins.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-am-i-finding-discourse-so-difficult-to-customize/303671)._