Upstream Discourse has changed how the ≡ site menu works — the new version is a lot more flexible and features per-user customization. We’re still running with the “legacy” menu, but upstream would like to drop that code, and has asked us to move to the new menu. Therefore, we’ll be deploying that in the coming days.
With this new menu, you will be able to configure which tags and categories appear — and you can even add new custom sections with whatever links you personally find useful.
The menu can be set up to appear as a (left-column) sidebar — and you’ll see it called “sidebar” in Discourse documentation, and appearing there on other Discourse sites. However, I think that makes for an even-more-overwhelming front page, and it seems duplicative with the “categories + latest” front page view we have by default. So, for now at least I’m going to leave it at the same “hamburger menu” location.
You can visit meta.discourse.org to experience the new “hamburger” menu/sidebar in action.
The ≡ toggles the sidebar, so it’s only there when you want it.
For those who like a sidebar, and have the screen real estate to support it, it can be left permanently unfurled. Or you can leave it hidden until those moments when you want it for navigation.
I think they did a great job of making the experience the best of both worlds.
@mattdm — is this still true for the configuration you plan to use? I went with the new location and leave it toggled off when I’m not actively navigating, but turn it on when I am.
The side-wide options are “Sidebar” and “Header Dropdown”. “Sidebar” puts it on the left, and you can hide it with a left-top hamburger icon — and clicking that again brings it back as a sidebar. “Header Dropdown” puts it in the same place as the “legacy” menu (top right, just to the left of the user/notification menu), and it acts as a menu (showing as a pop-over panel rather than a sidebar).
I don’t think this is user-configurable. I also think “Header Dropdown” is the best initial change, since it’s the least- disruptive. But we could revisit that later!