Category banners from About-topic copy
Turn each category's About topic into a persistent banner so newcomers see the purpose, rules, and next click before they post.
Why this can grow a startup
Many forums assume users will infer the difference between support, feature requests, announcements, and general discussion from a category name alone. They usually do not. Discourse Category Banners gives the operator a much plainer move: use the category description that already lives in the About topic and surface it as a visible banner on the category page. That reduces wrong-way posting, makes the first screen feel intentional, and gives each part of the forum a clearer job instead of one generic layout everywhere.
Company example
Discourse's Category Banners theme component reads category descriptions from the automatically created About category topic and can show banners even when the operator disables the default hide-without-description setting.
Source and metric
Source: Discourse Meta: Category Banners
The component uses the existing category description and can be configured not to hide banners when a category description is missing.
Source discovered: May 30, 2026
When to use it
Use this when Community, Website, Support is relevant to first-visit clarity, community onboarding, route hygiene and you can run a bounded test with a free budget.
When not to use it
Do not use it as a substitute for customer evidence, a clear owner, or a measurable stop condition. Local platform rules and market behavior still need checking.
Founder checklist
- Read Discourse Meta: Category Banners and identify what is directly supported.
- Choose one channel context: Community, Website, Support.
- Define the test around The component uses the existing category description and can be configured not to hide banners when a category description is missing..
- Set an owner, evidence window, and stop condition before launch.
Explore the context
Apply this with an operator
Build creator and community systems around real incentives, trust, and repeat participation.