Operator feedback after the redesign-v2 epic shipped (PRs #102-#108):
the bold ember-gradient pill, the left-shifting hover, the duplicate
profile dropdown, and the divider below the header all read too
heavy. Four targeted refinements in one PR.
1. Move profile from sidebar bottom → TopSearchBar user-menu chip
(top-right). The chip already existed (sub-convoy #3, PR #105);
the sidebar's UserProfileDropdown was redundant. Removed from
BOTH desktop sidebar and mobile drawer. Kept for logged-out
visitors only (the top bar renders null when user is null, so
the sidebar still surfaces the auth path via the existing
Sign-in CTA branch).
2. Active state: bold ember-gradient pill → 1px ember border on
transparent background.
- styles/globals.css .nav-item-active: dropped the
linear-gradient + 3-stop box-shadow glow. Now: transparent bg,
accent-ember text color, inset 0 0 0 1px var(--accent-ember).
- Dark theme variant uses a slightly hotter ember
(rgb(255,138,80)) for eye-perception correction against the
deep-navy substrate. AA contrast measured: 5.4:1 on dark
navy bg, 4.6:1 on light cream bg — both pass 4.5:1 normal-
text threshold.
3. Hover state: left-shifting border + transform → static
transparent ember-tinted background.
- Removed `border-left: 3px solid var(--accent-flame)` +
`padding-left: calc(1rem - 3px)` on .nav-item-hover:hover
(and focus-within). These were causing the 3px-width shift
the operator called "movement with the left align."
- Removed `transform: translateX(4px)` on .nav-item:hover and
.nav-item-bottom:hover — the horizontal-jitter the operator
also flagged.
- Both classes now apply a flat `background-color:
rgba(216, 67, 21, 0.08)` (light) / `rgba(255, 138, 80, 0.10)`
(dark) on hover/focus-within with zero geometry shift.
4. TopSearchBar bottom divider removed.
- styles change in components/ui/TopSearchBar.js: dropped the
`0 1px 0 var(--border)` segment from the box-shadow
composition. The rim-light-inner top highlight stays so the
bar still reads as elevated chrome against the gradient body,
but there's no longer a hairline below — page content flows
visually seamlessly out of the header.
Test fix:
- test/components/Layout.test.js test #4 ("renders the supplied
user email") asserted the FULL email `foo@bar.com`. The
sidebar UserProfileDropdown used to render that; the TopSearchBar
chip renders the username (or email's local-part as fallback) —
`'foo'` for `foo@bar.com`. The assertion now checks for `'foo'`
+ retains the maintainer-email negative check. Renamed the
test to "flows the supplied user through to the rendered
surface (TopSearchBar chip)" with an inline comment explaining
the shift; the three other P0 #7 regression-lock cases are
unchanged and still pass.
Tests:
- npm run test:run: 113/113
- npm run lint: clean (1 pre-existing unused-disable warning)
- npm run build: green
Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>