Bundle of UX + feature work. Split from packaging by intent so the diff
is reviewable; the next Theseus rebuild ships it.
Features
- Download tracker (new): session.on("will-download") → per-item state
{id, filename, url, mime, total, received, state, savePath, startedAt}
with updated/done event handlers. New downloadsPop WebContentsView
loads downloads.html (new file) + downloads-preload.js (new file);
panel positioned under a new #downloads toolbar button between search
and Tor. Full IPC: downloads-get, toggle/close/resize-downloads,
download-open/show/cancel/clear, downloads-clear-all. In-memory only —
cross-session persistence is a future addition. Button badge shows
active count + spin/done/err color.
- Search engines split by kind + tier:
* kind: "search" | "llm" — separate headers in picker + settings
("Search with" / "Ask an AI"). Empty sections hidden.
* tier: "catalog" | "extra" — Settings now has THREE panes behind the
"+ Add search engine" button: curated catalog, wider discoverable
bank filtered by a live search input, custom URL form.
* DEFAULT_ENABLED unchanged (5 major engines).
* Custom user-added engines carry tier="custom" (never in catalog/extra
panes).
- 9 tier="extra" engines added (all non-login ?q=): Marginalia, Stract,
Yep, Presearch, MetaGer, Qwant, Swisscows, Naver, Baidu. Same rot rule
as LLMs: if one starts bouncing to a login gate, drop it.
Bug fixes
- Loadbar collapses to 0px when idle (was reserving a permanent 2px
strip below the address bar). .loadbar {height:0} + .loadbar.on
{height:2px} + 120ms transition.
- Native <select> popup theme sync via :root { color-scheme: dark } +
@media(prefers-color-scheme: light). nativeTheme.themeSource already
drives prefers-color-scheme, so the OS popup color follows the app
theme automatically (fixed light popup on dark app / vice versa).
- .ctl layout flipped to flex-direction: row with flex-wrap so
anti-fingerprint mode + value fields fit side-by-side.
Settings restructure
- General section: Startup group at the top ("Open previous windows and
tabs" toggle), then Appearance below with three visual THEME CARDS
(System / Light / Dark) — small mock-browser previews per theme,
Firefox-style, active card gets a blue ring. System pipes through to
nativeTheme.themeSource = "system".
- Search promoted to a top-level sidebar item between General and
Naming. Search-engine controls moved out of General into Search.
- Search section: enabled list shows only enabled engines, grouped by
kind, drag-reorder within a kind. "+ Add search engine" opens the
catalog/extras/custom-URL panel.
Search engine catalog trims (already flagged in prior work)
- Removed ChatGPT / Claude / You.com (login-gated ?q=).
- Removed SearXNG (federated; every single-instance default rots).
Docs
- TheseusNavigator/PENDING.md and GOTCHAS.md born with this work
(see the HANDOFF.md commit for the convention).
- PENDING.md's own "session: 2026-08-02:theseus-ux-polish" group will be
emptied after this ship lands.
Preview harness
- _preview.html + _settings-preview.html stubs updated with kind + tier
+ downloads seed + tier="extra" samples so the preview reflects reality.
Both files are gitignored — local only.
Coordination
- Parallel session's collision-policy work (chrome.html registry chips,
popover switcher, Naming section, in-tab collision prompt) already
landed in commits 256079d/42b340f/b0d6375/78dddda. This commit adds
cleanly on top.
Dropped the OpenSearch "+" item from the engine dropdown and the per-page
OpenSearch scan that fed it (it ran a fetch on every page load). Users add
engines via Settings instead.
- Custom engine dropdown as a floating overlay view (engine-picker.html) that
renders REAL favicons per engine — a native <select> can't show images.
- Larger catalog (DuckDuckGo/Google/Brave/Bing/Startpage/Yandex/Ecosia/Mojeek/
SearXNG/Wikipedia/Perplexity); Settings has a favicon checklist to choose
which appear in the dropdown (enabledEngines), plus manual add/remove.
- OpenSearch "scan": pages advertising a search engine surface an
"Add <site>'s search" entry in the dropdown.
- Toolbar search box now just a magnifier button that opens the dropdown
(no per-engine icon in the bar).
