Feature specification: Sidebar app identity

Branch gui/sidebar-identity-polish | Created 2026-10-14 | Status Implemented and verified

Input: Improve the left area labeled signaltty, including the app icon if useful; research web best practices, use Emil/Apple/frontend-design skills and deliver a PR.

User scenarios and testing

US1 Recognize the app without competing with workspaces, P1

The app identity has a small original mark and calm wordmark, aligned with the sidebar's controls. It stays static and does not resemble a new action or project selector. Independent test: native light/dark, sidebar at its 200px minimum, enlarged text, native high contrast and RTL renders. Acceptance: full app name and mark are visible at ordinary sidebar widths; at narrow/enlarged text the name can ellipsize with full tooltip while New Workspace stays visible and usable. Keyboard skips decorative branding and reaches the creation action.

US2 Recognize the same identity on the desktop, P1

Launcher and symbolic icons express the same original prompt/parallel-line metaphor. Small versions remain legible and bundled resources resolve without an external icon theme. Independent test: resolve regular and symbolic resources with empty filesystem theme paths, render regular icons at 16/32/64/128 and symbolic versions at 16/24, and run isolated desktop installation tests. Acceptance: UI uses the symbolic variant following native text colors; launcher/notifications/About keep the same application ID and icon name. Installation delivers the artwork bundled in the binary.

Requirements

• FR-001: Replace the bare bold title with a restrained original app mark and wordmark, using native GTK components and the system font.
• FR-002: Use one recognizable prompt/parallel-work metaphor for regular and symbolic app icons. Preserve application/resource/desktop-entry IDs and existing installation paths.
• FR-003: Keep branding non-interactive and decorative artwork out of the accessibility focus order. Preserve readable app-name text, full tooltip and New Workspace's named action, tooltip and accelerator.
• FR-004: Retain visible controls, bounded allocations and logical mirrored alignment at 200px sidebar width, enlarged text and RTL. Native high-contrast styling applies to the symbolic mark.
• FR-005: Original self-contained SVG artwork; no external fonts, icon-library dependency, new animation, protocol, persisted state or terminal rebuilding.
• FR-006: Native renders, installation verification, complete full gate and independent code/spec/visual review precede PR delivery.

Success criteria

• SC-001: Baseline/after real GTK scenes show a coherent small brand lockup without adding header height or a second toolbar.
• SC-002: Branding and New Workspace do not overlap or leave the sidebar in narrow/enlarged/RTL fixtures; New Workspace remains operable from the keyboard and pointer.
• SC-003: Regular and symbolic app icons resolve from bundled resources without filesystem themes and render cleanly at the tested small/large sizes.
• SC-004: Full gate and two independent review axes pass; manual compositor/assistive technology limits are explicit.

Assumptions and scope

Base is f8c3f18, head of open parent PR #106. Deliver a stacked PR against gui/top-bar-polish unless the parent merges before publication. No merge authorization requested for this task. The mark's metaphor is a design choice within the user's authorized scope. Native accessible names/focus and high contrast are testable here; actual desktop launcher/switcher presentation, screen-reader speech/order, OSK, IME and compositor drag are not certified by Xvfb. The user authorized replacing app artwork; no product rename or broad theme redesign is implied.