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Forte Compose Thread — Step 2: Feature Description

Problem

Forte's board toolbar has a "New" button that's permanently disabled — there's no way to start a new thread from within Forte at all, only to reply to existing ones.

User Stories

  • As a Forte board-view reader, I want to click "New" and get a dialog to write a new thread, so I don't have to leave Forte to start one.

  • As a Forte board-view reader who successfully creates a thread, I want to land back on the board with my new thread already selected, so I can see it in context the same way a fresh reply gets restored today.

  • As a Forte board-view reader, I want to dismiss the New dialog (Cancel or Esc) without side effects if I change my mind.

Core Requirements

  • The "New" toolbar button (forte_board.php) becomes enabled and opens a native <dialog> element via .showModal() — a genuinely new UI pattern for this project (no <dialog> is used anywhere else in the codebase today), per the approved Step 1 decision (Option C).

  • The dialog wraps thread_compose_form.php in its full (non-compact) mode — Subject, Board tags, and Body all visible — matching classic's own dedicated /compose/thread page, not the abbreviated inline mode board.php's compact composer uses. A standalone dialog has room for the full form, and Subject shouldn't be silently dropped the way the compact mode drops it.

  • POST /compose/thread (handleComposeThreadSubmit()) gains return_to support, the same shape as resolveComposeReplyReturnTo() already provides for replies: on success, the reader is redirected back to /forte (preserving the active tag filter) with the newly created thread selected (selected={new_thread_id}) — instead of today's unconditional redirect to classic's /threads/{new_thread_id}. This is simpler than the reply case: the server always knows the new thread's ID at redirect time, so the client only needs to supply which tag was active, not which thread to select.

  • No signed-identity support for thread creation in this cycle — new threads created via the dialog always post anonymously (author_identity_id stays empty, thread_compose_form.php's existing default). Reason: lazy_compose_signing.js binds to exactly one [data-compose-root] per page (document.querySelector, not querySelectorAll) — Forte's board page already spends that one slot on the Reply panel. Making the New dialog signed too would need a real fix to that shared script's single-root assumption, which is out of scope here; the original flagged authorship gap (forte_identity_signing) was specifically about replies, not thread creation, so this isn't a regression, just an explicit, recorded exclusion.

  • Validation-error handling matches the same known, accepted limitation forte_reply Stage 5 already established for replies: a failed submission redirects to classic's compose-error rendering (renderComposeThreadPage()), not a Forte-styled inline error. Not fixed here.

  • No changes to classic's own /compose/thread page or board.php's inline compact composer — both keep using thread_compose_form.php exactly as they do today.

Shared Component Inventory

  • thread_compose_form.php — reused unchanged, rendered with compact => false inside the new dialog (the same mode compose_thread.php already uses).

  • handleComposeThreadSubmit() / POST /compose/thread — extended with return_to handling, mirroring the existing resolveComposeReplyReturnTo() pattern for replies (a new sibling helper, not a modification of the reply one).

  • paned_board_reader.js — extended to open/close the new dialog from the "New" toolbar button and to keep the existing selected=/board-restore logic working for a freshly created thread the same way it already does for an existing one.

  • forte.css — extended with <dialog>-specific styling consistent with the paned window's existing look (matching the congruence approach already used for .paned-compose-form/.paned-compose-status).

  • lazy_compose_signing.js / browser_signing.js — not touched; deliberately not wired to the New dialog (see Core Requirements).

Simple User Flow

  1. Reader clicks "New" on the board toolbar.

  2. A dialog opens with Subject, Board tags, and Body fields (same shape as classic's /compose/thread).

  3. Reader submits; on success, they land back on /forte with their tag filter preserved and the new thread selected in the list.

  4. Reader can instead Cancel or press Esc to close the dialog with no thread created.

Success Criteria

  • The "New" button is no longer disabled and opens a working dialog.

  • Submitting the dialog's form creates a thread identical in every way to one created via classic's /compose/thread (same write path, same validation).

  • A successful submission returns the reader to /forte — never to classic — with the tag filter preserved and the new thread selected.

  • Canceling the dialog (Cancel control or Esc) closes it with no thread created and no other side effects.

  • Classic's /compose/thread page and board.php's inline compose-thread flow are both completely unaffected.