Forte New Thread Dialog Status — Step 3: Development Plan

Stage 1

• Goal: New Thread dialog has an always-visible status line, reading "Ready" by default, that updates through the existing signing/identity progress and error messages during submission.

• Dependencies: none (Step 2 approved).

• Expected changes:

  • templates/partials/paned_board_new_thread_dialog.php: add a status element (data-role="compose-identity-status") between the titlebar and the compose form, visible by default with initial text "Ready".

  • public/assets/forte.css: style the new status line to fit the dialog's Windows-chrome look; reuse/extend the reply panel's existing .paned-compose-status styling where it fits, without changing that class's hidden-by-default behavior for the reply panel itself.

• Verification approach:

  • Open the New Thread dialog and confirm the status line is visible and reads "Ready" before any interaction.

  • Submit a thread successfully and confirm progress text (e.g., "Preparing signed thread...") appears before navigation away.

  • Force a failure (e.g., no browser key configured) and confirm the error message renders and stays visible in the dialog.

  • Confirm the reply panel's status line is unaffected (still hidden until its first message).

• Risks or open questions:

  • setStatus() unconditionally sets node.hidden = false and overwrites text/kind on every call — confirm no flicker/race between the default "Ready" text and the first real status update.

  • Confirm reusing .paned-compose-status styling doesn't accidentally change the reply panel's hidden-by-default behavior, since both status lines share the same selector convention.

• Canonical components/API contracts touched: [data-role="compose-identity-status"] element + setStatus() in browser_signing.js (both existing and unchanged).