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Forte Profiles — Step 2: Feature Description

Problem

Forte has no user directory and no Forte-native profile destination; author names link out to classic today, inherited for free via a shared template helper.

User Stories

  • As a Forte board-view reader, I want to click an author's name and get a quick summary without leaving the board, so I can identify who I'm reading without losing my place.

  • As a Forte board-view reader who wants more detail, I want a link from that summary to a full, Forte-styled profile page, so the quick glance isn't a dead end.

  • As a Forte board-view reader, I want a way to browse all users, so I can find someone without already knowing their name.

  • As anyone with a link to a Forte profile or the user directory, I want it to load correctly on its own, so it's shareable the same way every other piece of Forte state already is.

Core Requirements

  • Author names in Forte (board content pane, reply tree) open a lightweight summary dialog on click — username, approval status, thread/post counts — reusing the existing /api/get_profile endpoint verbatim (already used elsewhere, e.g. browser_signing.js's own profile check) for the dialog's content. The link itself still has a real href to the full profile page underneath, so it degrades gracefully without JS.

  • The summary dialog links to a full, standalone Forte-styled profile page (/forte/profiles/{slug}, plus /forte/user/{username} mirroring classic's dual scheme) with the same content as classic's profile page (approval status/by-whom, thread/post counts, public key details) — except the "Approve user" action, which stays out of scope here (that's forte_user_approval's job).

  • A Forte-styled user directory (/forte/users/) lists approved users with thread/post counts, linking straight to each one's full profile page (no summary-dialog detour needed there — you're already looking at a list of names).

  • Both new page types get a way back to the board (they're separate routes, not embedded in /forte itself, per the approved Step 1 decision).

  • No changes to classic's own /profiles/{slug}, /user/{username}, or /users/ pages, and no navigation added from them into Forte (that's forte_classic_nav_bridge's call to make, not this cycle's).

Shared Component Inventory

  • /api/get_profile — canonical profile-summary endpoint. Reused unchanged as the summary dialog's data source.

  • fetchProfileBySlug() / fetchProfilesByUsernameToken() / fetchApprovedUserDirectoryUsers() — canonical data fetchers already backing classic's profile/directory pages. Reused unchanged for the new Forte pages.

  • renderAuthorHtml() (shared by every page that shows an author) — extended, not forked: a new Forte-target variant point at /forte/profiles/...//forte/user/... instead of classic's, exposed as a sibling template helper alongside the existing one so classic's own rendering is untouched.

  • The forte_compose_thread New Thread <dialog> (titlebar + body chrome) — pattern reused for the summary dialog's visual shape, not literally the same element.

  • Classic's profile.php / users.php templates — not reused directly (full page layout, not paned chrome); new Forte-styled templates render the same underlying data.

Simple User Flow

  1. Reader clicks an author's name on the board.

  2. A summary dialog opens in place: username, approval status, counts, a link to the full profile.

  3. Reader follows that link (or navigates to /forte/users/ from the board) to a full, Forte-styled page with a way back to the board.

Success Criteria

  • Clicking any author name in Forte opens the summary dialog without navigating away or losing board state.

  • The summary dialog's "full profile" link, /forte/profiles/{slug} and /forte/user/{username} directly, and /forte/users/ all render correctly as fresh, standalone loads (shareable, not session-dependent).

  • Approval status/counts shown in Forte match classic's own profile page exactly (same underlying data, no drift).

  • No "Approve user" affordance appears anywhere in Forte's new pages.

  • Classic's /profiles/{slug}, /user/{username}, and /users/ are completely unaffected.