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Forte Shared Toolbar Step 2 Feature Description

Problem

Forte's three paned views render different toolbars - Board has the full button set, Activity has only "Board" + a disabled "Refresh", and Users has no toolbar at all - so none of them show which view is active or disable buttons that don't apply to it.

User Stories

  • As a Forte user on any of the three views, I want to see the same toolbar buttons in the same place, so switching views doesn't feel like switching apps.

  • As a Forte user, I want the button for the view I'm currently on to look pressed/selected, so I always know where I am.

  • As a Forte user on Activity or Users, I want New/Reply/Prev/Next visibly disabled rather than absent, so I understand they don't apply here instead of wondering if they're broken or missing.

  • As a Forte user on Users, I want the same toolbar as Board/Activity (including a way back to the board and over to Activity), since today Users has no toolbar at all.

Core Requirements

  • A single shared toolbar partial renders the identical button set and order on Board, Activity, and Users: New, Reply, sep, Prev, Next, sep, Refresh, sep, Board, Users, Activity.

  • New/Reply/Prev/Next are disabled on Activity and Users (they only apply to the Board's thread list/selection); Board's own existing enable/disable logic for these buttons (e.g., Reply disabled when no thread is selected) is unchanged.

  • Refresh stays disabled everywhere, matching its current placeholder state - no behavior change.

  • The destination button (Board/Users/Activity) matching the current page is visually depressed/selected and carries aria-current="page"; the other two remain plain link buttons.

  • Users' page adopts this shared toolbar in place of its current dialog-titlebar-only chrome; its existing flat approved-user list content below is unchanged.

Shared Component Inventory

  • Board's current toolbar markup (templates/pages/forte_board.php) - promoted into a new shared partial (e.g. templates/partials/paned_toolbar.php), reused by all three page templates instead of copied, per Step 1's Option A recommendation.

  • .paned-toolbar-btn CSS (forte.css) - reused verbatim; a new selected/pressed-state modifier is added for the active destination button, following the same visual convention .paned-folder-item--selected/.paned-list-row--selected already use elsewhere in Forte.

  • forte_users.php's paned-standalone-window/paned-dialog-titlebar wrapper - dropped in favor of the plain paned-window shell Board/Activity already use, since the narrow dialog chrome doesn't accommodate a full-width toolbar; its paned-standalone-body content list is otherwise untouched.

Simple User Flow

  1. On Board, the user sees New/Reply/Prev/Next/Refresh as today, plus Board (selected)/Users/Activity destination buttons.

  2. The user clicks Activity; the Activity page shows the identical toolbar, with New/Reply/Prev/Next now disabled and Activity shown selected.

  3. The user clicks Users; Users now renders the same toolbar (previously had none), with New/Reply/Prev/Next disabled and Users shown selected; the existing user list renders unchanged below it.

  4. From any view, clicking Board/Users/Activity navigates there with that view's own button now shown selected.

Success Criteria

  • All three pages render the same toolbar button set and order from one shared partial - no per-page copies.

  • The current page's destination button is visually selected and carries aria-current="page"; the other two do not.

  • New/Reply/Prev/Next are disabled on Activity and Users; Board's existing enable/disable behavior for them is unchanged.

  • Users' existing content and back-to-board behavior are preserved, now reachable via the toolbar's "Board" button instead of a standalone back-link.

  • No new database fields, tables, or queries - this is template/CSS reuse only.