Development Checklist — Phase 14 (Prototype Parity)

Active roadmap: Phase 14 — Prototype Parity. The pre-prototype DEV-CHECKLIST.md (Phases 0–13.8) is preserved at docs/archive/DEV-CHECKLIST-2026-07-02-pre-prototype.md. When Phase 14 is complete (14.13), the pre-prototype file's status block will be updated so its resume point is Phase 13.2 — Channel metadata sync.

Source of truth: the visual prototype at prototype/vector-youtube-gallery-visual-prototype.html. Each item below is a gap from a prototype control to the current renderer.

Project Summary

Vector YouTube Gallery is a WordPress plugin that builds a local-indexed YouTube gallery system. YouTube remains the canonical media platform; WordPress stores a compliant, refreshable metadata index and renders fast galleries from local data only.

Namespace: VectorYT\Gallery\
Plugin slug: vector-youtube-gallery
Text domain: vector-youtube-gallery
Min WP: 6.4+, Min PHP: 8.1+
No scraping. No API calls on front-end render. No video file storage.

Current Development Status

Current phase: Phase 14 — Prototype Parity
Current sub-phase: 14.13 — Close out + resume note
Last completed item: 14.12 — WOH-filled final parity contact-sheet capture + public dev access at wpt.nsystems.live; 899 PHPUnit tests, 2513 assertions; smoke 36/36 OK; Playwright recapture api_quota_delta=0; commit 7fb9c9e
Next actionable item: 14.13 — close out Phase 14, archive/update the phase file, and write the resume note for the deferred 13.2–13.8 work (channel metadata sync, licensing, i18n, accessibility audit, packaging, security audit, docs, final E2E).
Blocked items: none
Deferred items: 13.2–13.8 (channel metadata sync, licensing, i18n, accessibility audit, packaging, security audit, docs, final E2E) — resume point archived in docs/archive/DEV-CHECKLIST-2026-07-02-pre-prototype.md.

Status Legend

Not started
[~] In progress / partially complete
Complete
[!] Blocked
[>] Deferred
[?] Needs review / unknown

Phase Checklist

Phase 14 — Prototype Parity

Scope Lock

Branch: continue on main (24 ahead-of-origin commits stay visible in history).
Archive: DEV-CHECKLIST.md → docs/archive/DEV-CHECKLIST-2026-07-02-pre-prototype.md; new file at DEV-CHECKLIST-phase14.md (does not replace the root DEV-CHECKLIST.md slot).
Panel: the prototype's developer-aid panel is NOT a feature. Controls live in the existing Admin Feed Builder, Gutenberg Inspector, Elementor controls, and shortcode attrs.
Out of scope: Channel metadata sync (original 13.2) and the rest of 13.4–13.8 stay in the archived checklist.
Validation per sub-phase: php -l, make test-unit, make ci-smoke, Playwright capture, secret-scan, git commit with phase-14.N: <summary> and a deliverables body, git push origin main.

Resume After Phase 14

When all 14.x items are [x], the next active item is Phase 13.2 in the archived file:

Channel metadata sync (avatar / verified / subscriber count) — data-layer extension for channel metadata; then toggle the corresponding show_* Inspector controls back on by default.

Restore path: git mv docs/archive/DEV-CHECKLIST-2026-07-02-pre-prototype.md DEV-CHECKLIST.md (the archived file already has a "Phase 14 — Prototype Parity (COMPLETE)" footer appended at 14.13).

Phase 15 — Frontend Polish (IN PROGRESS)

Active phase: Phase 15 — Frontend Polish. Goal: take the rendering pipeline from "functional but unpolished" to "Smash Balloon-quality production ready." Roadmap in docs/frontend-polish-plan.md (1,067 lines, 5 phases, 43 sub-phases).

15.0 — Architectural Foundations + Critical Bug Fixes (DONE)

All 9 confirmed frontend issues from the live-screenshot investigation fixed in 3 commits (6235702, 0584dec, 3ac9537). Pushed to GitHub.

#	Issue	Status	Fix
1	CSS load order: `presets.css` loaded after `card.css`, overriding line-clamp	✅	`AssetManager` now makes `vyg-card` depend on `vyg-presets`
2	Title line-clamp specificity lost to `.vyg-feed .vyg-card__title` (0,2,0) in presets	✅	All `.vyg-card__title` rules now use `.vyg-feed` descendant (0,2,0 base) + `!important` on `display: -webkit-box`
3	Card thumb `height: 100%` lost to `.vyg-feed img { height:auto }` (0,1,1)	✅	`.vyg-feed .vyg-card__thumb` (0,2,0) wins
4	Legacy templates (carousel, masonry) had no constrained height for thumb-wrap	✅	Added `aspect-ratio: 16/9` as default on `.vyg-card__thumb-wrap`
5	`data-vyg-lightbox` missing on shared partial outer link	✅	Added to both outer link and title link in `video-card.php`
6	Lightbox data attribute missing on title link	✅	Added `data-vyg-lightbox` + `data-vyg-title` to `.vyg-card__title-link`
7	List layout showed raw channel ID instead of joined channel title	✅	`list.php` now uses `youtube_channel_title` from JOIN with 3-tier fallback
8	Legacy templates missing `vyg-card__title--2` class	✅	All 5 legacy templates (carousel, masonry, featured, hero, list) updated
9	Hard-coded `-webkit-line-clamp: 3` in masonry CSS overriding modifier	✅	Removed from `masonry.css`

15.5b — Channel Name Truncation (DONE)

vyg-card__channel-name was rendering as "The Way Of Holines..." on every card. Root cause: flex parent + 2-line clamp didn't work because the flex item kept its natural content width. Added flex: 1 1 0 and min-width: 0 so the box actually shrinks.

15.6 — Default Width Bump (DONE)

.vyg-wide max-width increased from 1180px to 1400px. On 1920px+ displays the old default was making the gallery look like a thin column in the middle.

16.1 — Sans-Serif Default Font (DONE)

Theme was inheriting Twenty Twenty-Four's Charter/IBM Plex Serif fonts, making video metadata look unprofessional. Added a --vyg-font-sans CSS custom property with a clean system UI sans stack. Operators can override with inherit if they want theme fonts.

15.5 — Shorts Letterboxing (DONE)

Added object-fit: cover !important to .vyg-shorts__thumb to defend against any theme or preset rule that sets object-fit: contain.

Tests

904 PHPUnit tests passing, 0 failures (was 899 before, +5 new)
CSS load order verified live: presets.css now at position 2, card.css at position 3
HTML verified live: 12 vyg-card__title--2 classes, 24 data-vyg-lightbox attrs on grid page
Screenshots captured: /screenshots/phase15/{layout}-desktop.png for all 8 layouts

Remaining Work (Sub-Phases Not Yet Implemented)

15.5: Channel header partial (avatar + sub count + subscribe button) — deferred to Phase 16.7
15.7: Live layout sectioning polish — already works
16.2: Sensible card defaults (per-layout density) — partial
16.3: Per-layout spacing tuning — partial
16.4: Tablet breakpoints
16.5: Hover enhancement
16.6: Thumbnail fallback for missing images
16.7: Channel header partial (Smash Balloon Gallery parity)
17.x: Channel metadata sync (Phase 13.2 deferred work)
18.x: Elementor widget enhancement (full Card Design + Header tabs)
19.x: Lightbox enhancement + production readiness

The plugin is now in a significantly better visual state. The 9 critical issues are all fixed. Phase 15 is technically "done" at the 15.0–15.5 level (the bug-fix layer). The remaining sub-phases (15.5b/16.7 channel header, 17.x metadata sync, 18.x Elementor enhancement, 19.x lightbox) are the polish layer and can be scheduled as separate phases.

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