# UX second pass — batched council review

A running parking lot of small UX / interaction decisions deferred for a **batched
[`/council`](../.claude/skills/council/SKILL.md) review**, rather than gating each one the
moment it surfaces. Append quirks here as they come up; resolve them together in one pass,
record the resolution into the contract (`docs/architecture/09`+`10` and the relevant
`docs/spec/`), then delete the row.

## Open

- **Chart theme picker placement & header crowding** (`LivePreview.tsx` — ChartThemeControl).
  The picker sits in the preview header because nesting a SelectControl inside the
  PreviewSettings popover is impossible today (one-open-popover registry: the select would
  close/unmount its own parent). Header now holds Fit + theme + export + gear; at narrow
  pane widths the long trigger labels ("FiveThirtyEight", "Urban Institute") may crowd it.
  Council questions: does the picker deserve header prominence (the "transform your chart"
  showcase) or settings-cluster placement (a persistent global pref); should the popover
  registry learn nesting; should the preset block also carry a group _heading_ (a
  divider now bounds it — 2026-06-12, user-decided; `SelectControl` `dividerBefore`)?

- **"Edit themes…" action row inside the value picker** (`LivePreview.tsx` —
  ChartThemeControl). A non-value action lives inside a single-select disclosure (the
  VS Code theme-picker pattern), placed after the custom-themes block and before the
  preset roster (first-use feedback: at the very bottom it was invisible without
  scrolling). The ours-vs-presets divider (2026-06-12) now bounds it below; remaining
  council questions: should the action row itself be styled distinctly from the value
  rows; is a mid-list row that opens a modal instead of selecting surprising to AT
  users?

- **Theme Builder config editor is a plain textarea** (`ThemeBuilderModal.tsx`). Monaco
  (with the Vega-Lite config schema for completions) would match the main editor but is
  heavy inside a modal and untested in that mounting. Revisit whether the builder deserves
  a Monaco instance, and whether the gallery's canvas charts need text alternatives
  beyond the per-card captions.

## Deferred (not design debts, revisit on demand)

- **Drag-and-drop field assignment** — chips are click/keyboard-first by design; drag would
  be a progressive enhancement on top of the chooser model, not a replacement. Revisit if
  real usage asks for it (likely alongside Phase 4 faceting, where drag-to-shelf reads most
  naturally).