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+# Desktop Visual Refresh + Theme Pack
+
+**Date:** 2026-06-27
+**Status:** Approved (design phase)
+**Scope:** Desktop (egui) UI only. Web UI is out of scope.
+
+## Goal
+
+Lift the desktop UI's out-of-box experience and expand its identity options. Two
+prongs: (1) add 12 new themes, (2) refresh the whole look — default themes
+included — so the app no longer reads as stock egui.
+
+## Current state (findings from code survey)
+
+- `theme.rs` ships **7 themes**: Dark, Light, Dracula, Trans, Emo:Nocturnal,
+  Emo:Coffin, Emo:Scene Queen. Dark and Light are **stock
+  `egui::Visuals::dark()`/`light()` with zero customization**; the other five
+  are fully hand-tuned.
+- Video list is **flat horizontal rows** (thumb left, text right) — no card
+  background, no rounded corners. Reads as a spreadsheet, not a media library.
+- **Accent colors are hardcoded** throughout `app.rs`, ignoring the active theme:
+  - selected ring: `Color32::from_rgb(120, 170, 230)` (`app.rs:4225`)
+  - playing ring:  `Color32::from_rgb(110, 200, 110)` (`app.rs:4232`)
+  - bulk-checked ring: `Color32::from_rgb(180, 130, 240)` (`app.rs:4239`)
+  So even in a hand-tuned theme, selection always glows stock blue.
+- Placeholder thumbnails are inconsistent: channel cards use `📺` on
+  `from_gray(30)` (`app.rs:3972`); video cards use `▶` on `from_gray(38)`
+  (`app.rs:4210`).
+- Density is very high (~12px text, ~10px padding) with no typographic
+  hierarchy — section headers read the same weight/size as body text.
+
+## Design
+
+### 1. Theme pack — 12 new themes
+
+Add twelve fully-tuned `Visuals` to `theme.rs`, each defining panel fills,
+per-state widget strokes (noninteractive/inactive/hovered/active/open),
+selection bg+stroke, hyperlink color, warn/error colors — the full set the
+existing five themed variants already tune. Catalog grows from 7 to **19**.
+
+| # | Category | Theme key | Identity |
+|---|----------|-----------|----------|
+| 1 | Neon | `cyberpunk` | Magenta + electric cyan on black. Hacker HUD. |
+| 2 | Neon | `synthwave` | Sunset gradient (hot pink → orange → purple) on deep indigo. |
+| 3 | Neon | `vaporwave` | Pastel pink + cyan + lavender on deep plum. Aesthetic. |
+| 4 | Goth | `cemetery-moss` | Weathered stone + mossy green + bone. Organic, ancient. |
+| 5 | Goth | `vampire` | Deep wine burgundy + antique gold + black. Regal. |
+| 6 | Goth | `witching-hour` | Midnight indigo + moonlight silver + arcane violet. Mystical. |
+| 7 | Dev | `nord` | Arctic blues & greys. Cold, legible. |
+| 8 | Dev | `gruvbox` | Warm earthy retro groove. Contrast-focused. |
+| 9 | Dev | `tokyo-night` | Tokyo city lights. Blue/purple, clean. |
+| 10 | Cozy | `paper` | Aged paper + sepia ink. Quiet reading-room. |
+| 11 | Cozy | `honey` | Warm amber + gold + cream. Golden-hour. |
+| 12 | Cozy | `candlelight` | Dim warm glow + toasted brown. Evening, intimate. |
+
+Deliberate distinctness: Vampire is kept visually separate from the existing
+Emo:Coffin (burgundy+gold vs blood-red+black); Witching Hour separate from
+Emo:Nocturnal (silver+violet vs hot-pink). Dracula is not re-added (already
+shipped).
+
+Each theme **must** export three semantic accent colors (see §2) in addition to
+the standard `Visuals` fields.
+
+### 2. Theme-aware semantic accents (bug fix)
+
+Today's hardcoded rings ignore the theme. Replace with named semantic accents
+that each theme provides:
+
+- `accent` — selection / focus (replaces the `120,170,230` blue)
+- `success` — playing / watched (replaces `110,200,110` green)
+- `warning` — bulk-selection highlight (replaces `180,130,240` purple)
+
+**Mechanism:** egui `Visuals` has no field for arbitrary semantic accents, so
+expose them via a `ThemeAccents { accent: Color32, success: Color32, warning:
+Color32 }` struct in `theme.rs`, with a `pub fn accents_for(name: &str) ->
+ThemeAccents` lookup. `App` holds a `theme_accents: ThemeAccents` field,
+recomputed at every site that already calls `theme::apply(ctx, name)` (App
+construction + the Settings theme-picker callback). All paint code that
+currently hardcodes a color reads from `self.theme_accents.accent` /
+`.success` / `.warning` instead. This makes the new themes look correct and
+also makes the existing Dracula/Trans/Emo themes' selection rings match their
+palettes.
+
+### 3. View-mode toggle: List / Card / Grid
+
+Three render paths for the video list, switchable live via a toolbar toggle.
+
+- **List** — current horizontal rows, polished (theme-aware rings, unified
+  placeholder, refined spacing). The lowest-disruption default.
+- **Card** — same horizontal layout, but each row is a rounded card on the
+  faint-bg fill with a hover lift. Media-app feel without sacrificing density.
+- **Grid** — YouTube/Plex-style vertical cards (thumb on top, title + meta
+  below), responsive column count derived from window width. Most visual.
+
+**Persistence model (global default + per-view override):**
+
+- **Global default** stored in `config.toml` (new
+  `[ui] default_view_mode = "list|card|grid"`) and seeded onto `App` at
+  construction + on settings-save. Mirrors the existing `card_density` setting's
+  five-touchpoint shape (config → settings UI in `app.rs` → seeded on `App`).
+- **Per-view override** stored in an `App` field: `HashMap<SidebarView,
+  ViewMode>`. The toolbar toggle writes to this map for the current
+  `SidebarView`. A view with no entry falls back to the global default.
+- Toolbar control is a 3-segment toggle (☰ List / ▢ Card / ◫ Grid) in the video
+  list header.
+
+### 4. Default Dark / Light polish
+
+Promote Dark and Light from stock `egui::Visuals::dark()/light()` to fully
+hand-tuned palettes, matching the level of care in the themed variants:
+
+- **Dark** — true near-black panel fill, cool accent (e.g. soft steel-blue),
+  tuned widget strokes per state.
+- **Light** — warm off-white panel fill (not pure white), slate accent, tuned
+  widget strokes per state.
+
+### 5. Typography & spacing refresh
+
+Modest adjustments via egui's built-in proportional font (no new font files):
+
+- Base body text: ~12px → ~13px.
+- Introduce hierarchy: distinct sizes/weights for heading / section / card
+  title / metadata.
+- Standardize card internal padding and inter-row spacing.
+- Tighten the metadata line (channel · id · date · duration · size) into a
+  consistent rhythm.
+
+### 6. Unify placeholder thumbnails
+
+Replace the two divergent placeholder styles (📺 on gray-30 for channels, ▶ on
+gray-38 for videos) with **one consistent style**: a theme-tinted gradient
+background (derived from the theme's faint/noninteractive bg) plus a single
+subtle glyph, scaled by `card_density`. Used by both channel and video cards.
+
+## Architecture impact
+
+- `theme.rs` — gains 12 theme fns + a `ThemeAccents` struct + a
+  `pub fn accents_for(name: &str) -> ThemeAccents` helper.
+- `app.rs` — gains `view_mode`/`view_mode_overrides` fields on `App`; the video
+  list render path branches on `ViewMode::List/Card/Grid`; all hardcoded accent
+  colors read from `self.theme_accents.*`; placeholder paint unified.
+- `config.rs` — gains `[ui] default_view_mode` field + `Default` +
+  `default_with_dir()`.
+- Settings screen (`app.rs`) — gains view-mode selector + theme picker entry
+  for the 12 new names.
+
+Follows the documented five-touchpoint settings shape for the new config field.
+
+## Out of scope
+
+- The "Newest" web sort bug — separate work item.
+- Web UI visual changes — web has its own CSS and is not touched here.
+- New font files / custom typefaces — deferred; uses egui's built-in
+  proportional at adjusted sizes.
+
+## Open questions for implementation
+
+None — all design decisions approved during brainstorming:
+- 12 themes (3 neon + 3 goth + 3 dev + 3 cozy): approved.
+- List/Card/Grid toggle with global default + per-view override: approved.
+- Desktop-only scope: approved.