master/chat-summaries/2026-02-15_00-15-summary.md

# Placeholder Cover Visual Refinements & Home Screen Integration

## Task
Refined the placeholder cover layout to match a mockup, and integrated placeholder generation into the home screen's thumbnail loading.

## Changes Made

### Layout Refinements (`PlaceholderCoverGenerator.cpp`, `preview_placeholder_cover.py`)
- **Icon position**: Moved from above-title to side-by-side (icon left, title right)
- **Author scale**: Increased from 1x to 2x on full-size covers for larger author text
- **Line spacing**: Reduced to 75% of advanceY so 2-3 title lines fit within icon height
- **Vertical centering**: Title text centers against icon when 1-2 lines; top-aligns with overflow for 3+ lines. Uses `ascender`-based visual height instead of `advanceY`-based for accurate centering
- **Horizontal centering**: The icon+gap+text block is now centered as a unit based on actual rendered text width, not the full available text area

### Home Screen Integration (`HomeActivity.cpp`)
- Added `PlaceholderCoverGenerator` fallback in `loadRecentCovers()` — when format-specific `generateThumbBmp()` fails (or for TXT which had no handler), a placeholder thumbnail is generated instead of clearing `coverBmpPath` and showing a blank rectangle
- This covers the case where a book was previously opened, cache was cleared, and the home screen needs to regenerate thumbnails

## Files Changed
- `lib/PlaceholderCover/PlaceholderCoverGenerator.cpp` — layout logic updates
- `scripts/preview_placeholder_cover.py` — matching preview updates
- `src/activities/home/HomeActivity.cpp` — placeholder fallback in loadRecentCovers

## Commit
`632b76c` on `mod/generate-placeholder-covers`

## Follow-up Items
- Test on actual device to verify C++ bitmap font rendering matches preview expectations
- The preview script uses Helvetica (different metrics than ubuntu_12_bold), so on-device appearance will differ slightly from previews
mod: Phase 1 - bring forward mod-exclusive files with ActivityManager migration Brings ~55 mod-exclusive files to the upstream-based mod/master-resync branch: Activities (migrated to new ActivityManager pattern): - Clock/Time: SetTimeActivity, SetTimezoneOffsetActivity, NtpSyncActivity - Dictionary: DictionaryDefinitionActivity, DictionarySuggestionsActivity, DictionaryWordSelectActivity, LookedUpWordsActivity - Bookmark: EpubReaderBookmarkSelectionActivity - Book management: BookManageMenuActivity, EndOfBookMenuActivity - OPDS: OpdsServerListActivity, OpdsSettingsActivity - Utility: DirectoryPickerActivity, NumericStepperActivity Utilities (unchanged): - BookManager, BookSettings, BookmarkStore, BootNtpSync - Dictionary, LookupHistory, TimeSync, OpdsServerStore Libraries: PlaceholderCover, TableData, ChapterXPathIndexer Scripts: inject_mod_version, generate_book_icon, preview_placeholder_cover Docs: KOReader sync XPath mapping Migration changes: - ActivityWithSubactivity -> Activity base class - Callback constructors -> finish()/setResult() pattern - enterNewActivity() -> startActivityForResult() - Activity::RenderLock&& -> RenderLock&& These files won't compile yet - they reference mod settings and I18n strings that will be added in subsequent phases. Made-with: Cursor 2026-03-07 15:10:00 -05:00			`# Placeholder Cover Visual Refinements & Home Screen Integration`

			`## Task`
			`Refined the placeholder cover layout to match a mockup, and integrated placeholder generation into the home screen's thumbnail loading.`

			`## Changes Made`

			### Layout Refinements (`PlaceholderCoverGenerator.cpp`, `preview_placeholder_cover.py`)
			`- Icon position: Moved from above-title to side-by-side (icon left, title right)`
			`- Author scale: Increased from 1x to 2x on full-size covers for larger author text`
			`- Line spacing: Reduced to 75% of advanceY so 2-3 title lines fit within icon height`
			- Vertical centering: Title text centers against icon when 1-2 lines; top-aligns with overflow for 3+ lines. Uses `ascender`-based visual height instead of `advanceY`-based for accurate centering
			`- Horizontal centering: The icon+gap+text block is now centered as a unit based on actual rendered text width, not the full available text area`

			### Home Screen Integration (`HomeActivity.cpp`)
			- Added `PlaceholderCoverGenerator` fallback in `loadRecentCovers()` — when format-specific `generateThumbBmp()` fails (or for TXT which had no handler), a placeholder thumbnail is generated instead of clearing `coverBmpPath` and showing a blank rectangle
			`- This covers the case where a book was previously opened, cache was cleared, and the home screen needs to regenerate thumbnails`

			`## Files Changed`
			- `lib/PlaceholderCover/PlaceholderCoverGenerator.cpp` — layout logic updates
			- `scripts/preview_placeholder_cover.py` — matching preview updates
			- `src/activities/home/HomeActivity.cpp` — placeholder fallback in loadRecentCovers

			`## Commit`
			`632b76c` on `mod/generate-placeholder-covers`

			`## Follow-up Items`
			`- Test on actual device to verify C++ bitmap font rendering matches preview expectations`
			`- The preview script uses Helvetica (different metrics than ubuntu_12_bold), so on-device appearance will differ slightly from previews`