fix: keep help overlay within the terminal (two columns + height guard) #18

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fiatcode merged 1 commit from fix/help-overlay-layout into main

2026-06-17 18:14:03 +07:00

fiatcode commented

2026-06-17 18:05:48 +07:00

Owner

Problem

The ? help overlay rendered as a single ~50-line column, and centerOverlay placed it with lipgloss.Place, which positions but never truncates. So on any terminal shorter than the panel (i.e. essentially all of them at 80×24), the top and bottom — including the ? or esc to close hint — were silently clipped off-screen. Help only ever knew the terminal width, never its height, so it couldn't defend against this.

Fix

Two-column layout. Key groups are split into two balanced columns (by line count) when the width allows it, roughly halving the panel height (~50 → ~27 lines). Falls back to a single width-clamped column when the terminal is too narrow for two.
Height-aware Help. NewHelp/SetSize now take height; the open site passes a.height.
Height guard. When height is known and the panel would overflow, body lines past the cap are dropped and replaced with a faint … resize terminal to see all keys indicator — while the title and close hint are always kept on screen. No more silent clipping.

Tests

New TestHelpHeightGuardClipsToTerminal asserts the rendered panel never exceeds the terminal height, the close hint survives, and the resize indicator appears.
Existing width/version tests updated for the 3-arg NewHelp.
Golden regenerated at a width wide enough to capture the two-column layout (verified: all 28 lines uniform width, border consistent).

go vet ./... && go test ./... green (7 packages).

Note on overlap with #17 (git sync)

This branches from main and is independent of the sync feature. Both touch internal/views/help.go (this PR rewrites the render path and renames helpSections→helpGroups; #17 adds a Sync key row) and TestHelpGolden.golden. Whichever merges second will need a small rebase: re-add the Sync group to helpGroups and regenerate the golden.

## Problem The `?` help overlay rendered as a single ~50-line column, and `centerOverlay` placed it with `lipgloss.Place`, which positions but never truncates. So on any terminal shorter than the panel (i.e. essentially all of them at 80×24), the top and bottom — **including the `? or esc to close` hint** — were silently clipped off-screen. `Help` only ever knew the terminal *width*, never its *height*, so it couldn't defend against this. ## Fix - **Two-column layout.** Key groups are split into two balanced columns (by line count) when the width allows it, roughly halving the panel height (~50 → ~27 lines). Falls back to a single width-clamped column when the terminal is too narrow for two. - **Height-aware `Help`.** `NewHelp`/`SetSize` now take height; the open site passes `a.height`. - **Height guard.** When height is known and the panel would overflow, body lines past the cap are dropped and replaced with a faint `… resize terminal to see all keys` indicator — while the title and close hint are always kept on screen. No more silent clipping. ## Tests - New `TestHelpHeightGuardClipsToTerminal` asserts the rendered panel never exceeds the terminal height, the close hint survives, and the resize indicator appears. - Existing width/version tests updated for the 3-arg `NewHelp`. - Golden regenerated at a width wide enough to capture the two-column layout (verified: all 28 lines uniform width, border consistent). `go vet ./... && go test ./...` green (7 packages). ## Note on overlap with #17 (git sync) This branches from `main` and is independent of the sync feature. Both touch `internal/views/help.go` (this PR rewrites the render path and renames `helpSections`→`helpGroups`; #17 adds a `Sync` key row) and `TestHelpGolden.golden`. Whichever merges second will need a small rebase: re-add the `Sync` group to `helpGroups` and regenerate the golden.

fiatcode added 1 commit

2026-06-17 18:05:48 +07:00

fix: keep help overlay within the terminal (two columns + height guard)

CI / vet-and-test (pull_request) Successful in 24s

Details

a0d5f290f0

The help overlay rendered as one ~50-line column and centerOverlay placed
it with lipgloss.Place, which never truncates — so on any terminal shorter
than the panel the top and bottom (including the close hint) were silently
clipped. Help only knew the terminal width, never its height.

- Lay the key groups out in two balanced columns when the width allows it
  (single column, width-clamped, when it doesn't), roughly halving height.
- Make Help height-aware (NewHelp/SetSize now take height) and add a height
  guard: body lines past the cap are dropped with a faint 'resize' hint,
  while the title and close hint always stay on screen.
- Cover the height guard with a test; golden now renders the two-column
  layout at a width wide enough to show it.

fiatcode self-assigned this

2026-06-17 18:07:07 +07:00

fiatcode force-pushed fix/help-overlay-layout from a0d5f290f0

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to 5afb3ef239

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2026-06-17 18:13:04 +07:00

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fiatcode merged commit 9ce2fa9248 into main

2026-06-17 18:14:03 +07:00