Merge pull request 'feat(home): swap in the higher-fidelity hero artwork' (#98) from feat/hero-artwork-v2 into main

Reviewed-on: #98

e2e/tests/journeys.spec.ts

@@ -121,6 +121,33 @@ test('the home page has a real title', async ({ page }) => {
   expect(await page.title()).toMatch(/schoolcompare/i);
 });
 
+test('the site states its independence and never claims to be official', async ({ page }) => {
+  await page.goto('/');
+
+  // Carried in the footer, so it appears on every page rather than only here.
+  await expect(
+    page.getByText(/an independent site\.\s*not affiliated with the department for education/i)
+  ).toBeVisible();
+
+  /*
+   * Describing the DATA as official is accurate and appears throughout
+   * ("official DfE figures", "the official figure isn't in"). Describing the
+   * SITE as official is not: schoolcompare republishes government data, it is
+   * not a government service. The difference is the grammatical subject, so
+   * this looks for text that opens with "Official" as a standalone label —
+   * the shape a value-prop title or heading takes, and the shape the old
+   * "Official & trusted" took.
+   */
+  const claims = await page.evaluate(() =>
+    [...document.querySelectorAll('body *')]
+      .flatMap(el => [...el.childNodes]
+        .filter(n => n.nodeType === 3)
+        .map(n => (n.textContent ?? '').trim()))
+      .filter(t => /^Official\b/i.test(t) && !/^Official\s+(DfE|data|figures)/i.test(t))
+  );
+  expect(claims, `text presenting the site itself as official: ${claims.join(' | ')}`).toEqual([]);
+});
+
 test('the landing bands share one vertical rhythm', async ({ page }) => {
   await page.goto('/');
   const gaps = await page.evaluate(() => {
@@ -789,9 +816,21 @@ test('the brand asset set is complete and served', async ({ page }) => {
   expect(og.ok()).toBe(true);
   expect(og.headers()['content-type']).toContain('image/png');
 
-  // iOS ignores SVG touch icons, so this must be a real raster.
-  const apple = await page.request.get('/apple-icon');
-  expect(apple.ok()).toBe(true);
+  /*
+   * iOS ignores SVG touch icons, so this must be a real raster.
+   *
+   * Read the href off the page rather than hardcoding a path. The route moved
+   * when the generated app/apple-icon.tsx became a static app/apple-icon.png:
+   * a generated icon is served at /apple-icon, a static one at /apple-icon.png
+   * with a content hash. This test kept asking for /apple-icon and got a 404 —
+   * reporting a missing icon while the icon was present and correctly linked.
+   */
+  const appleLink = page.locator('link[rel="apple-touch-icon"]');
+  await expect(appleLink).toHaveCount(1);
+  const appleHref = await appleLink.getAttribute('href');
+  expect(appleHref).toBeTruthy();
+  const apple = await page.request.get(appleHref!);
+  expect(apple.ok(), `apple touch icon at ${appleHref} should be served`).toBe(true);
   expect(apple.headers()['content-type']).toContain('image/png');
 
   // Android needs a maskable PNG or the install prompt has no icon.
@@ -912,8 +951,22 @@ test('the header carries the schoolcompare lockup', async ({ page }) => {
   // hashed at build time and change on any unrelated edit.
   await expect(home).toHaveText(/^\s*schoolcompare\s*$/);
 
-  const mark = home.locator('svg').first();
+  /*
+   * The mark is raster artwork, not an inline SVG — it has been since the
+   * supplied logo replaced the reconstruction, and this locator went on
+   * looking for an <svg> that no longer exists.
+   *
+   * Assert on naturalWidth rather than visibility: a <picture> whose sources
+   * all 404 still lays out and still passes toBeVisible(), so the weaker
+   * assertion would go green on a broken lockup.
+   */
+  const mark = home.locator('img').first();
   await expect(mark).toBeVisible();
+  const markState = await mark.evaluate((el: HTMLImageElement) => ({
+    loaded: el.complete && el.naturalWidth > 0,
+    src: el.currentSrc,
+  }));
+  expect(markState.loaded, `header mark failed to load: ${markState.src}`).toBe(true);
 });
 
 test('no visible text falls back to the browser default black', async ({ page }) => {

nextjs-app/app/globals.css

@@ -193,13 +193,17 @@
        drawn SVG, so its colours are in the file, not here. What is left is the
        ground the artwork sits on and fades into.
 
-       --hero-ground is sampled from the artwork's own copy area (#FDF9F3),
-       not from Sand. The artwork reserves an empty cream region on the left
-       for the headline, and the scrim that guarantees text contrast fades from
-       this colour into it — a scrim in Sand (#F5EFE6, eight to thirteen points
-       darker per channel) leaves a visible seam straight down the hero. */
-    --hero-ground: #FDF9F3;
-    --hero-ground-rgb: 253, 249, 243;
+       --hero-ground is sampled from the artwork's own copy area, not from
+       Sand — a scrim in Sand (#F5EFE6) is far enough off to leave a visible
+       seam straight down the hero.
+
+       The artwork's copy area is not one flat colour: it runs from a peach
+       #FEE8D2 at the top to a cream #FDF3E7 around 43% height, and below ~48%
+       the left edge is foliage rather than cream. This value is sampled from
+       the middle of that pale run, where the headline and search actually sit;
+       the scrim is what covers the foliage further down. */
+    --hero-ground: #FEF2E1;
+    --hero-ground-rgb: 254, 242, 225;
 
     /* ── Geometry & motion ──────────────────────────────────────────────
        "Soft shapes, rounded corners" — the guideline's geometry is markedly

nextjs-app/components/FilterBar.module.css

@@ -460,6 +460,30 @@
   }
 }
 
+/*
+ * Narrow phones: the button drops below the input instead of sharing the row.
+ *
+ * "Search schools" is a fixed 134px with `white-space: nowrap`, so on a 390px
+ * screen it took 48% of the row and left the input 102px of text space for a
+ * 194px placeholder — the field showed "School name or" and stopped. At 320px
+ * the input was down to 32px, which is too narrow to read what you are typing.
+ *
+ * Wrapping rather than restructuring: the pill stays one element, so it keeps
+ * its border, shadow and :focus-within ring, and the button gets a full-width
+ * tap target on the way. Giving the button a 100% flex-basis is what forces
+ * the wrap; the input keeps `flex: 1` and so takes the whole first row.
+ */
+@media (max-width: 480px) {
+  .heroMode .omniBoxContainer {
+    flex-wrap: wrap;
+    gap: 0.5rem;
+  }
+  .heroMode .searchButton {
+    flex: 1 1 100%;
+    width: 100%;
+  }
+}
+
 @media (max-width: 420px) {
   /* Below this the pin costs more room than it earns. */
   .heroMode .omniIcon {

nextjs-app/components/Footer.module.css

@@ -92,6 +92,22 @@
   max-width: 34ch;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Quieter than .description, but by size only — not by contrast.
+ *
+ * --on-sunken-faint measured 4.71:1 here, which clears AA by 0.21. That is a
+ * fine margin for decorative text and the wrong one for a disclaimer, whose
+ * whole job is to be legible to someone checking whether this is a government
+ * site. --on-sunken-muted is 5.66:1 on the same band.
+ */
+.independence {
+  margin: 0;
+  font-size: var(--step--2);
+  line-height: 1.6;
+  color: var(--on-sunken-muted);
+  max-width: 38ch;
+}
+
 .sectionTitle {
   margin: 0;
   font-family: var(--font-display);

nextjs-app/components/Footer.tsx

@@ -35,6 +35,14 @@ export function Footer() {
             <p className={styles.description}>
               Compare primary and secondary schools across England.
             </p>
+            {/*
+              Says once, plainly, what the landing page's value props only
+              imply: we publish official data, we are not an official body.
+              Cheap to state and expensive to be wrong about.
+            */}
+            <p className={styles.independence}>
+              An independent site. Not affiliated with the Department for Education or Ofsted.
+            </p>
             <a
               href="mailto:contact@schoolcompare.co.uk"
               className={styles.link}

nextjs-app/components/HomeView.module.css

@@ -161,10 +161,22 @@
  * page and out-shouts the H1 and the search box. Dimming it in CSS is the
  * whole treatment, and the scrim then fades it into the dark panel instead of
  * into cream.
+ *
+ * Raising the brightness raises the background under light dark-theme text, so
+ * this value has a contrast floor, not just a taste range. Measured off
+ * rendered pixels, sampling background up to 120px past each line:
+ *
+ *   brightness   title      body
+ *   0.52         11.01:1    6.44:1
+ *   0.75          9.48:1    5.21:1   ← current
+ *
+ * Body text is the binding one. Going much above 0.75 walks it toward the
+ * 4.5:1 floor, and at that point the scrim needs to carry further right rather
+ * than the artwork being dimmed less.
  */
 @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
   .heroArt img {
-    filter: brightness(0.52) saturate(0.72) contrast(1.02);
+    filter: brightness(0.75) saturate(0.72) contrast(1.02);
   }
   .heroPanel::before {
     background: linear-gradient(
@@ -177,6 +189,43 @@
   }
 }
 
+/*
+ * The one line in the first person, so it is set apart from the marketing copy
+ * around it without shouting: display face, a step down in size, and a short
+ * brand rule instead of a bullet or an emoji.
+ *
+ * No italic — Manrope ships no italic in the loaded weights, so font-style
+ * would be synthesised into a slant. Same reason .heroEmph sets font-style
+ * back to normal.
+ */
+.heroByline {
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  gap: 0.55rem;
+  margin: 1.25rem 0 0;
+  font-family: var(--font-display);
+  font-size: var(--step--1);
+  font-weight: 500;
+  font-style: normal;
+  color: var(--text-secondary);
+}
+
+.heroByline::before {
+  content: '';
+  flex: 0 0 auto;
+  width: 1.25rem;
+  height: 2px;
+  border-radius: 1px;
+  background: var(--brand);
+}
+
+@media (max-width: 640px) {
+  .heroByline {
+    margin-top: 1rem;
+    font-size: var(--step--2);
+  }
+}
+
 .heroEyebrow {
   display: inline-flex;
   align-items: center;
@@ -253,18 +302,42 @@
  * the same decision.
  */
 @media (max-width: 860px) {
+  /*
+   * Artwork above the copy, not below it.
+   *
+   * The DOM keeps .heroContent first so the desktop overlay does not depend on
+   * source order, which left the band stranded under the search on phones —
+   * reading as a strip stuck on the end rather than as a hero image. `order`
+   * moves it visually only; it is decorative and aria-hidden, so there is no
+   * reading order to disturb.
+   *
+   * It costs about 136px above the search. Measured on a 667px viewport (the
+   * shortest phone still in use) the search still lands near 400px, well
+   * inside the fold.
+   */
+  .heroPanel {
+    display: flex;
+    flex-direction: column;
+  }
   .heroContent {
-    padding: 2rem 1.5rem 1.75rem;
+    padding: 1.75rem 1.5rem 1.75rem;
     max-width: none;
   }
+  /* 13rem, not 11: at 860px an 11rem band is 4.5:1, and squeezing the 3.2:1
+     crop into that throws away enough height to cut the flag off the roof and
+     the base off the building. 13rem holds it at about 3.8:1, where the
+     building stays whole. */
   .heroArt {
     position: static;
-    height: 11rem;
+    order: -1;
+    height: 13rem;
   }
-  /* The band crop centres the schoolhouse at about 65% across, so squeezing
-     toward 4.9:1 crops the empty sides rather than the subject. */
+  /* The band crop puts the schoolhouse at 73% across — reported by
+     scripts/build-hero-images.js, which derives it from the crop box rather
+     than leaving the two to drift. Squeezing narrower then crops the emptier
+     left side rather than the subject. */
   .heroArt img {
-    object-position: 65% center;
+    object-position: 73% center;
   }
   /* The scrim exists to protect text sitting on the artwork. Nothing sits on
      it here, and leaving it would wash the band out. */
@@ -305,8 +378,12 @@
     font-size: 1.75rem;
     margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
   }
+  /* 10rem, not 8.5: the band is widest-per-height right at this breakpoint —
+     at 640px an 8.5rem band is 4.2:1, worse than anything above it, because
+     the height steps down here while the width does not. 10rem keeps it near
+     3.6:1, in line with the rest of the range. */
   .heroArt {
-    height: 8.5rem;
+    height: 10rem;
   }
 }
 

nextjs-app/components/HomeView.tsx

@@ -157,7 +157,20 @@ const VALUE_PROPS: ValueProp[] = [
   {
     icon: <ShieldCheckIcon />,
     tintClass: styles.propIconTrust,
-    title: 'Official & trusted',
+    /*
+     * "Built on official data", never "Official".
+     *
+     * The previous title was "Official & trusted", whose grammatical subject
+     * is this site — it reads as a claim that schoolcompare is itself an
+     * official service. It is not: it is an independent site that republishes
+     * official figures. The distinction is the difference between describing
+     * the data and describing ourselves, and only the first is true.
+     *
+     * Everywhere else the word appears ("official DfE figures", "the official
+     * figure isn't in") it already qualifies the data, which is correct and
+     * should stay.
+     */
+    title: 'Built on official data',
     body: 'Every figure comes from DfE performance tables and Ofsted.',
   },
   {
@@ -451,6 +464,19 @@ export function HomeView({ initialSchools, filters, totalSchools, howItWorks, ed
               geoError={geoError}
             />
 
+            {/*
+              Sits under the search rather than in the footer on purpose: this
+              is the one line on the page written in the first person, and it
+              earns its place at the moment someone is deciding whether to
+              trust a site full of government statistics. In the footer it
+              would be true and unread.
+
+              It is deliberately the only such claim — the page's other trust
+              signals are all about the data's provenance, which is checkable.
+              This one is about who made it, which is not, so it is stated
+              once, plainly, and never repeated.
+            */}
+            <p className={styles.heroByline}>Built for parents, by a parent.</p>
           </div>
 
           {/*

nextjs-app/components/Illustration.tsx

@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@
 const SIZES = '(min-width: 1400px) 1352px, (min-width: 769px) calc(100vw - 3rem), calc(100vw - 2rem)';
 
 /** Intrinsic size of the wide crop — the aspect hint that prevents reflow. */
-const WIDE_W = 1672;
-const WIDE_H = 941;
+const WIDE_W = 2000;
+const WIDE_H = 1125;
 
 export function HeroIllustration() {
   return (
@@ -51,13 +51,13 @@ export function HeroIllustration() {
       <source
         media="(max-width: 860px)"
         type="image/avif"
-        srcSet="/brand/hero-band-500.avif 500w, /brand/hero-band-700.avif 700w, /brand/hero-band-972.avif 972w"
+        srcSet="/brand/hero-band-600.avif 600w, /brand/hero-band-900.avif 900w, /brand/hero-band-1344.avif 1344w"
         sizes={SIZES}
       />
       <source
         media="(max-width: 860px)"
         type="image/webp"
-        srcSet="/brand/hero-band-500.webp 500w, /brand/hero-band-700.webp 700w, /brand/hero-band-972.webp 972w"
+        srcSet="/brand/hero-band-600.webp 600w, /brand/hero-band-900.webp 900w, /brand/hero-band-1344.webp 1344w"
         sizes={SIZES}
       />
       {/*
@@ -71,15 +71,15 @@ export function HeroIllustration() {
         media query does, and it sits after the modern formats so they still
         win where supported.
       */}
-      <source media="(max-width: 860px)" srcSet="/brand/hero-band-700.jpg" />
+      <source media="(max-width: 860px)" srcSet="/brand/hero-band-900.jpg" />
       <source
         type="image/avif"
-        srcSet="/brand/hero-wide-900.avif 900w, /brand/hero-wide-1200.avif 1200w, /brand/hero-wide-1672.avif 1672w"
+        srcSet="/brand/hero-wide-1000.avif 1000w, /brand/hero-wide-1400.avif 1400w, /brand/hero-wide-2000.avif 2000w"
         sizes={SIZES}
       />
       <source
         type="image/webp"
-        srcSet="/brand/hero-wide-900.webp 900w, /brand/hero-wide-1200.webp 1200w, /brand/hero-wide-1672.webp 1672w"
+        srcSet="/brand/hero-wide-1000.webp 1000w, /brand/hero-wide-1400.webp 1400w, /brand/hero-wide-2000.webp 2000w"
         sizes={SIZES}
       />
       {/*
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ export function HeroIllustration() {
       */}
       {/* eslint-disable-next-line @next/next/no-img-element */}
       <img
-        src="/brand/hero-wide-1200.jpg"
+        src="/brand/hero-wide-1400.jpg"
         alt=""
         aria-hidden="true"
         width={WIDE_W}

nextjs-app/public/brand/CREDITS.md

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ The landing hero illustration: a path climbing through hills to a schoolhouse,
 with an empty cream area on the left reserved for the headline.
 
 - **Source:** supplied by the project owner
-- **Master:** `nextjs-app/assets/hero-source.png` (1672×941 PNG), committed so
+- **Master:** `nextjs-app/assets/hero-source.png` (2000×1125 PNG), committed so
   the derivatives can be regenerated
 - **Derivatives:** `node scripts/build-hero-images.js` — never hand-edit these
 - **Licence:** **to be confirmed by the project owner**

nextjs-app/scripts/build-hero-images.js

@@ -45,14 +45,24 @@ const SRC = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'assets', 'hero-source.png');
 const OUT = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'public', 'brand');
 
 /*
- * Band crop, in source pixels. The schoolhouse occupies roughly x 1180–1540,
- * y 300–520, so this keeps it whole with headroom above the flag and enough
- * hillside below to read as landscape rather than as a cutout.
+ * Band crop, in source pixels, measured against the artwork rather than
+ * guessed: the schoolhouse spans roughly x 1420–1860, y 420–660, with its flag
+ * up at y 330.
+ *
+ * The crop is flush to the right edge because it has to be. The school sits at
+ * about 82% across the frame, so there is only ~140px of artwork to its right
+ * — not enough to centre it. Anchoring right and taking 1050px back puts the
+ * school at ~66% across the crop, which is what BAND_FOCUS_X below reports to
+ * the CSS so the narrowest band crops the empty left side rather than the
+ * subject.
  */
-const BAND = { left: 700, top: 260, width: 972, height: 380 };
+const BAND = { left: 656, top: 300, width: 1344, height: 420 };
 
-const WIDE_WIDTHS = [1672, 1200, 900];
-const BAND_WIDTHS = [972, 700, 500];
+/** Where the schoolhouse lands in the band crop, for CSS object-position. */
+const BAND_FOCUS_X = Math.round(((1420 + 1860) / 2 - BAND.left) / BAND.width * 100);
+
+const WIDE_WIDTHS = [2000, 1400, 1000];
+const BAND_WIDTHS = [1344, 900, 600];
 
 async function emit(pipeline, name, width) {
   const base = pipeline.clone().resize({ width, withoutEnlargement: true });
@@ -67,25 +77,26 @@ async function main() {
 
   const meta = await sharp(SRC).metadata();
   console.log(`source ${meta.width}×${meta.height}`);
+  console.log(`band focus x: ${BAND_FOCUS_X}% (keep .heroArt object-position in step)`);
 
   const wide = sharp(SRC);
   for (const w of WIDE_WIDTHS) await emit(wide, 'hero-wide', w);
   // Fallback for the <img> itself. Flattened onto the artwork's own cream so a
   // JPEG (no alpha) can never composite against black.
   await sharp(SRC)
-    .resize({ width: 1200 })
-    .flatten({ background: '#FDF9F3' })
+    .resize({ width: 1400 })
+    .flatten({ background: '#FEF2E1' })
     .jpeg({ quality: 82, mozjpeg: true })
-    .toFile(path.join(OUT, 'hero-wide-1200.jpg'));
+    .toFile(path.join(OUT, 'hero-wide-1400.jpg'));
 
   const band = sharp(SRC).extract(BAND);
   for (const w of BAND_WIDTHS) await emit(band, 'hero-band', w);
   await sharp(SRC)
     .extract(BAND)
-    .resize({ width: 700 })
-    .flatten({ background: '#FDF9F3' })
+    .resize({ width: 900 })
+    .flatten({ background: '#FEF2E1' })
     .jpeg({ quality: 82, mozjpeg: true })
-    .toFile(path.join(OUT, 'hero-band-700.jpg'));
+    .toFile(path.join(OUT, 'hero-band-900.jpg'));
 
   const files = fs.readdirSync(OUT).filter(f => f.startsWith('hero-')).sort();
   let total = 0;