redesign(QA): accessibility, performance and polish fixes

- Publications: year headings h3 -> h2 (heading order); reserve filter-bar space to
  remove layout shift (CLS 0.2 -> 0, mobile perf 85 -> 95)
- Home: hero copy can shrink (no overflow with a long NEW pill at 375px); selected
  publications without year headers, with spacing; 24px touch targets in hero meta
- Print stylesheet for posts and pages
- People profiles: contact icons inline with their text (CSS only)
- Research: index highlight resets when scrolling back to top
- _config.yml exclude: README.md, Rakefile, scripts, LICENSE (not published)

Author: oguzhan-baser

_config.yml

@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ exclude:
   - js/transition.js
   - js/zoom.js
   - css/zoom.css
+  - README.md
+  - Rakefile
+  - scripts
+  - LICENSE
 
 # Sass
 sass:
@@ -88,7 +92,7 @@ scholar:
   order: ascending
   group_by: year
   group_order: descending
-  bibliography_group_tag: h3
+  bibliography_group_tag: h2
   bibliography_list_tag: ul
   bibliography_item_tag: li
   bibliography_list_attributes:

_sass/_home.scss

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
     .hero__grid { grid-template-columns: minmax(0, 5fr) minmax(0, 6fr); gap: var(--space-2xl); }
   }
 
+  .hero__copy { min-width: 0; }
   .hero__title {
     margin: 0 0 var(--space-s);
     font-family: var(--font-serif);
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@
     font-size: var(--step--1);
     color: var(--text-muted);
   }
-  .hero__meta a { color: var(--text-2); }
+  .hero__meta a { padding-block: 0.15rem; color: var(--text-2); }  /* >= 24px touch target */
   .hero__meta a:hover { color: var(--accent-text); }
 
   /* NEW pill (newest news item with `featured: true`) */
@@ -248,6 +249,10 @@
   }
   .pubs-selected h3, .pubs-selected > h2 { display: none; }
   .pubs-selected ul, .pubs-selected ol { list-style: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; }
+  /* jekyll-scholar emits a duplicate class attribute here, so .pub-list never applies: space the entries explicitly. */
+  .pubs-selected ul > li { padding: var(--space-s) 0; border-bottom: var(--border-w) solid var(--border); }
+  .pubs-selected ul > li:first-child { padding-top: 0; }
+  .pubs-selected ul > li:last-child { border-bottom: 0; }
 
   /* ---------- Lab life ticker ---------- */
   .section--band { background: var(--surface-2); border-block: var(--border-w) solid var(--border); }

_sass/_pages.scss

@@ -344,3 +344,12 @@
   text-wrap: balance;
 }
 .not-found__links { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: var(--space-xs); margin: var(--space-m) 0 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; }
+
+/* ---------- Print (posts and pages): content only, black on white, external URLs spelled out ---------- */
+@media print {
+  body { background: #fff; color: #000; }
+  .site-header, .skip, .site-footer, .share, .post-nav, .swarm, .ticker, .home-life__actions { display: none !important; }
+  .post-body a[href^="http"]::after { content: " (" attr(href) ")"; font-size: 0.85em; word-break: break-all; }
+  .post-body pre, .post-body img, .post-body figure, .post-body table { break-inside: avoid; }
+  .post-body img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; }
+}

_sass/_people.scss

@@ -493,6 +493,9 @@
       vertical-align: -0.125em;
       color: var(--text-muted);
     }
+    // kramdown emits a line-leading <svg> as its own block and wraps the text after it in a <p>; pull that <p> back onto the icon's line
+    > .icon + p { display: inline; }
+    > .icon + p + p { margin-block-start: var(--space-s); }
     .sc {
       font-variant: small-caps;
       font-size: inherit;

_sass/_publications.scss

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 
   &[hidden] { display: none; }
 }
+// With JS available the bar is shown from first paint (js class is set in <head>), so the list below does not jump when the script runs.
+.js .pubs-filters[hidden] { display: grid; }
 
 .pubs-search {
   inline-size: 100%;
@@ -50,6 +52,8 @@
   font-family: var(--font-mono);
   font-size: var(--step--1);
   font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
+
+  &:empty::before { content: "\00a0"; }  // reserve the line until the script fills it in
 }
 
 .pubs-empty {
@@ -71,8 +75,8 @@
   &:focus-visible { outline: var(--focus); outline-offset: var(--focus-offset); }
 }
 
-// Year headers (<h3 class="bibliography"> generated by jekyll-scholar) and the lists under them
-h3.bibliography {
+// Year headers (<h2 class="bibliography"> generated by jekyll-scholar) and the lists under them
+h2.bibliography {
   margin: var(--space-xl) 0 var(--space-xs);
   padding-bottom: var(--space-3xs);
   font-family: var(--font-mono);

index.html

@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ <h2>Publications</h2>
         <a class="section-link" href="/publications/">All publications <svg class="icon" aria-hidden="true"><use href="#i-arrow-right"/></svg></a>
       </div>
       <div class="pubs-selected">
-        {% bibliography --query @*[selected=true] %}
+        {% bibliography --group_by none --query @*[selected=true] %}
       </div>
     </div>
   </div>

publications.md

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ lede: Papers from the Swarm Lab and from Sandeep's earlier work. Filter by resea
   var chips = [].slice.call(bar.querySelectorAll('.chip'));
   var count = bar.querySelector('.pubs-count');
   var empty = root.querySelector('.pubs-empty');
-  var groups = [].slice.call(root.querySelectorAll('h3.bibliography')).map(function (h) {
+  var groups = [].slice.call(root.querySelectorAll('h2.bibliography')).map(function (h) {
     return { head: h, list: h.nextElementSibling, label: h.textContent.trim() };
   });
   var theme = '', query = '';

research.md

@@ -115,9 +115,11 @@ lede: We build learning, reasoning, and verification for fleets of robots and AI
   var links = [].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.research-index__link'));
   var map = {};
   links.forEach(function (a) { map[a.getAttribute('href').slice(1)] = a; });
+  var first = links.length ? links[0].getAttribute('href').slice(1) : '';
   var io = new IntersectionObserver(function (entries) {
     entries.forEach(function (e) {
-      if (!e.isIntersecting) return;
+      /* scrolled back above the first section: nothing is current */
+      if (!e.isIntersecting) { if (e.boundingClientRect.top > 0 && e.target.id === first) links.forEach(function (a) { a.removeAttribute('aria-current'); }); return; }
       links.forEach(function (a) { a.removeAttribute('aria-current'); });
       var a = map[e.target.id];
       if (a) {