1 files changed, 32 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md
index faf510a..21e7a91 100644
--- a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md
+++ b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md
@@ -446,14 +446,38 @@ to copy.
 Two concrete sub-items, from using the list rather than looking at it:
 
 - **"All items look unread (bold), maybe use regular for read items?"**
-  **Check this before changing anything.** Bold is ALREADY conditional:
-  `ThreadListModel::data()` sets it under `Qt::FontRole` only when
-  `thread.isUnread()` (`src/threadlistmodel.cpp:148-152`). So either the
-  observation is that the user's list genuinely is mostly unread, in which case
-  there is no bug and the fix is elsewhere (the density work below), or bold is
-  leaking onto read rows through some path the model does not control. Reproduce
-  against a query with a known mix, e.g. `tag:inbox and not tag:unread`, before
-  touching the font logic.
+  **Done 2026-08-07, and the guess written here was wrong on both branches.**
+
+  Bold was indeed already conditional, and the user's list was not mostly
+  unread, and bold was not leaking. The actual cause: **bold renders
+  identically to regular on the user's system.** Confirmed by eye against a
+  bare `QTableView` holding a plain `QStandardItemModel` with no qtmaildir code
+  involved, so the fault is in Qt or fontconfig, below this application, and
+  nothing in the model could ever have reached it. Bold was unread's ONLY cue.
+
+  The fix inverts the emphasis instead: unread rows keep the palette's text
+  colour and READ rows are dimmed toward the background, via
+  `ThreadListModel::readColour()`. The cue rides on `Qt::ForegroundRole`, costs
+  no column, and suits the real ratio, which was 99 unread against 4220 read.
+  Bold is kept, since it works on other systems, but nothing depends on it.
+
+  **A caution for anyone adding another `ForegroundRole` cue.** Qt resolves
+  that role into the palette and then prefers it over `HighlightedText`, so a
+  model-supplied colour wins on a SELECTED row too. The dim is blended against
+  the unselected background, so it landed as grey on the selection highlight,
+  near unreadable. `SubjectDelegate::initStyleOption` reverses that, and the
+  delegate is installed view-wide rather than on the subject column alone so
+  every column gets the same handling.
+
+  **How this was nearly missed twice.** It was first dismissed from thread
+  counts, which explained why two screenshots looked alike but said nothing
+  about rendering. It was then dismissed again by a probe that counted lit
+  pixels: antialiasing makes a bold and a regular glyph light a similar number,
+  so the metric read "identical" regardless. Text WIDTH distinguishes them
+  (277px against 288px for the same string) and a strict pixel diff does; an
+  ink count does not. The tests that now guard this strip the font from the
+  model's answer entirely and require the two states to still differ, which is
+  the assertion that was missing all along.
 
 - **A star column for flagged threads**, mirroring the paperclip column that
   already exists for attachments. `ThreadSummary` carries the tags and