I prefer the system settings as it currently is in 5.12, though the submenu heading could be a little bit darker.

As for the changes made, I think the person that made the main sidebar header color different from the sub-sidebar header color did so intentionally, in line with the menu heirarchy. The horizontal line you added separating the search section from the sidebar options is cool though. The back navigation as it is is pretty clear, no need to turn it into a button.

In D11757#235700, @richardbowen wrote:

I prefer the system settings as it currently is in 5.12, though the submenu heading could be a little bit darker.

As for the changes made, I think the person that made the main sidebar header color different from the sub-sidebar header color did so intentionally, in line with the menu heirarchy.

That parson was @mart, which is why I added him as a reviewer. Previously, the light subcategory header text was visually consistent with the category headers on the main list--which were far too light due to a bug. I fixed that bug, and now the subcategory header text no longer matches with anything. It's also inconsistent with other column-based navigation headers, and is just too light in general. 30% opacity text is hard to read and doesn't make conceptual sense for a header.

The horizontal line you added separating the search section from the sidebar options is cool though.

Thanks!

The back navigation as it is is pretty clear, no need to turn it into a button.

It's not necessarily about clarity, it's about visual polish. Did you read the linked bug? It looks especially weird in HiDPI mode. If we're going to keep the present appearance, we should remove the button borders that show up on hover that are jammed up against the parent frame. But I kind of like bit big explicit button approach myself (obviously, or I wouldn't have proposed it! :-) )

Also, the subcategory header is already bold when not in widescreen mode, so the fact that it's still light in widescreen mode is likely a simple bug.

Yea, the hover border isn't necessary. Maybe the back navigation should work like how it does with Kirigami or similar.

In D11757#235714, @richardbowen wrote:

Yea, the hover border isn't necessary. Maybe the back navigation should work like how it does with Kirigami or similar.

A Kirigami-style small back button sacrifices the usability advantages of having the whole area clickable.

The whole area of the Kirigami style back button is clickable. The back navigation in the sidebar I mean.

I am not sure that I am catching the difference between before and after. Can you please provide screenshots of that? Just for comparison.

looks sensible to me

In D11757#235930, @abetts wrote:

I am not sure that I am catching the difference between before and after. Can you please provide screenshots of that? Just for comparison.

Here's how it looks right now, without this patch:

The submenu heading on the gray background isn't consistent with the other main menu heading which have no border but otherwise, it looks good.

In D11757#236015, @richardbowen wrote:

The greyborder around the submenu heading isn't consistent with the other main menu heading which have no border, and inconsistent with the Kirigami back button style but otherwise, it looks good.

Kirigami has multiple columnar navigation paradigms. The one whose visual style I'm emulating is the ToolbarApplicationHeader, which has gray toolbar-style backgrounds for the headers. System Settings previously had inconsistent approach: using the ToolbarApplicationHeader style for the main category list, but not the subcategory list. I think using the ToolbarApplicationHeader style for both looks better, and is a superior option to abandoning it for both, which presents issues for the header on the main category list given that it's always going to be scrollable.

ok, cool.