[josearmandoabreu]

Description

This branch defines the last three templates in Spotlight's core hierarchy — the curated homepage (front-page.html), search results (search.html), and the 404 fallback (404.html). It closes LS-1718, building directly on the shared template parts (header, trust-bar, footer) merged via LS-1715/#4.

Changes

• templates/front-page.html (new): the curated homepage — hero, "Explore by topic," "Latest news," a dashboard-CTA banner, "Special Projects," provincial coverage + newsletter, and "Perspectives" sections. Each section is a labeled structural placeholder (heading + placeholder text), not real pattern content — actual pattern authoring is explicitly out of this branch's scope, per design.md's non-goals, since no patterns/ directory exists yet in this theme. No core/query block, distinguishing it structurally from home.html
• templates/search.html (new): reuses the same card-grid structure as home.html/archive.html — an inherited core/query block bound to the actual search results, a core/query-title showing the search term, and a search box for refining — but no topic-filter pills, since search results aren't filtered by topic
• templates/404.html (new): a calm "Page not found" message plus a search box, no post query loop — consistent with the "calmer editorial hierarchy" acceptance criterion rather than a jarring dead end
• templates/index.html: confirmed left unmodified, as WordPress's required fallback-of-last-resort
• theme.json customTemplates: evaluated, not needed — standard hierarchy slugs get sensible default editor labels automatically
• Changelog: entries added under [Unreleased]

Files Modified

Source files:

• templates/front-page.html — new
• templates/search.html — new
• templates/404.html — new
• CHANGELOG.md — new [Unreleased] entries

Planning/spec files:

• openspec/changes/spotlight-template-hierarchy/tasks.md — task group 4 (LS-1718) checkboxes marked complete; this is the final sibling branch, so all four groups of the OpenSpec change are now implemented

Key Improvements

• ✅ front-page.html is now what actually renders at the site root (WordPress falls back to it ahead of home.html/index.html), unblocking real front-end verification of every base style shipped since LS-1711 — the original motivation for this whole template-hierarchy effort
• ✅ search.html/404.html deliberately introduce zero new visual vocabulary — reusing the existing card-grid-and-chrome structure keeps them consistent and low-risk given neither has a reviewed design source
• ✅ Front-page sections are explicit, labeled placeholders rather than silently-empty groups or invented content — anyone opening the template in the Site Editor sees exactly what pattern work remains
• ✅ This PR completes the final sibling branch (LS-1716/1717/1718) of the template-hierarchy OpenSpec change — once merged, only the base LS-1715 PR (Implement Spotlight shared template parts (LS-1715) #4) remains outstanding

Related Issues

Closes LS-1718 — define Spotlight system templates and edge-case structure

Part of LS-1705 — define Spotlight template hierarchy and core template parts (parent issue; this is the last of its four sub-issues — LS-1714/1715/1716/1717 — to reach a PR)

Testing

• npm run schema:validate passes
• npm run theme:validate passes (required files, placeholder tokens, text-domain consistency)
• Verified in the Site Editor and front end: front-page.html now renders for the site root, search.html and 404.html both render without fatal errors
• Confirmed templates/index.html is byte-for-byte unchanged

Deployment Notes

• No breaking changes — purely additive, three new template files
• Base branch note: this PR targets feat/ls-1715-shared-template-parts-and-wrappers, not develop — it depends on the shared parts from Implement Spotlight shared template parts (LS-1715) #4 and should not be merged before it
• Note for reviewers: front-page.html's section placeholders are intentionally unstyled/generic — the real hero, card-row, and dashboard-banner patterns are follow-on work once patterns/ exists in this theme
• No build step required — HTML/JSON only

Checklist

• JSON schema validation passed
• Theme consistency validation passed
• No conflicts with base branch (feat/ls-1715-shared-template-parts-and-wrappers)
• Editor and front-end spot-check of front-page.html, search.html, 404.html
• OpenSpec change tasks 4.1–4.8 complete; task 4.9 (this PR) in progress — all four sibling branches now have open PRs

[linear-code]

LS-1718

LS-1705

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds the remaining “system/edge-case” templates to complete the Spotlight template hierarchy workstream (LS-1718), wiring them into the existing shared template parts and documenting the change in OpenSpec + changelog.

Changes:

• Added three new templates: curated front page (front-page.html), search results (search.html), and 404 fallback (404.html).
• Marked LS-1718 task group complete in the OpenSpec tasks list.
• Documented the new templates under ## [Unreleased] in CHANGELOG.md.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
templates/front-page.html	New curated homepage template composed of clearly labelled structural placeholders.
templates/search.html	New search results template using an inherited query loop plus a search refinement form.
templates/404.html	New 404 template with a calm message and search form.
openspec/changes/spotlight-template-hierarchy/tasks.md	Marks LS-1718 tasks as completed.
CHANGELOG.md	Adds Unreleased entries documenting the new templates.

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[ZaredRogers]

Looks good @josearmandoabreu