Topics navigation and removal history — September 8, 2026

The Topics generator now uses eight broad subjects from topics/taxonomy.json. Explicit slug overrides take precedence over category-prefix mappings; narrative keywords never determine classification. Missing people includes unresolved disappearance outcomes rather than every entry mentioning a missing person. Recovered bodies and established homicide cases remain in the death-inquiry group. Wild-men reports and the Vineland cat appear under reported encounters. New unmapped categories fail generation so an editor must make a deliberate choice.

The page has a compact directory with counts, alphabetical two-column story lists, a single-column mobile layout, named section anchors and return links. Every story remains a standard HTML link without JavaScript dependence; the complete-index search remains available. The prior Topics page contained no named topic anchors to retain. Existing entry metadata and index search behavior are unchanged.

The changelog gathers explicit removed_items across batches. Historical addition/update records retain their original counts; a removed story’s preserved title becomes plain text with a Removed badge. Removal batches have a separate section. An absent story without an explicit removal record still raises an error.

Validation:

  • Generator completed successfully with 341 entries at the time of this check; root may subsequently integrate the remaining research.
  • Exact equality between catalog URLs and Topics links, with each appearing once; eight directory links.
  • Repeated Topics generation produced identical bytes.
  • Isolated changelog fixture verified preserved title, unchanged historical addition count, no dead link, and failure for an unexplained missing entry.
  • Playwright desktop1440×1000 and mobile390×844: no horizontal overflow. Mobile lists have one351px column; section jumps remain below the sticky header.
  • First keyboard Tab reveals and focuses Skip to content. Reduced-motion emulation yields scroll-behavior: auto. No browser console errors or warnings.
  • Screenshots: output/playwright/topics-six-desktop.png, topics-six-mobile.png, and topics-six-mobile-list.png (local review artifacts).

Files: script/pinebarrens-catalog.py, pinebarrens/topics/taxonomy.json, generated pinebarrens/topics/index.html, and scoped additions in pinebarrens/assets/site.css. Shared JS did not require changes. Parent owns final catalog/changelog integration and publishing.