fix(0.3.2): play-button glyph baseline — drop dashicon for Unicode ▶ / ‖

The dashicon used for the play/pause icon was rendering visibly below
the button text — dashicon font metrics sit the glyph low inside its
own box, so even with `inline-flex` centering the symbol looked like
it was on a separate row from the word "Play".

Swap dashicons-controls-play / dashicons-controls-pause for plain
Unicode glyphs (▶ / ‖) which render on the text baseline like any
other character. Flex container changed to align-items: baseline.
font-variant-emoji: text on the glyph span to keep platforms that
might otherwise pick up an emoji variant of ▶ as monochrome text.

Files: radio.php (version), inc/admin-page.php +
inc/dashboard-widget.php (dashicon span → glyph span),
assets/css/radio.css (drop dashicon-sizing rule, add
.radio-player__play-glyph, baseline alignment),
assets/js/radio.js (setPlayIcon swaps glyph textContent instead of
dashicon className), inc/about.php (history entry).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,19 @@ Format: [Keep a Changelog 1.1.0](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/) — versi
 
 ---
 
+## [0.3.2] — 2026-05-29 — Play-button glyph baseline fix
+
+The dashicon used for the play/pause icon was rendering visibly below the button text baseline — the dashicon font sits the glyph low inside its own box, and even with `inline-flex` centering the result looked like the symbol was on a separate row from the word "Play".
+
+### Fixed
+- **Play/pause icon now sits on the text baseline.** Swapped the dashicon (`dashicons-controls-play` / `dashicons-controls-pause`) for a plain Unicode glyph (▶ / ‖) which renders on the text baseline like any other character.
+- Flex container changed from `align-items: center` to `align-items: baseline` for the same reason.
+- `font-variant-emoji: text` set so platforms that might otherwise pick up a colour-emoji variant for ▶ keep it as monochrome text.
+
+**Files changed:** `radio.php` (version), `inc/admin-page.php` + `inc/dashboard-widget.php` (dashicon span → glyph span), `assets/css/radio.css` (drop the dashicon-sizing rule, add `.radio-player__play-glyph` styling, change play-button flex alignment to baseline), `assets/js/radio.js` (`setPlayIcon` now swaps glyph `textContent` instead of dashicon `className`), `inc/about.php` (history entry).
+
+---
+
 ## [0.3.1] — 2026-05-29 — My Radio layout polish + drop dark-auto
 
 Quick patch after a real-screen review of the My Radio admin page. v0.3.0 added a lot of features but stretched the player to fill the full admin width and — embarrassingly — introduced a real contrast bug via the dark-auto CSS.

assets/css/radio.css

@@ -80,17 +80,23 @@
 }
 
 .radio-player__play {
-    /* native .button .button-primary styling; just ensure icon aligns */
+    /* native .button .button-primary styling; just ensure glyph aligns */
     display: inline-flex !important;
-    align-items: center;
+    align-items: baseline;
     gap: 6px;
 }
 
-.radio-player__play .dashicons {
+/* Unicode play/pause glyph (not a dashicon — those sit low inside their
-    font-size: 14px;
+   own font box and look like they're below the text baseline). A plain
-    width: 14px;
+   ▶ / ‖ glyph renders on the text baseline like any other character. */
-    height: 14px;
+.radio-player__play-glyph {
+    display: inline-block;
+    font-size: 11px;
     line-height: 1;
+    /* Coerce to text rendering rather than colour-emoji on systems that
+       might otherwise pick up an emoji variant for ▶ / ‖. */
+    font-variant-emoji: text;
+    font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif;
 }
 
 .radio-player__volume {

assets/js/radio.js

@@ -68,11 +68,13 @@
         });
     }
 
-    /** Update play/pause button icon + label to reflect current audio state. */
+    /** Update play/pause button glyph + label to reflect current audio state.
+     *  v0.3.2: switched from .dashicons to a Unicode glyph so the symbol sits
+     *  on the text baseline instead of below it. */
     function setPlayIcon(btn, playing) {
-        var icon  = btn.querySelector('.dashicons');
+        var glyph = btn.querySelector('[data-radio-play-glyph]');
         var label = btn.querySelector('[data-radio-play-label]');
-        if (icon)  { icon.className  = 'dashicons ' + (playing ? 'dashicons-controls-pause' : 'dashicons-controls-play'); }
+        if (glyph) { glyph.textContent = playing ? '‖' : '▶'; } // ‖ or ▶
         if (label) { label.textContent = playing ? (cfg.strings.pause || 'Pause') : (cfg.strings.play || 'Play'); }
         btn.setAttribute('title', playing ? (cfg.strings.pause || 'Pause') : (cfg.strings.play || 'Play'));
     }

inc/about.php

@@ -48,7 +48,11 @@ function radio_render_about_page() {
                 <h2><?php esc_html_e( 'Version history', 'radio' ); ?></h2>
                 <ul>
                     <li>
-                        <span class="ver">v0.3.1</span> &mdash; 29 May 2026 <span class="latest">latest</span><br>
+                        <span class="ver">v0.3.2</span> &mdash; 29 May 2026 <span class="latest">latest</span><br>
+                        <?php esc_html_e( 'Play-button glyph baseline fix. The dashicon used for play/pause was rendering below the button text. Swapped to a plain Unicode glyph (▶ / ‖) that sits on the text baseline like any other character.', 'radio' ); ?>
+                    </li>
+                    <li>
+                        <span class="ver">v0.3.1</span> &mdash; 29 May 2026<br>
                         <?php esc_html_e( 'My Radio layout polish + dropped dark-auto. Player no longer stretches edge-to-edge (max-width 880px); volume slider fixed width so the % label sits next to it; station dropdown capped at 360px; play-button icon shrunk to match the button text baseline; intro paragraph now fits one line. Removed the prefers-color-scheme dark-auto behaviour that was unreadable against WordPress\'s still-white postbox; theme=dark is still available as an explicit choice and now gives the player its own dark surface so it actually reads.', 'radio' ); ?>
                     </li>
                     <li>

inc/admin-page.php

@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ function radio_render_main_page() {
 
                     <div class="radio-player__controls">
                         <button type="button" class="button button-primary radio-player__play" data-radio-play>
-                            <span class="dashicons dashicons-controls-play" aria-hidden="true"></span>
+                            <span class="radio-player__play-glyph" data-radio-play-glyph aria-hidden="true">&#9654;</span>
                             <span data-radio-play-label><?php esc_html_e( 'Play', 'radio' ); ?></span>
                         </button>
 

inc/dashboard-widget.php

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ function radio_render_dashboard_widget() {
 
         <div class="radio-player__controls">
             <button type="button" class="button button-primary radio-player__play" data-radio-play>
-                <span class="dashicons dashicons-controls-play" aria-hidden="true"></span>
+                <span class="radio-player__play-glyph" data-radio-play-glyph aria-hidden="true">&#9654;</span>
                 <span data-radio-play-label><?php esc_html_e( 'Play', 'radio' ); ?></span>
             </button>
 

radio.php

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * Plugin Name: Radio
  * Plugin URI:  https://icanhelp.ie/radio
  * Description: A small, focused, free radio player for your WordPress admin. 44 SomaFM stations grouped by 10 genres — ambient, electronic, lounge, rock, metal, jazz, world, reggae, holiday, specials. Plays via HTML5 audio; volume + station choice persist per-user.
- * Version:     0.3.1
+ * Version:     0.3.2
  * Requires at least: 5.0
  * Requires PHP: 7.4
  * Author:      David Keane
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) { exit; }
 
 // Plugin coordinates.
-if ( ! defined( 'RADIO_VERSION' ) )   { define( 'RADIO_VERSION',   '0.3.1' ); }
+if ( ! defined( 'RADIO_VERSION' ) )   { define( 'RADIO_VERSION',   '0.3.2' ); }
 if ( ! defined( 'RADIO_FILE' ) )      { define( 'RADIO_FILE',      __FILE__ ); }
 if ( ! defined( 'RADIO_PATH' ) )      { define( 'RADIO_PATH',      plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) ); }
 if ( ! defined( 'RADIO_URL' ) )       { define( 'RADIO_URL',       plugin_dir_url( __FILE__ ) ); }