bug: sidebar section label fails WCAG AA contrast

[SHAURYAKSHARMA24]

Summary

The uppercase “More” label in the expanded authenticated sidebar does not meet WCAG AA contrast requirements.

Expected Behavior

The small section label meets at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio against the sidebar background in supported themes.

Actual Behavior

The computed foreground/background pair is approximately 4.23:1 at 10px normal weight. Low-vision users may miss the grouping label between primary and secondary navigation.

Reproduction Steps

1. Sign in and keep the desktop sidebar expanded.
2. Run axe-core with the WCAG 2.2 AA tag set.
3. Inspect the uppercase More section label.
4. Observe the color-contrast violation.

Severity

P2 - Medium

Evidence

• axe-core 4.12.1 reports color-contrast with serious impact.
• Measured contrast: approximately 4.23:1.
• WCAG 2.2: 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), Level AA.

Environment

• Browser/tooling: Chromium 151 with axe-core 4.12.1.
• Application state: authenticated desktop shell with the expanded sidebar.
• OS, Node/Python versions, Docker state, and original branch/commit were not recorded in the initial audit.

Acceptance Criteria

• The section label meets at least 4.5:1 contrast in supported themes.
• Sidebar structure and behavior are unchanged.
• Computed browser contrast regression coverage is added.
• Frontend test, lint, and production build pass.

Roadmap Alignment

Improves the accessibility and trust quality of the existing authenticated shell without widening the product surface.

Related to #118.

[parthrohit22]

This issue tracks a manual accessibility check required for the WCAG 2.2 AA baseline (PR #241). It will be closed once manual evidence (screen‑reader, keyboard, contrast, etc.) is provided as part of the baseline validation.

[parthrohit22]

Issue structure feedback: This issue follows a reasonable structure for accessibility violations but doesn't fully match the bug report template (.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml). Current sections: Affected route/state, Reproduction, Expected/Actual behaviour, WCAG criterion, Severity/user impact, Proposed scope, Related to #118. Missing from template: Evidence and Environment sections. Title format: Should start with 'bug: ' per template. Content is accurate and actionable for fixing the accessibility issue.

[parthrohit22]

Please work on this immediately. We need a focused PR ready before tomorrow’s university tech-fest presentation. Keep the change limited to this issue’s acceptance criteria and include the frontend test, lint, and production-build results in the PR.