diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/(main)/compose/page.tsx b/apps/web/src/app/(main)/compose/page.tsx
index 464584c..a8bd792 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/(main)/compose/page.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/(main)/compose/page.tsx
@@ -274,7 +274,10 @@ export default function ComposePage(): React.ReactElement {
               className="w-52 py-1 text-xs"
             />
           </span>
-          <div className="ml-auto flex gap-2">
+          <div className="ml-auto flex items-center gap-2">
+            {targets.length === 0 && !over && (
+              <span className="text-xs text-warn">Connect a channel to publish — open Channels in the sidebar.</span>
+            )}
             <Button variant="outline" disabled={busy || mediaBusy || chars === 0} onClick={() => void saveDraft()}>Save draft</Button>
             <Button variant="primary" disabled={busy || mediaBusy || targets.length === 0 || chars === 0 || over} onClick={() => void publish()}>
               {scheduledAt !== "" ? "Schedule" : approval === "review" ? "Submit" : "Publish"}
@@ -292,7 +295,8 @@ export default function ComposePage(): React.ReactElement {
         )}
         <div className="fixed left-0 right-0 z-30 border-t border-border bg-surface px-4 py-2 lg:hidden" style={{ bottom: `calc(var(--mobile-tab-height) + var(--mobile-safe-bottom) + ${keyboardOffset}px)` }}>
           <p className="mb-2 truncate text-2xs text-text-faint">{approval === "review" || !can("approval.grant") ? "→ Editors approve" : "→ Ready to publish"} · {scheduledAt ? `publishes ${new Date(scheduledAt).toLocaleString()}` : "post now"} · {selected.length} accounts</p>
-          <div className="flex gap-2"><Button variant="ghost" className="min-h-11" onClick={() => router.back()}>Cancel</Button><Button variant="outline" className="min-h-11 flex-1" disabled={busy || mediaBusy || chars === 0} onClick={() => void saveDraft()}>Draft</Button><Button variant="primary" className="min-h-11 flex-1" disabled={busy || selected.length === 0 || chars === 0 || over || mediaBusy} onClick={() => void publish()}>{scheduledAt ? "Schedule" : approval === "review" || !can("approval.grant") ? "Submit" : "Post"}</Button></div>
+          {selected.length === 0 && <p className="mb-1 text-2xs text-warn">Connect a channel to publish — open Channels in the sidebar.</p>}
+          <div className="flex gap-2"><Button variant="ghost" className="min-h-11" onClick={() => router.back()}>Cancel</Button><Button variant="outline" className="min-h-11 flex-1" disabled={busy || mediaBusy || chars === 0} onClick={() => void saveDraft()}>Draft</Button><Button variant="primary" className="min-h-11 flex-1" disabled={busy || selected.length === 0 || chars === 0 || over || mediaBusy} onClick={() => void publish()}>{scheduledAt ? "Schedule" : approval === "review" || !can("approval.grant") ? "Submit" : "Publish"}</Button></div>
         </div>
         <Sheet open={scheduleOpen} onClose={() => setScheduleOpen(false)} title="Schedule post" footer={<Button variant="primary" className="min-h-11 w-full justify-center" onClick={() => setScheduleOpen(false)}>Done</Button>}><label className="block text-xs text-text-faint" htmlFor="mobile-schedule">Date and time</label><Input id="mobile-schedule" type="datetime-local" value={scheduledAt} onChange={(event) => setScheduledAt(event.target.value)} className="mt-2 min-h-12" /><div className="mt-4 flex gap-2">{[1, 24, 48].map((hours) => <button key={hours} type="button" className="min-h-11 rounded-md border border-border px-3 text-xs" onClick={() => { const date = new Date(Date.now() + hours * 3600000); setScheduledAt(`${date.getFullYear()}-${String(date.getMonth() + 1).padStart(2, "0")}-${String(date.getDate()).padStart(2, "0")}T${String(date.getHours()).padStart(2, "0")}:${String(date.getMinutes()).padStart(2, "0")}`); }}>{hours === 1 ? "In 1 hour" : hours === 24 ? "Tomorrow" : "In 2 days"}</button>)}</div><button type="button" onClick={() => setScheduledAt("")} className="mt-4 min-h-11 text-xs text-text-faint">Clear schedule</button></Sheet>
         <Sheet open={previewOpen} onClose={() => setPreviewOpen(false)} title="Target previews">{selected.map((target) => <div key={target.key} className="mb-3 rounded-md border border-border p-3"><p className="text-xs text-text-faint">{target.label}</p><p className="mt-2 whitespace-pre-wrap text-sm">{editor?.getText() || "Your post preview appears here…"}</p></div>)}</Sheet>
diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/(main)/more/page.tsx b/apps/web/src/app/(main)/more/page.tsx
index 3f40f0e..a6491d5 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/(main)/more/page.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/(main)/more/page.tsx
@@ -72,13 +72,12 @@ export default function MorePage(): React.ReactElement {
     <div className="border-y border-border-subtle bg-surface">
       <Row href="/connections" title="Connections" detail="Accounts and health" />
       <Row href="/settings" title="Settings" />
-      <Row href="/settings" title="Security & sessions" />
+      <Row href="/groups" title="Groups" detail="Collective moderation — submissions, approvals" />
       <Row href="/calendar" title="Calendar" />
       <Row href="/analytics" title="Analytics" />
       <Row href="/video" title="Video library" />
       <Row href="/files" title="Files" detail="Group file library" />
       <Row href="/chat" title="Chat" detail="Matrix chat" />
-      <Row href="/onboarding" title="Onboarding" />
       <button onClick={() => void logout()} className="flex min-h-[56px] w-full items-center px-4 text-left text-sm font-medium text-danger">Sign out</button>
     </div>
   </div>;
diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/(main)/onboarding/page.tsx b/apps/web/src/app/(main)/onboarding/page.tsx
index d1287a1..ce92603 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/(main)/onboarding/page.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/(main)/onboarding/page.tsx
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ export default function OnboardingPage(): React.ReactElement {
                       onChange={(e) => setUsername(e.target.value.toLowerCase())}
                       placeholder="Username — this is how you sign in"
                       autoComplete="username"
-                      pattern="[a-z0-9][a-z0-9_.-]{1,31}"
+                      pattern="[a-z0-9][a-z0-9._-]{1,31}"
                       title="2-32 characters: lowercase letters, digits, dot, underscore or hyphen"
                     />
                     <Input
diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/collectives/no-collectives-home.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/collectives/no-collectives-home.tsx
index 4245903..30725c2 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/collectives/no-collectives-home.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/collectives/no-collectives-home.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 "use client";
 
 import Link from "next/link";
+import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import { useAuth } from "../../lib/auth-store";
 
 /**
@@ -59,7 +60,16 @@ export function NoCollectivesHome(): React.ReactElement {
   const { session } = useAuth();
   // Spanish-first product; the landing's ES/EN preference carries when the
   // account stores one (P2).
-  const t = <T extends { es: string; en: string }>(x: T): string => x.es;
+  // Respect the reading language the user picked on the landing page (tmbh.lang
+  // in localStorage); Spanish stays the fallback for a fresh visitor.
+  const [lang, setLang] = useState<"es" | "en">("es");
+  useEffect(() => {
+    try {
+      const stored = window.localStorage.getItem("tmbh.manual.lang");
+      if (stored === "en" || stored === "es") setLang(stored);
+    } catch { /* private mode: keep the default */ }
+  }, []);
+  const t = <T extends { es: string; en: string }>(x: T): string => x[lang];
   const name = session?.user.displayName?.trim() || session?.user.username || "";
 
   return (
diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/shell/sidebar.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/shell/sidebar.tsx
index 0734399..f30f75d 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/shell/sidebar.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/shell/sidebar.tsx
@@ -9,23 +9,44 @@ import type { DraftRecord } from "../../lib/api-types";
 import { LogoMark } from "../brand/logo";
 import { NavIcon } from "../brand";
 
-const NAV: { href: string; label: string; icon: string; external?: boolean }[] = [
-  { href: "/streams", label: "Streams", icon: "video" },
-  { href: "/control-room", label: "Control Room", icon: "video" },
-  { href: "/compose", label: "Compose", icon: "compose" },
-  { href: "/calendar", label: "Calendar", icon: "calendar" },
-  { href: "/chat", label: "Chat", icon: "chat" },
-  { href: "/files", label: "Files", icon: "files" },
-  { href: "/archive", label: "Archive", icon: "files" },
-  { href: "/inbox", label: "Inbox", icon: "inbox" },
-  { href: "/approvals", label: "Approvals", icon: "approvals" },
-  { href: "/video", label: "Video", icon: "video" },
-  { href: "/analytics", label: "Analytics", icon: "analytics" },
-  { href: "/connections", label: "Channels", icon: "connections" },
-  { href: "/team", label: "Team", icon: "team" },
-  { href: "/audit", label: "Audit log", icon: "audit" },
-  { href: "/onboarding", label: "Onboarding", icon: "home" },
-  { href: "/settings", label: "Settings", icon: "settings" },
+/** Grouped per the 2026-10 UX audit (16 flat items → 5 scannable sections). */
+const NAV: { section: string; items: { href: string; label: string; icon: string; external?: boolean }[] }[] = [
+  {
+    section: "Publish",
+    items: [
+      { href: "/compose", label: "Compose", icon: "compose" },
+      { href: "/calendar", label: "Calendar", icon: "calendar" },
+      { href: "/streams", label: "Home", icon: "video" },
+    ],
+  },
+  {
+    section: "Content",
+    items: [
+      { href: "/video", label: "Video library", icon: "video" },
+      { href: "/files", label: "Files", icon: "files" },
+      { href: "/archive", label: "Archive", icon: "archive" },
+      { href: "/chat", label: "Chat", icon: "chat" },
+    ],
+  },
+  {
+    section: "Operations",
+    items: [
+      { href: "/inbox", label: "Inbox", icon: "inbox" },
+      { href: "/approvals", label: "Approvals", icon: "approvals" },
+      { href: "/groups", label: "Groups", icon: "team" },
+      { href: "/control-room", label: "Control Room", icon: "control" },
+      { href: "/analytics", label: "Analytics", icon: "analytics" },
+      { href: "/audit", label: "Audit trail", icon: "audit" },
+    ],
+  },
+  {
+    section: "Admin",
+    items: [
+      { href: "/connections", label: "Connections", icon: "connections" },
+      { href: "/team", label: "Team", icon: "team" },
+      { href: "/settings", label: "Settings", icon: "settings" },
+    ],
+  },
 ];
 
 const identity = (drafts: DraftRecord[]): DraftRecord[] => drafts;
@@ -72,18 +93,16 @@ export function Sidebar(): React.ReactElement {
         </div>
       </div>
       <nav className="flex-1 overflow-y-auto scrollbar-thin p-2">
-        {NAV.map((item) => {
-          const active = !item.external && pathname.startsWith(item.href);
+        {NAV.map((group) => (
+          <div key={group.section} className="mb-3">
+            <p className="px-3 pb-1 pt-2 text-2xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-text-faint">{group.section}</p>
+            {group.items.map((item) => {
+          const active = pathname.startsWith(item.href);
           const className = `group flex items-center justify-between rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-sm transition-colors duration-150 ${item.href === "/control-room" ? "min-h-11" : ""} ${
             active ? "bg-accent-dim text-accent" : "text-text-dim hover:bg-surface-2 hover:text-text"
           }`;
           const icon = <NavIcon name={item.icon} size={16} />;
-          return item.external ? (
-            <a key={item.href} href={item.href} target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" className={className}>
-              <span className="flex items-center gap-2.5">{icon}{item.label}</span>
-              <span className="text-2xs text-text-faint">↗</span>
-            </a>
-          ) : (
+          return (
             <Link key={item.href} href={item.href} className={className}>
               <span className="flex items-center gap-2.5">{icon}{item.label}</span>
               {item.href === "/approvals" && approvals > 0 && (
@@ -91,7 +110,9 @@ export function Sidebar(): React.ReactElement {
               )}
             </Link>
           );
-        })}
+            })}
+          </div>
+        ))}
       </nav>
     </aside>
   );