test(notifications): the center re-says its rows after a switch, a repeat coalesces by content; e2e helper fails with a cause

The center's rows (title, message, refusal, live button) were never rendered across a language
switch, and nothing held the structural compare that coalescing now needs. The channel-link helper
swallowed whatever ended its poll into a bare false: a link that goes away mid-look now counts as
not hit, and no hittable link fails with the poll's own message.

frontend/e2e/bookmark.spec.ts

@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ test.describe("a bookmark reopens the view it was taken of", () => {
   test("a channel page's own tab, over the page it was opened from", async ({ page, browser }) => {
     await openApp(page, "/?page=feed");
     await expect(page.getByTestId("video-card").first()).toBeVisible();
-    expect(await clickVisibleChannelLink(page)).toBe(true);
+    await clickVisibleChannelLink(page);
     const title = await page.getByTestId("channel-title").textContent();
     await tab(page, "About").click();
     const fresh = await bookmarked(browser, page);

frontend/e2e/channel.spec.ts

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ test.describe("channel view", () => {
     // `.first()` here would grab an overscan card ABOVE the viewport, and Playwright's scroll-into-
     // view would move the feed before navigating, so Back would restore that moved position, not
     // the one under test. (This is what made the test fail while the app was in fact correct.)
-    expect(await clickVisibleChannelLink(page)).toBe(true);
+    await clickVisibleChannelLink(page);
     await expect(page.getByTestId("channel-title")).toBeVisible();
     await page.getByTestId("channel-back").click();
     await expect(page.getByTestId("video-card").first()).toBeVisible();

frontend/e2e/helpers.ts

@@ -33,35 +33,41 @@ export async function gotoPage(page: Page, id: string): Promise<void> {
  * that then asserts on where the feed was. Being inside the viewport is not enough either: a card
  * can sit under the page chrome above the scroller (the update banner, the toolbar band), and the
  * covered click makes Playwright scroll and retry — the same move (webkit failed 3 in 24).
- * So the link must be the element hit at its own centre. Returns false if none found.
- * Looked for again until one is, not once: a fresh load is still settling when the first card shows
- * (the links move down ~55px), and webkit can answer the hit test at a link's new centre with the
- * card under it — every link missed in 1 of 30 runs.
+ * So the link must be the element hit at its own centre; none within the wait fails the test, with
+ * the poll's own message. Looked for again until one is, not once: a fresh load is still settling
+ * when the first card shows (the links move down ~55px), and webkit can answer the hit test at a
+ * link's new centre with the card under it — every link missed in 1 of 30 runs. A link that goes
+ * away mid-look (its evaluate waits for it, or throws) counts as not hit, so the next look runs.
  */
-export async function clickVisibleChannelLink(page: Page): Promise<boolean> {
+export async function clickVisibleChannelLink(page: Page): Promise<void> {
   const links = page.getByTestId("video-card-channel").filter({ visible: true });
   let index = -1;
   const findHittable = async () => {
     const count = await links.count();
     for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
-      const hittable = await links.nth(i).evaluate((el) => {
-        const r = el.getBoundingClientRect();
-        const hit = document.elementFromPoint(r.left + r.width / 2, r.top + r.height / 2);
-        return hit !== null && el.contains(hit);
-      });
+      const hittable = await links
+        .nth(i)
+        .evaluate(
+          (el) => {
+            const r = el.getBoundingClientRect();
+            const hit = document.elementFromPoint(r.left + r.width / 2, r.top + r.height / 2);
+            return hit !== null && el.contains(hit);
+          },
+          undefined,
+          { timeout: 1000 },
+        )
+        .catch(() => false);
       if (hittable) return i;
     }
     return -1;
   };
-  try {
-    await expect
-      .poll(async () => (index = await findHittable()), { timeout: 5000 })
-      .toBeGreaterThan(-1);
-  } catch {
-    return false;
-  }
+  await expect
+    .poll(async () => (index = await findHittable()), {
+      message: "a channel link hit at its own centre",
+      timeout: 5000,
+    })
+    .toBeGreaterThan(-1);
   await links.nth(index).click();
-  return true;
 }
 
 /**