diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index df0bbd0..8025876 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -916,7 +916,7 @@ The core and all building blocks **work with zero JavaScript** — theme switchi
 are pure CSS + GET forms, and menus are the platform's own [popover
 API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Popover_API): a `<button popovertarget>`
 opens the panel and the browser dismisses it on a click outside or `Esc`; CSS anchor positioning
-places it. On a browser too old for either the trigger is inert, so each panel falls back to
+places it. On a browser too old for the popover API the trigger is inert, so each panel falls back to
 flowing inline underneath it — cramped inside a table cell, but nothing is unreachable. That path
 is deliberately untested: no browser that supports popovers can render it. On the [low-end, low-bandwidth targets](#overview)
 we care about this is usually *faster*: a round-trip returning a small, pre-rendered HTML
diff --git a/e2e-tests/visual.spec.ts b/e2e-tests/visual.spec.ts
index 26a82cd..317f188 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/visual.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e-tests/visual.spec.ts
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ test("a popover menu sits on its trigger and closes on an outside click or Esc 
   const t = (await trigger.boundingBox())!;
   const p = (await panel.boundingBox())!;
   expect(Math.abs(p.x + p.width - (t.x + t.width))).toBeLessThan(2);
-  expect(t.y - (p.y + p.height)).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+  expect(t.y - (p.y + p.height)).toBeGreaterThan(-1); // above the trigger, subpixel-tolerant
   expect(t.y - (p.y + p.height)).toBeLessThan(12);
 
   await page.getByRole("heading", { name: "Starter dashboard" }).click(); // anywhere else on the page
diff --git a/public/css/styles.css b/public/css/styles.css
index c535e7d..84618e6 100644
--- a/public/css/styles.css
+++ b/public/css/styles.css
@@ -497,8 +497,10 @@ span.nav-self { cursor: default; }                 /* static / non-clickable */
    trigger rather than stranding Sign out and the language picker behind a button that does nothing.
    The wrapper turns block so the pair stacks instead of sitting side by side, and min-width goes —
    it would otherwise push the sidebar and a 44px action cell far past their width. Cramped but
-   reachable, and unreachable by any test: a browser that supports popover cannot render this path. */
-@supports not selector([popover]:popover-open) {
+   reachable, and unreachable by any test: a browser with both features cannot render this path.
+   Both are guarded — an engine with popover but no anchor positioning would otherwise leave the
+   panel absolutely positioned with every anchor() dropped, detached from its trigger. */
+@supports not (selector([popover]:popover-open) and (position-anchor: auto)) {
   .menu { display: block; }
   .menu-pop, .menu-pop.up { position: static; min-width: 0; margin: 6px 0 0; }
 }
@@ -627,8 +629,10 @@ th[aria-sort="descending"] .sort-ico { transform: rotate(180deg); }
 .kebab { width: 26px; height: 26px; border-radius: var(--radius);
   display: grid; place-items: center; color: var(--text-faint); margin: 0 auto;
   background: transparent; border: 0; padding: 0; cursor: pointer; }
-/* hovered, or holding an open panel — a trigger's panel is its next sibling */
-.kebab:hover, .kebab:has(+ .menu-pop:popover-open) { background: var(--surface-2); color: var(--text); }
+.kebab:hover { background: var(--surface-2); color: var(--text); }
+/* Held open — a trigger's panel is its next sibling. Its own rule: :has() is non-forgiving, so an
+   engine that doesn't know :popover-open would drop the hover style along with it. */
+.kebab:has(+ .menu-pop:popover-open) { background: var(--surface-2); color: var(--text); }
 
 /* ---------- 10. PAGINATION --------------------------------- */
 .pager {
diff --git a/src/ui/data-table.test.ts b/src/ui/data-table.test.ts
index 5ad8633..839f530 100644
--- a/src/ui/data-table.test.ts
+++ b/src/ui/data-table.test.ts
@@ -65,8 +65,10 @@ test("data-table renders sortable headers, row-select, typed cells, badges and k
 
   // Kebab row actions: a popover trigger and the panel it opens, named per row, then link item,
   // danger button, separator.
-  assert.match(html, /<td class="col-actions"><span class="menu"><button class="kebab" type="button" popovertarget="row-actions-1" aria-label="Row actions for Mara Delgado"><svg class="ico ico-sm"><use href="#i-kebab"\s*\/?><\/svg><\/button><div id="row-actions-1" class="menu-pop" popover>/);
+  assert.match(html, /<td class="col-actions"><div class="menu"><button class="kebab" type="button" popovertarget="row-actions-1" aria-label="Row actions for Mara Delgado"><svg class="ico ico-sm"><use href="#i-kebab"\s*\/?><\/svg><\/button><div id="row-actions-1" class="menu-pop" popover>/);
   assert.match(html, /<a class="menu-item" href="\/people\/1\/edit"><svg class="ico"><use href="#i-edit"\s*\/?><\/svg>Edit<\/a>/);
+  // actionsId renames the stem, so two tables can share a page without colliding.
+  assert.match(flat(await render({ ...config, actionsId: "people-actions" })), /popovertarget="people-actions-1"/);
   assert.match(html, /<div class="menu-sep"><\/div><button class="menu-item danger" type="button"><svg class="ico"><use href="#i-trash"\s*\/?><\/svg>Delete<\/button>/);
 });
 
diff --git a/src/ui/menu.test.ts b/src/ui/menu.test.ts
index afdbe0a..b15d6d1 100644
--- a/src/ui/menu.test.ts
+++ b/src/ui/menu.test.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ test("menu renders trigger, positioning, the item matrix and check groups", asyn
 
   // Trigger: icon + text + aria-label, wired to the panel by id; popover carries align/up + width.
   // The panel is the trigger's next sibling inside the wrapper — the CSS open state reads that.
-  assert.match(html, /<span class="menu"><button class="btn" type="button" popovertarget="cols-menu" aria-label="Column settings"><svg class="ico ico-sm"><use href="#i-cols"\s*\/?><\/svg>Columns<\/button><div id="cols-menu" class="menu-pop left up" popover style="min-width:240px">/);
+  assert.match(html, /<div class="menu"><button class="btn" type="button" popovertarget="cols-menu" aria-label="Column settings"><svg class="ico ico-sm"><use href="#i-cols"\s*\/?><\/svg>Columns<\/button><div id="cols-menu" class="menu-pop left up" popover style="min-width:240px">/);
 
   // Item matrix: head, button-with-icon, link, separator, danger button.
   assert.match(html, /<div class="menu-head">Actions<\/div>/);
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ test("menu supports a raw/kebab trigger, escapes labels, and renders empty by de
   assert.match(flat(await render({ id: "esc-menu", trigger: { text: "<x>" }, items: [{ label: "<y>" }] })), /&lt;x&gt;<\/button>.*&lt;y&gt;/);
 
   // Only an id → a valid empty menu, never throws.
-  assert.equal(flat(await render({ id: "m" })), '<span class="menu"><button class="btn" type="button" popovertarget="m"></button><div id="m" class="menu-pop" popover></div></span>');
+  assert.equal(flat(await render({ id: "m" })), '<div class="menu"><button class="btn" type="button" popovertarget="m"></button><div id="m" class="menu-pop" popover></div></div>');
 });
 
 test("menu demands an id — a trigger wired to nothing is a dead button, so say so", async () => {
diff --git a/src/ui/shell.test.ts b/src/ui/shell.test.ts
index 79e91b2..b062e73 100644
--- a/src/ui/shell.test.ts
+++ b/src/ui/shell.test.ts
@@ -42,9 +42,10 @@ test("app shell renders sidebar, topbar and the content slot", async () => {
   // The profile trigger opens that panel — the browser dismisses it on a click outside or Esc.
   assert.match(html, /<button class="profile" type="button" popovertarget="profile-menu">/);
   assert.match(html, /<div id="profile-menu" class="menu-pop left up" popover/);
-  // …and Sign out is the panel's only control: nothing dead sits beside it. The panel spans from
-  // its id to the close of that one form; the trigger button is before it.
-  const profileMenu = html.slice(html.indexOf('id="profile-menu"'), html.indexOf("</form>"));
+  // …and Sign out is the panel's only control: nothing dead sits beside it. The window runs to the
+  // sidebar's end so a control added *after* the form is caught too (this render has no picker —
+  // ENGLISH_LOCALS ships one locale, so locale-switch emits nothing).
+  const profileMenu = html.slice(html.indexOf('id="profile-menu"'), html.indexOf("</aside>"));
   assert.deepEqual(profileMenu.match(/<button/g), ["<button"]);
 
   // Branding, document title, and the inlined icon sprite (so <use> resolves).
diff --git a/views/partials/data-table.ejs b/views/partials/data-table.ejs
index 6979e59..3710bd1 100644
--- a/views/partials/data-table.ejs
+++ b/views/partials/data-table.ejs
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
 <% if ((row.actions || []).length) { -%>
         <td class="col-actions"><%- include("menu", {
           id: `${actionsId}-${i + 1}`,
+          align: null, up: false, width: null, // explicit: EJS would otherwise inherit the page's own
           kebab: true,
           trigger: { class: "", icon: "i-kebab", label: t("table.rowActions", { name: row.name || t("table.row") }) },
           // Mapped field by field, not spread: an Action and a menu Item are separate shapes.
diff --git a/views/partials/locale-switch.ejs b/views/partials/locale-switch.ejs
index 352f2c1..aabf997 100644
--- a/views/partials/locale-switch.ejs
+++ b/views/partials/locale-switch.ejs
@@ -3,12 +3,14 @@
   so switching is a plain navigation — zero-JS, and the address bar always says which language the
   page is in. Renders nothing for a single-language deployment.
   Locals: localeSwitch (host-supplied: { current, href, label, tag }[]) · up? (open upward, default true)
-          id? (the menu's id; name a second picker on the same page)
+          localeMenuId? (the menu's id; name a second picker on the same page. Not `id` — EJS
+          merges page locals into every include, and `id` is the likeliest key in a plugin's data)
 -%>
 <% const choices = locals.localeSwitch || []; -%>
 <% if (choices.length > 1) { -%>
 <%- include("menu", {
-  id: locals.id || "locale-menu",
+  id: locals.localeMenuId || "locale-menu",
+  align: null, kebab: false, width: null, // explicit: EJS would otherwise inherit the page's own
   up: locals.up !== false,
   trigger: { class: "btn icon-btn", icon: "i-globe", label: t("locale.label") },
   items: [
diff --git a/views/partials/menu.ejs b/views/partials/menu.ejs
index d027693..9644c9c 100644
--- a/views/partials/menu.ejs
+++ b/views/partials/menu.ejs
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
   const popCls = "menu-pop" + (locals.align === "left" ? " left" : "") + (locals.up ? " up" : "");
   const width = locals.width;
 -%>
-<span class="menu"><button<% if (btnCls) { %> class="<%= btnCls %>"<% } %> type="button" popovertarget="<%= locals.id %>"<% if (trigger.label) { %> aria-label="<%= trigger.label %>"<% } %>><% if (trigger.html != null) { %><%- trigger.html %><% } else { if (trigger.icon) { %><svg class="ico ico-sm"><use href="#<%= trigger.icon %>"/></svg><% } if (trigger.text) { %><%= trigger.text %><% } } %></button><div id="<%= locals.id %>" class="<%= popCls %>" popover<% if (width != null) { %> style="min-width:<%= typeof width === "number" ? width + "px" : width %>"<% } %>>
+<div class="menu"><button<% if (btnCls) { %> class="<%= btnCls %>"<% } %> type="button" popovertarget="<%= locals.id %>"<% if (trigger.label) { %> aria-label="<%= trigger.label %>"<% } %>><% if (trigger.html != null) { %><%- trigger.html %><% } else { if (trigger.icon) { %><svg class="ico ico-sm"><use href="#<%= trigger.icon %>"/></svg><% } if (trigger.text) { %><%= trigger.text %><% } } %></button><div id="<%= locals.id %>" class="<%= popCls %>" popover<% if (width != null) { %> style="min-width:<%= typeof width === "number" ? width + "px" : width %>"<% } %>>
 <% items.forEach((it) => { -%>
 <% if (it.head != null) { -%>
   <div class="menu-head"><%= it.head %></div>
@@ -40,4 +40,4 @@
   <button class="menu-item<%= it.danger ? " danger" : "" %>" type="button"><% if (it.icon) { %><svg class="ico"><use href="#<%= it.icon %>"/></svg><% } %><%= it.label %></button>
 <% } -%>
 <% }) -%>
-</div></span>
+</div></div>
diff --git a/views/partials/shell.ejs b/views/partials/shell.ejs
index cee5de7..29c2fdf 100644
--- a/views/partials/shell.ejs
+++ b/views/partials/shell.ejs
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
             <%# Signed in: the same popover block as the menu partial, hand-rolled because this one's
                 trigger composes escaped user values and its item is a CSRF POST form, neither of which
                 the partial's Item shapes cover (AGENTS.md). Keep the two in step. %>
-            <span class="menu" style="flex:1 1 auto">
+            <div class="menu" style="flex:1 1 auto">
               <button class="profile" type="button" popovertarget="profile-menu">
                 <span class="avatar" aria-hidden="true"><%= user.initials %></span>
                 <span class="profile-meta">
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
                   <button class="menu-item danger" type="submit"><svg class="ico"><use href="#i-logout" /></svg><%= t("shell.signOut") %></button>
                 </form>
               </div>
-            </span>
+            </div>
             <% } else if (!hideSignIn) { %>
             <%# anonymous (a public page in the shell): no session to end — offer a way in instead.
                 signInHref carries this page as return_to (chrome.signInHref); falls back to bare /login.
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
             <a class="btn btn-primary" href="<%= locals.signInHref || '/login' %>" style="flex:1 1 auto"><svg class="ico ico-sm" aria-hidden="true"><use href="#i-user" /></svg><%= t("shell.signIn") %></a>
             <% } %>
 
-            <%- include("locale-switch") %>
+            <%- include("locale-switch", { localeMenuId: "chrome-locale-menu" }) %>
           </div>
         </div>
       </aside>