feat(popup): premium studio-grade audio visualizer with CSS-only animation

- Redesign audio visualizer with 25 wave bars (up from 21)
- Add 4-tier color coding: green → purple → amber → red
- Add subtle grid lines and reflection effects for depth
- Add status indicator badge ('LIVE') during recording
- Remove getUserMedia dependency to avoid ChatGPT conflicts
- Use pure CSS animations for reliable visual feedback
- Add headless mode support for E2E testing (--headless=new)
- Update version to 0.8.19

All 140 unit tests passing
All 27 E2E tests passing in headless mode

Author: haotool

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,36 @@ All notable changes to EchoType will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [0.8.19] - 2026-01-20
+
+### 🎨 UI/UX
+- **Premium Studio-Grade Audio Visualizer** - Completely redesigned equalizer with professional aesthetics:
+  - 25 wave bars (increased from 21) with wider, more prominent design
+  - Subtle grid lines for professional studio look
+  - Reflection effect on each bar for depth
+  - 4-tier color coding: green → purple → amber → red (peak)
+  - Ambient glow with gradient from green to purple
+  - Smooth wave animation with staggered delays for realistic effect
+  - Status indicator badge ("LIVE") during recording
+  - Volume level indicator repositioned to bottom-left
+  - Height increased to 72px for better visibility
+
+### 🔧 Improvements
+- **Simplified Audio Visualization** - Removed getUserMedia dependency:
+  - Pure CSS animation mode to avoid conflicts with ChatGPT's microphone usage
+  - ChatGPT handles audio capture, popup only shows visual feedback
+  - Eliminated permission conflicts between extension and web page
+  - More reliable and consistent visualization behavior
+
+### 🧪 Testing
+- **Headless E2E Testing** - Added `--headless=new` support for CI/CD:
+  - Environment variable `HEADLESS=false` to disable headless mode
+  - Compatible with Chrome 109+ headless mode for extensions
+- All 140 unit tests passing
+- All 27 E2E tests passing in headless mode
+
+---
+
 ## [0.8.18] - 2026-01-20
 
 ### ✨ Features

manifest.json

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "manifest_version": 3,
   "name": "__MSG_extName__",
   "short_name": "EchoType",
-  "version": "0.8.18",
+  "version": "0.8.19",
   "description": "__MSG_extDescription__",
   "author": { "email": "haotool.org@gmail.com" },
   "homepage_url": "https://github.com/haotool/echotype",

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "echotype",
-  "version": "0.8.18",
+  "version": "0.8.19",
   "description": "Universal voice dictation via ChatGPT Whisper - Chrome Extension",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",