diff --git a/web/index.html b/web/index.html
index ce5cb2b..88f1643 100644
--- a/web/index.html
+++ b/web/index.html
@@ -271,6 +271,7 @@
           <button
             type="button"
             class="control control-quiet control-icon"
+            data-kind="delete"
             id="movie-remove"
             aria-expanded="false"
             aria-controls="remove-panel"
@@ -524,6 +525,7 @@
           <button
             type="button"
             class="control control-quiet control-icon"
+            data-kind="delete"
             id="series-remove"
             aria-expanded="false"
             aria-controls="series-remove-panel"
diff --git a/web/src/main.ts b/web/src/main.ts
index afb51cf..ae4d895 100644
--- a/web/src/main.ts
+++ b/web/src/main.ts
@@ -1285,11 +1285,17 @@ function wireCollapsedToggle(bucket: CollapsedBucketDom) {
 // icon() and armedDeleteIcon() live in icons.ts, shared with the settings
 // rows (#231); the §9.6 painters below stay here as their only consumer.
 
-/** Invisible spacer that reserves a delete control's slot (#254). */
+/**
+ * Invisible spacer that reserves a delete control's slot (#254). It is the
+ * delete control's own box, hidden — a hand-sized guess drifts as soon as the
+ * icon control's padding changes, and an 8px drift is the misalignment this
+ * was meant to remove.
+ */
 function placeholderSlot(): HTMLSpanElement {
   const slot = document.createElement("span");
-  slot.className = "slot-icon";
+  slot.className = "control control-quiet control-icon slot-icon";
   slot.setAttribute("aria-hidden", "true");
+  slot.append(icon("trash"));
   return slot;
 }
 
diff --git a/web/src/style.css b/web/src/style.css
index 27f27fb..0d43ac2 100644
--- a/web/src/style.css
+++ b/web/src/style.css
@@ -1635,12 +1635,11 @@ body {
   font-size: var(--text-xs);
 }
 
-/* an invisible spacer sized as an icon control: rows without a delete
-   reserve its slot so search sits in the same column on every row */
+/* an invisible spacer that IS an icon control: rows without a delete reserve
+   its slot so search sits in the same column on every row */
 .slot-icon {
-  flex: none;
-  width: var(--control-h);
-  height: var(--control-h);
+  visibility: hidden;
+  pointer-events: none;
 }
 
 /* #227: the season the operator's own report was about read `0/10` beside