diff --git a/test/web_interface/test_style_editor_takeover.py b/test/web_interface/test_style_editor_takeover.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4831fb97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/web_interface/test_style_editor_takeover.py
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+"""When the style editor takes over a customization block, it takes over
+exactly its own part of it -- and it actually gets to take over at all.
+
+Two defects this pins, both found by rendering the real partial in a browser
+rather than by reading the code:
+
+1. The hand-off guard asked "do any fallback controls differ from their
+   server-rendered defaults?" as a proxy for "is someone editing this?". The
+   fallback contains this block's own font fields, and the font-selector
+   widget populates them on the same 50ms timer -- so a plain page load with
+   nobody touching anything raced into "dirty" (seven customization.*.font
+   selects, measured ~60ms after injection) and the style editor removed
+   itself, leaving the accordion form it exists to replace. The question is
+   whether a *person* typed, and isTrusted answers exactly that.
+
+2. Taking over used to remove the whole fallback section. A customization
+   block can hold more than styling -- football keeps favorite_result_colors
+   there -- so that removed the only UI those fields had.
+
+These assert on the template source because the behaviour lives in an inline
+script that no Python test executes; the browser check that found both is not
+something CI runs.
+"""
+
+import re
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent
+sys.path.insert(0, str(PROJECT_ROOT))
+
+TEMPLATE = (PROJECT_ROOT / "web_interface" / "templates" / "v3" / "partials"
+            / "plugin_config.html")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
+def source():
+    return TEMPLATE.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+
+class TestTheHandOffGuard:
+    def test_it_asks_whether_a_person_typed(self, source):
+        assert "isTrusted" in source, (
+            "a programmatic change by a sibling widget must not read as a "
+            "user edit -- that is what removed the editor on a plain load")
+        assert "userEdited" in source
+
+    def test_it_no_longer_diffs_values_against_defaults(self, source):
+        assert "fallbackIsDirty" not in source, (
+            "value-diffing cannot distinguish a user's edit from another "
+            "widget populating this block's own fields")
+        assert "defaultSelected" not in source
+
+    def test_the_listeners_are_attached_synchronously(self, source):
+        """The edit worth protecting can happen before initWidget runs, so
+        the listeners cannot wait for it.
+
+        Scoped to this branch: the template defines an initWidget for every
+        widget it can render, and the first one in the file belongs to a
+        different branch entirely.
+        """
+        start = source.index("obj_widget == 'style-editor'")
+        branch = source[start:source.index("{% elif prop.properties %}", start)]
+        assert "watchForRealEdits" in branch
+        assert branch.index("watchForRealEdits") < branch.index("function initWidget"), (
+            "the watcher must be installed above this branch's initWidget, "
+            "and invoked immediately rather than from inside it")
+
+    def test_the_guard_still_backs_off_for_a_real_edit(self, source):
+        assert re.search(r"if \(userEdited\) \{ container\.remove\(\); return; \}",
+                         source), "a genuine in-progress edit must still win"
+
+
+class TestItTakesOverOnlyItsOwnBlocks:
+    def test_children_are_individually_addressable(self, source):
+        assert 'data-child-key="{{ nested_key }}"' in source, (
+            "without a handle per child the only options are removing the "
+            "whole section or none of it")
+
+    def test_removal_is_driven_by_what_the_widget_reported(self, source):
+        assert "ownedKeys" in source
+        assert "fallback.querySelector(" in source
+
+    def test_an_unowned_child_survives(self, source):
+        """The empty-section case still removes the lot, so a block that is
+        entirely styling looks exactly as it did before."""
+        assert "!fallback.querySelector('[data-child-key]')" in source
+
+
+class TestTheSchemaSaysWhichBlocksAreStyling:
+    def test_adopted_blocks_are_marked_and_others_are_not(self):
+        from src.element_style import expand_style_elements
+
+        schema = {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+                "customization": {
+                    "type": "object",
+                    "properties": {
+                        "score_text": {
+                            "type": "object",
+                            "properties": {
+                                "font": {"type": "string",
+                                         "default": "PressStart2P-Regular.ttf"},
+                                "font_size": {"type": "integer", "default": 10},
+                                "text_color": {"type": "array",
+                                               "default": [255, 255, 255]},
+                            },
+                        },
+                        # Not styling: a feature that happens to live here.
+                        "favorite_result_colors": {
+                            "type": "object",
+                            "properties": {
+                                "enabled": {"type": "boolean", "default": False},
+                                "win_color": {"type": "array",
+                                              "default": [0, 255, 0]},
+                            },
+                        },
+                    },
+                },
+            },
+        }
+        props = expand_style_elements(schema)["properties"]["customization"]["properties"]
+        assert props["score_text"]["x-style-managed"] is True
+        assert "x-style-managed" not in props["favorite_result_colors"]
diff --git a/web_interface/static/v3/js/widgets/style-editor.js b/web_interface/static/v3/js/widgets/style-editor.js
index 1017ae39..29d0b359 100644
--- a/web_interface/static/v3/js/widgets/style-editor.js
+++ b/web_interface/static/v3/js/widgets/style-editor.js
@@ -146,10 +146,20 @@
     function elementKeys(schema) {
         var props = (schema && schema.properties) || {};
         var order = schema['x-propertyOrder'] || Object.keys(props);
-        return order.filter(function (k) {
+        var shaped = order.filter(function (k) {
             return k !== 'layout' && k !== 'modes'
                 && own(props, k) && ownObj(props, k).properties;
         });
+        // Core marks the blocks it recognises as styling. Prefer that: a
+        // customization block can also hold a feature of its own -- football
+        // keeps favorite_result_colors there -- and treating one as an element
+        // gives every row that feature's fields as extra columns.
+        var managed = shaped.filter(function (k) {
+            return ownObj(props, k)['x-style-managed'] === true;
+        });
+        // Nothing marked means the schema never went through expansion, so
+        // fall back to the shape test rather than rendering an empty table.
+        return managed.length ? managed : shaped;
     }
 
     function titleOf(schema, key) {
@@ -555,6 +565,20 @@
             var root = el('div', { class: 'style-editor' });
             container.appendChild(root);
 
+            // Published synchronously, because the host reads it the moment
+            // this returns while the panels below wait on the font catalog.
+            // layout and modes count as ours: their fields appear as columns
+            // in these rows, so leaving them to the generic renderer would
+            // post every offset twice from two different controls.
+            var owned = elementKeys(schema);
+            if (ownObj(schema.properties || {}, 'layout').properties) {
+                owned = owned.concat(['layout']);
+            }
+            if (ownObj(schema.properties || {}, 'modes').properties) {
+                owned = owned.concat(['modes']);
+            }
+            container.dataset.ownedKeys = owned.join(',');
+
             loadFonts().then(function (fonts) {
                 var modeProps = ownObj(schema.properties || {}, 'modes').properties || {};
                 var modes = Object.keys(modeProps);
diff --git a/web_interface/templates/v3/partials/plugin_config.html b/web_interface/templates/v3/partials/plugin_config.html
index 07615448..8d4752a1 100644
--- a/web_interface/templates/v3/partials/plugin_config.html
+++ b/web_interface/templates/v3/partials/plugin_config.html
@@ -88,23 +88,30 @@
             </div>
             <script>
             (function() {
-                function fallbackIsDirty(root) {
-                    if (!root) { return false; }
-                    var controls = root.querySelectorAll('input, select, textarea');
-                    for (var i = 0; i < controls.length; i++) {
-                        var c = controls[i];
-                        if (c.type === 'checkbox' || c.type === 'radio') {
-                            if (c.checked !== c.defaultChecked) { return true; }
-                        } else if (c.tagName === 'SELECT') {
-                            for (var j = 0; j < c.options.length; j++) {
-                                if (c.options[j].selected !== c.options[j].defaultSelected) { return true; }
-                            }
-                        } else if (c.value !== c.defaultValue) {
-                            return true;
-                        }
-                    }
-                    return false;
-                }
+                // Did a *person* type into the fallback before this widget
+                // took over? Comparing values against their defaults cannot
+                // answer that. The fallback holds this block's own font
+                // fields, and the font-selector widget populates them on the
+                // same 50ms timer -- so a plain page load with nobody
+                // touching anything raced into "dirty" (measured: seven
+                // customization.*.font selects, ~60ms in) and silently
+                // removed the style editor, leaving the accordion form it
+                // exists to replace.
+                //
+                // isTrusted is false for programmatic changes and true only
+                // for real input, which is exactly the question. The
+                // listeners go on now, synchronously, because the edit to
+                // protect can happen before initWidget ever runs.
+                var userEdited = false;
+                (function watchForRealEdits() {
+                    var fb = document.getElementById('{{ field_id }}_fallback');
+                    if (!fb) { return; }
+                    ['input', 'change'].forEach(function (evt) {
+                        fb.addEventListener(evt, function (e) {
+                            if (e && e.isTrusted) { userEdited = true; }
+                        }, true);
+                    });
+                })();
                 function initWidget() {
                     if (!window.LEDMatrixWidgets) { setTimeout(initWidget, 50); return; }
                     var widget = window.LEDMatrixWidgets.get('style-editor');
@@ -116,7 +123,7 @@
                     // while this widget's script is still loading; swapping
                     // in the widget now would replace them with the stale
                     // server-rendered value and silently drop that edit.
-                    if (fallbackIsDirty(fallback)) { container.remove(); return; }
+                    if (userEdited) { container.remove(); return; }
                     var value = {{ obj_value|tojson|safe }};
                     var config = { schema: {{ prop|tojson|safe }} };
                     try {
@@ -130,9 +137,27 @@
                         container.remove();
                         return;
                     }
-                    // The widget owns these fields now; drop the generic
-                    // rendering so the form does not post both.
-                    if (fallback) { fallback.remove(); }
+                    // The widget owns the style blocks now, so drop those from
+                    // the generic rendering or the form would post both. Only
+                    // those: a customization block can also hold a feature of
+                    // its own (football keeps favorite_result_colors there),
+                    // and removing the section wholesale took the only UI that
+                    // feature had with it.
+                    if (fallback) {
+                        var owned = (container.dataset.ownedKeys || '')
+                            .split(',').filter(function (k) { return k; });
+                        owned.forEach(function (k) {
+                            var node = fallback.querySelector(
+                                '[data-child-key="' + k + '"]');
+                            if (node) { node.remove(); }
+                        });
+                        // Nothing left but the section heading, or a widget
+                        // that reported nothing: drop the lot, as before.
+                        if (!owned.length
+                                || !fallback.querySelector('[data-child-key]')) {
+                            fallback.remove();
+                        }
+                    }
                 }
                 if (document.readyState === 'loading') {
                     document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', initWidget);
@@ -1036,7 +1061,12 @@
                 {% if nested_key in prop.properties %}
                     {% set nested_prop = prop.properties[nested_key] %}
                     {% set nested_val = nested_value[nested_key] if nested_key in nested_value else none %}
-                    {{ render_field(nested_key, nested_prop, nested_val, full_key, plugin_id) }}
+                    {# Tagged so a widget that takes over part of a block can
+                       drop exactly the children it owns and leave the rest
+                       rendered, rather than removing the whole section. #}
+                    <div data-child-key="{{ nested_key }}">
+                        {{ render_field(nested_key, nested_prop, nested_val, full_key, plugin_id) }}
+                    </div>
                 {% endif %}
             {% endfor %}
         </div>