Subject: [ACCESSIBILITY][VCL] Architectural Proposal for Low-Vision UI
Enhancements (Technical Report v3.4)Dear LibreOffice Developers,My name is
Evangelos Vagias, and I operate as an experiential evaluator for
accessibility, functioning with low-vision (1/10 visual acuity per eye,
utilizing a 23" 1080p display with 150% fractional system scaling). Over
the past months, I have analyzed systemic UI regressions and barriers
within the host application layout, focusing particularly on stability
against OS updates, high-contrast visibility, and text ingestion
vulnerabilities.I am formally submitting Technical Report v3.4 (Document
Identifier: "boulgazilia") for review by the Engineering Steering Committee
(ESC). To prevent processing anomalies or parsing degradation within our
workflow tools, the report structure is formatted in pure ASCII/English.Key
Architectural Interventions Included:Native C++ Data Ingestion
Normalization: Implementing high-priority MIME filtering inside the
vcl/core/dtrans subsystem to drop disruptive inline CSS styles from
external rich-text interfaces, explicitly routing fallback execution to
SotClipboardFormatId::STRING via a new internal command
(.uno:PasteUnformattedPure).High-Visibility Theme Readiness: Integration
hooks for the "Terracotta/Keramidi" SVG asset palette allowing localized
plain SVG attribute overrides (fill/stroke) via external tools like
Inkscape without causing structural icon alignment breaks.Font Weight &
Layout Tracking Enforcement: Hard-coding VCL layout parameters to enforce
heavy visual weights (Arial Black with Liberation Sans Bold/Inter Extra
Bold open-source fallbacks) and dynamic tracking expansions to counteract
text-compression artifacts triggered by 150% fractional scaling.Error
Underline Acceleration: Exposing specialized controls within
OutputDevice::DrawWaveLine() to render a bold 3-pixel geometric pattern for
the Greek Hunspell subsystem, mitigating dynamic typing lag via
hardware-accelerated geometry caching.FOSS-Aligned Registry Configuration:
Exposing fully customizable boolean properties under
org.openoffice.Office.Common/Accessibility to guarantee ultimate user
digital freedom over hard-coded application rigidity.The complete
architectural text and core Registry XML snippets are attached below. I
welcome your engineering review, feedback, and upstream testing guidelines
to incorporate these essential improvements into the next deployment
cycle.Sincerely,Evangelos VagiasExperiential Evaluator, LibreOffice
Accessibility
Project================================================================================TECHNICAL
REPORT v3.4 ATTACHMENT ("boulgazilia")[The entire core English technical
text as saved in your boulgazilia.txt profile goes here]
================================================================================
LIBREOFFICE UI ACCESSIBILITY TECHNICAL REPORT v3.4 (SEPTEMBER 2026)
DOCUMENT IDENTIFIER: boulgazilia
AUTHOR: Evangelos Vagias (Experiential Evaluator / Mobility & Visual
Impairment)
BASELINE CONFIGURATION: 23" Monitor @ 1080p Full HD, 150% Fractional Scaling
TARGET USER PROFILE: Low-vision (1/10 visual acuity per eye, 2/10 combined
total)
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SECTION 1 & 7: CLIPBOARD INGESTION & RAW TEXT NORMALIZATION ARCHITECTURE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[PROBLEM STATEMENT]
External rich-text payloads from modern web environments (e.g., CSS
wrappers
from LLM interfaces) inject volatile inline style attributes upon standard
paste clipboard operations. Under high-scaling factor environments (150%
fractional scaling), these non-native stylesheets override the user's
explicit
VCL font-contrast and application-wide low-vision styling metrics,
triggering
layout breakages and ocular fatigue.
[PROPOSED UPSTREAM IMPLEMENTATION - ESC COMPLIANCE AUDIT]
Reject superficial macro-based processing. Implement a native C++
normalization
interceptor within the core VCL platform-independent clipboard framework.
Target Subsystem: vcl / core / dtrans (Data Transmit Layer)
Mechanism:
1. Intercept incoming payloads at the vcl::Window programmatic paste
routine.
2. Introduce a high-priority enforcement filter to sanitize external MIME
types.
3. Explicitly drop SotClipboardFormatId::HTML, SotClipboardFormatId::RTF,
and
composite formats when the custom "ClipboardNormalizationFix" Registry
XML
property is set to TRUE.
4. Force fallback routing directly to SotClipboardFormatId::STRING,
guaranteeing pure text ingestion before the layout engine initializes
the
text portion block.
[UNO CORE COMMAND MAPPING]
Register a dedicated, deep-integrated UNO command:
Command: .uno:PasteUnformattedPure
Fallback: Bypasses standard SfxDispatcher content-negotiation to prevent
downstream application regressions during major update cycles.
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SECTION 2: WARM ICON PALETTE & INKSCAPE plain SVG OVERRIDES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[SPECIFICATION]
Deploy the high-visibility "Terracotta/Keramidi" theme extension to
mitigate
chromatic ocular fatigue. The underlying VCL graphics engine must guarantee
readiness for post-installation granular targeting.
[IMPLEMENTATION METHOD]
Permit low-vision end-users to apply manual overrides directly to localized
SVG source code files within the shared/config/images_brand.zip container.
The system must parse explicit fill and stroke hexadecimal attributes
(e.g.,
fill="#C04000") and accept plain SVG specifications generated via external
Inkscape tools without breaking internal symbol alignment.
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SECTION 4: LOW-VISION ENHANCEMENTS, STABILITY & WORKSPACE RETENTION AUDIT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POINT 5 - VCL FONT WEIGHT ENFORCEMENT:
Force UI application menus, status bars, and dialogue headers to render in
Arial Black. Provide cross-platform FOSS fallbacks via Liberation Sans Bold
and Inter Extra Bold. Prevent standard OS style sheets from diluting font
weights.
POINT 6 - JUSTIFICATION CHARACTER-SPACING FIX:
Implement automatic tracking expansion rules within fully justified text
layouts.
This expansion counteracts fractional scaling artifacts (150%) that
compress
adjacent glyph structures, ensuring distinct character boundary definition.
POINT 7 - UPDATE THROWBACK DEFENSE & LOCKING MECHANISM:
Secure user workspace stability and core configuration metrics against host
application updates and Windows 11 system updates. Audit core VCL threading
mechanisms to guarantee elimination of hidden deadlocks or freezing
conditions
during real-time scaling shifts.
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SECTION 5: GREEK HUNSPELL & RED UNDERLINE ACCESSIBILITY OPTIMIZATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[CRITERIA]
The default 1-pixel red wavy underline for misspelled Greek text terms
under the
Hunspell spelling subsystem is completely invisible at 1/10 visual acuity.
[SOLUTION]
Expose VCL rendering controls to scale the error underline width and wave
height.
When Greek Hunspell flags a token, the under-wave engine must render a
3-pixel
bold geometric pattern using high-contrast RGB value #FF0000, avoiding soft
anti-aliasing filters that introduce blurring for low-vision observers.
[RENDERING ENGINE METHODIZATION]
Target Core Method: OutputDevice::DrawWaveLine()
Performance Mitigation: Enforce strict layout engine geometry caching for
the
3-pixel custom wavy line path. Implementation must leverage hardware
acceleration to prevent text-scrolling performance regressions during
dynamic
Hunspell buffer validation cycles.
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REGISTRY XML INTEGRATION (FOSS PHILOSOPHY)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Path: org.openoffice.Office.Common/Accessibility
Map the proposed toggles to granular checkboxes under Tools -> Options ->
Accessibility:
<item oor:path="/org.openoffice.Office.Common/Accessibility">
<prop oor:name="ClipboardNormalizationFix" oor:type="xs:boolean">
<value>true</value>
</prop>
<prop oor:name="VclFontWeightContrastFix" oor:type="xs:boolean">
<value>true</value>
</prop>
<prop oor:name="JustificationTrackingFix" oor:type="xs:boolean">
<value>true</value>
</prop>
<prop oor:name="WarmPaletteIconExtension" oor:type="xs:boolean">
<value>true</value>
</prop>
</item>
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