Discover KOffice - Core technology highlights

Core Technology Highlights

Starting up - It's all new

As a result of collaboration of usability experts, the KOffice startup dialog has been completely redesigned: it is now much cleaner and as a result is easier to use than ever.

OpenDocument Format support

OASIS OpenDocument is the default native format for all major KOffice applications. This is a major step towards interoperability of major office suites on the basis of an open industry standard. Numerous office suites also use this format: OpenOffice.org is just one example of many. Supporting the OASIS OpenDocument thus contributes to the open and free global standard for office files.

Enhanced Accessibility

KWord, KSpread, and KPresenter include some enhancements for near blind users to have the text spoken of widgets under the mouse pointer and/or widgets that have the focus. It also adds a Speak Text option in the context menu of the KWord Document Structure Area, which is useful for listening to a document.

In addition, all KOffice programs are enhanced for mouseless operation with customisable keyboard shortcuts. For instance, by default you can press Alt+F8 to activate an assistant that allows you to easily place focus on any part of the application, hassle-free.

For additional information on accessibility features in KOffice, please see the "For Users With Disabilities" sections of the KWord, KSpread, or KPresenter handbooks.

Scripting Support

KOffice's unified scripting approach, Kross, provides you with an easy way to optimise applications by writing Python and Ruby scripts for KOffice applications.