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Community Member Monday: Dominique Prieur

2023-12-182023-12-18

Today we’re talking to Dominique Prieur, who recently became a member of The Document Foundation, the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice…

Hi! Tell us a bit about yourself…

I’m French (and my English is too poor and too bad). I live in Orléans, 120 km south of Paris. I was in the army for 18 months and then a civil servant for 44 years. I’m now retired. I read a lot, listen to music, play with Python and look at the sky and the stars 🙂 Oh yes, I take a lot of photographs.

What are you doing with LibreOffice right now?

I used to work for the Direction générale des finances publiques (French Treasury). We used LibreOffice exclusively. I managed the finances of large hospitals and had lots of very large CSV files to reprocess. Today, I only do basic office automation. Occasionally, I give free courses on LibreOffice, particularly on styles and regular expressions. I’m working with the Orléans prison to develop office automation workshops with prisoners.

Why did you choose to join the LibreOffice project?

I wanted to join the project to find out how it works “from the inside”. I don’t have much experience of it yet…

What does LibreOffice need for the future?

LibreOffice needs to listen to its users again and again. It must remain open source.

Many thanks to Dominique for the support in our community! And LibreOffice will always be free and open source software, so no worries about that 😊

LibreOffice community interview: Robert Cabane, QA project

2023-12-052023-12-05

Today we’re talking to Robert Cabane, who helps out in LibreOffice’s Quality Assurance (QA) community:

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m now retired (aged 71), living in Bordeaux, France. Formerly mathematics teacher, successively in Paris and Bordeaux, and as such involved in the teaching of computer science (named “informatics” in Europe).

Since my retirement, I have been an active member of the Société Informatique de France. I have also been co-author of some textbooks on mathematics.

In my free time I like to go hiking in the Pyrenées mountains.

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

I like to detect bugs and check for them in Bugzilla! When you encounter something strange using LibreOffice, it’s not immediately clear whether it’s a bug or a feature… so I first look in Ask LibreOffice or the forums.

After that, searching in Bugzilla for a specific bug is a unique experience, because LibreOffice is an enormous piece of software. You have to test various keywords in order to eventually find a more or less corresponding bug description. If the bug is referenced, consider adding useful comments; if it’s not the case, try to propose a new bug, as well-documented as possible.

Why did you choose to join the project, and how was the experience?

I started as a user with StarOffice 5.2 (1999), simply because I needed a good office suite running under Linux, and I followed with OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice since its beginning.

My experience was excellent with Calc, good with Draw, and more difficult with Writer, essentially because of two reasons: writing mathematics with Writer isn’t as easy as it is with LaTeX, and exchanging documents with people who use Microsoft Word can be very frustrating at times.

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need?

I think that some activism is still useful at the citizen level: using LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office is now very common in local, regional and national associations, and should increase for evident reasons. And making donations eligible to tax deductions (as is the case in Germany) would be fantastic!

Big thanks to Robert for all his contributions! Everyone is welcome to join our QA community and help to keep LibreOffice rock-solid.

Community Member Monday: Jean-Francois Nifenecker

2023-11-132025-02-04

Today we’re talking to Jean-Francois Nifenecker, who’s working on LibreOffice extensions and macros, and more…

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m 68 years old, freshly retired from a job as a French civil servant (local IT department). I’m married and have three children and nine grandchildren.

I’ve been living in Bordeaux for 35 years now, and I like going to the movie theater, walking, reading and… computing 😄

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

I’ve been a long time user of OpenOffice.org (since v.1.1.1 in 2005), and then naturally, LibreOffice. Since the beginning, I’ve wanted to learn about the tools I’m using and document them. This is why I’ve written a batch of user docs for OpenOffice.org (14 docs, still available on their web pages).

The user side of the documentation is still something I’m thinking of. But, in parallel, I’ve created a (very) small business to help a friend of mine, regarding migration and training from other office suites to LibreOffice. And then, as I have a programming background (mainly in Pascal and Object Pascal), I have been working on the macro side. This is a part of my business since migrating macros from Excel to Calc can be a chore. Naturally, I’ve spent “some” time into extensions creation (like the one pictured above).

I’ve written a set of reference cards (in French and in English) about BASIC macros programming, that Olivier was kind enough to publish on the extensions site 😄

Thus, programming macros and extensions is my main current activity in LibreOffice.
I’ve written a set of “articles” in English for my own use until now, which I grouped under “The LibreOffice Macros Corner” title, with the aim to publish them sometime, when I’ve got time/desire enough to set a website (which is not the case).

Also I’ve got a book (currently in French) on my plate about extension creation. It is a long time project, started two-to-three years ago, which still requires much work. I think such a resource is missing and might help programmers to go one step further.

Why did you choose to join the LibreOffice project, and how was the experience?

I actually saw the project creation after Oracle took over Sun but had not much time to participate when I was still active (I guess I’m still active, but well…).

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need?

My only “skill” is with documentation and macros programming, so I’d continue on this route.

As a heavy user of Writer (among others 😉), I’m missing a few features, but it seems that there aren’t enough resources to satisfy my demands: pages styles inheritance, real table styles instead of a fake one which is more annoying than helping are my main gripes 😄
Unfortunately I can’t help the developers here 🙁

Thanks a lot to Jean-Francois Nifenecker for his contributions and support! And if anyone else wants the features he mentioned, get involved and give us a hand, or consider funding a developer. Then everyone benefits!

Welcome Michael Weghorn, new Developer at TDF

2023-07-042023-08-02

The Document Foundation (TDF) is the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice, providing infrastructure and support for the community that makes the suite. Recently, TDF decided to expand its small team with two new Developers – the first (Khaled Hosny) focusing on “complex” text layout languages. Today, we welcome our second Developer, Michael Weghorn, who will initially focus on accessibility improvements. Let’s hear from him…

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I am from Germany, and have been living in Munich since moving here for my studies in computer science about 12 years ago.

I am a free and open source software enthusiast.

Before coming to TDF, I was working for the City (administration) of Munich, first being part of their Linux client team – and since 2018 with the main focus on LibreOffice development. I am also a member of the LibreOffice Engineering Steering Committee (ESC).

Besides my involvement in LibreOffice, I have also contributed a few changes to other open source projects – mostly fixes for issues that I ran into myself as a user. The possibility to do this is certainly one of the many benefits of open source software.

Besides being an open source software developer, I’m involved in a Christian church and like meeting friends, sports and reading.

You’ve been in the LibreOffice project for a while – what have you been working on so far?

I have been involved in the LibreOffice project since 2014, mostly in QA (Quality Assurance) and development.

The first code change I was working on had to do with the selection of the Java runtime on LibreOffice startup, and I was also translating German comments in the source code back then.

Since then, I have mostly been working on fixing bugs in different areas of LibreOffice. The main areas that I have been focusing on are Qt/KDE integration, the Android version and accessibility.

What’s your new role at TDF, and what will you be working on?

I’m joining TDF as a LibreOffice Developer, focusing on accessibility.

Accessibility is quite a broad topic, ranging from the accessibility of LibreOffice’s user interface to the accessibility of the documents that the program creates.

From what I have seen so far, LibreOffice has a good basis regarding accessibility. It’s also great to see recent contributions by others to further improve accessibility (eg improvements for document accessibility and PDF/UA export, the accessibility checker and accessibility on macOS), but there are certainly also areas that will benefit from getting some more attention.

My initial focus will probably be fixing problems encountered in the user interface when using LibreOffice with a screen reader.

From my experience so far, this often not only involves making changes to LibreOffice itself, but also to the corresponding screen reader or elsewhere in the accessibility software stack. Therefore, cooperation with other projects is also essential.

How can all users of LibreOffice help out?

There are different ways to get involved – for example:

Join the LibreOffice accessibility mailing list
Report accessibility issues in the Bugzilla issue tracker and set the “accessibility” keyword for accessibility-related bugs, so developers become aware and can fix them
Confirm already existing bug reports and add more helpful information to them
Test development versions of LibreOffice with assistive technology (and report bugs), so issues can be fixed before a new version is released
If you’re a developer: help with fixing reported bugs

There’s also an accessibility page in the wiki, which contains some more information and will be further updated in the future.

Great to have Michael on board! 😊 Follow this blog and our Mastodon and Twitter accounts for updates on his work – plus more news from the LibreOffice community.

Welcome Khaled Hosny, new Developer at TDF

2023-05-302023-05-30

The Document Foundation (TDF) is the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice, providing infrastructure and support for the community that makes the suite. Recently, TDF decided to expand its small team with a new Developer, focusing on improving LibreOffice’s language support. This will help to make the software more accessible to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

The new Developer is Khaled Hosny, so let’s hear from him…

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m a software developer based in Cairo, Egypt. My area of expertise is centered around written language; fonts, text layout in general and so-called “complex” text layout in particular (I don’t like how some text layout is signaled out as being complex – all text layout is complex, but some complexity is obvious right away while others are more subtle), PDF, and so on.

I have been involved with FOSS since 2006. I started with doing Arabic localization, then Arabic fonts, and a few years later I started programming to fix Arabic bugs (I think my first patch was to fix a right-to-left UI issue for Sugar, the desktop environment for the OLPC XO laptop, if anyone still remembers it). I contributed and continue to contribute to many FOSS projects – Firefox, GNOME, HarfBuzz, XeTeX, LuaTeX, to name some.

I got involved with LibreOffice in early 2011, and I have been lurking around since then.

I’m also a type designer and font engineer. I have designed and built a few Arabic and math fonts (I can’t read much of the math notation – I was taught math in Arabic notation and I hardly remember any of that either, but I’m fascinated by the 2D nature of math typesetting).

Funnily enough, I had no formal training in any of this, I actually graduated from medical school and worked as a doctor for few years before quitting to focus on a software career (I was already deep into localization and fonts while still at medical school).

Improved glyph positioning of artificial italic text, especially combining marks – implemented by Khaled in LibreOffice 7.5

What’s your new role at TDF?

I’m joining the team as a LibreOffice developer focusing on areas of right-to-left and the aforementioned so-called “complex” text layout. These are some of the underserved areas of LibreOffice development while disproportionately affecting a very large group of (existing and potential) users.

I hope my role at TDF will help to widen the LibreOffice community, attract more people to it, and make it accessible to more users.

What will you be working on?

I will be fixing bugs and implementing features related to right-to-left text layout and user interface issues which affect languages like Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu, as well as text layout issues involving writing systems that require more involved text layout, like Arabic script, and the Indic group of scripts.

I will be also working on fonts, PDF export (text extraction from PDF is major pain point for many scripts), and related areas.

I’m also looking forward to mentoring new developers interested in working on any of these areas.

Do you have any tips for new developers, who’re eager to get involved with the LibreOffice codebase?

LibreOffice is a large code base and can be overwhelming, so try to read any existing documentation as much as possible, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and in general be patient.

We’re really happy to have Khaled on board! Follow this blog and our Mastodon and Twitter accounts for updates on his work – plus more news from the LibreOffice community.

Outreachy and LibreOffice installer improvements: Rachael Odetayo

2023-03-06

Last week, we talked to Ximena Alcaman who’s working on LibreOffice installer improvements as part of the Outreachy programme. Outreachy provides internships to people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they are living.

Rachael Odetayo is also working on the the LibreOffice installer, and is being mentored by Marina Latini and Jussi Pakkanen, with support from sponsors SUSE and The Document Foundation. Let’s learn more about Rachael…

Tell us a bit about yourself!

My name is Rachael Odetayo and I’m from Nigeria. I studied Mass Communication at the National Open University of Nigeria. Currently, I am proud to be participating in the Outreachy internship programme. In my free time, I enjoy reading, coding, cooking, and sharing my knowledge of the Bible with others.

How did you get involved in Outreachy?

I learned about Outreachy while searching for an opportunity to hone my skills and hopefully secure a tech job. Then an alum shared the application link in a group channel. He shared his experience with Outreachy, and how the programme helped him develop his skills and eventually landed him a job in tech. I was immediately drawn to the idea behind the Outreachy internship and the support it offered to those who might have trouble breaking into the tech industry.

I applied to Outreachy, and after a rigorous selection process, I was accepted as an intern with LibreOffice.

What are you working on right now?

I am currently working on improving the LibreOffice installer for Windows. My work focuses on streamlining the installation process, making it easier and more user-friendly for Windows users. This includes improving the user interface, fixing bugs, and enhancing the overall performance of the installer.

I am excited about this project as it will have a significant impact on the experience of LibreOffice users on Windows. My goal is to simplify and improve the installation process for Windows users, but I can’t do it alone. It would be great if others could get involved and help out with this project.

How can others help out?

They can assist in various ways. Windows users, for instance, can assist by testing the new installer and offering feedback on any problems or improvement they would like to see.
Software developers can assist by contributing code to fix bugs, enhance performance, or provide new functionality.

Additionally, those who are unable to contribute code or time can still aid the project by making a donation. Their assistance will go a long way in helping us achieve our goal of improving the LibreOffice installer for Windows.

After this experience, what is your opinion of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion? Did the Outreachy program give you a new perspective or is there anything you would like to highlight?

In my opinion, equity, diversity, and inclusion are extremely important in the tech industry and in society as a whole. When an environment is diverse and inclusive, problems are better solved and decisions are made faster, and as well, the needs and experiences of different people are better understood.

Did your opinion of open source change after this experience? How?

My experience with Outreachy strengthened my understanding of the value of open source in the tech industry. As an Outreachy intern, I had the opportunity to contribute to LibreOffice, which deepened my understanding of the potential of open source. I personally witnessed how people from various backgrounds and locations can come together to create something more impressive than any one of them could have done individually.

Also because open source is collaborative in nature, and allows people to freely access and modify source code, that makes it an effective avenue for driving progress and innovation in the tech industry.

Is there any contribution, experience, anecdote you would like to share from your time in the Outreachy program? Would you recommend the programme?

Yes. At the beginning of the internship, I found myself struggling to understand the technical terms my mentors use during our daily standup meetings. I was trying my best to keep up and understand what was going on, but it was like they were speaking a completely different language. One day after a particularly confusing meeting, I finally had the courage to mention it to one of my mentors (Marina). I asked if she could write a summary of our conversation in the group channel so I could review and make sense of it all. To my delight, she not only agreed but was also understanding and supportive.

From that day on, I was able to follow along. And I learned the importance of communication and asking for help. I’m grateful to have Jussi and Marina as mentors and I sincerely appreciate their hard work and effort to ensure we have a clear understanding of our tasks.

I would recommend the Outreachy program to individuals who are underrepresented in tech, including but not limited to women, people of color, people with disabilities etc. who are interested in pursuing a career in tech, and are eligible to participate in the programme.

Hi! Tell us a bit about yourself…

What are you doing with LibreOffice right now?

Why did you choose to join the LibreOffice project?

What does LibreOffice need for the future?

Tell us a bit about yourself!

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

Why did you choose to join the project, and how was the experience?

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need?

Tell us a bit about yourself!

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

Why did you choose to join the LibreOffice project, and how was the experience?

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need?

Tell us a bit about yourself!

You’ve been in the LibreOffice project for a while – what have you been working on so far?

What’s your new role at TDF, and what will you be working on?

How can all users of LibreOffice help out?

Tell us a bit about yourself!

What’s your new role at TDF?

What will you be working on?

Do you have any tips for new developers, who’re eager to get involved with the LibreOffice codebase?

Tell us a bit about yourself!

How did you get involved in Outreachy?

What are you working on right now?

How can others help out?

After this experience, what is your opinion of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion? Did the Outreachy program give you a new perspective or is there anything you would like to highlight?

Did your opinion of open source change after this experience? How?

Is there any contribution, experience, anecdote you would like to share from your time in the Outreachy program? Would you recommend the programme?

Follow Rachael on her blog and Twitter. And stay tuned for updates on their work!