Graphics

The graphics and user interface stack above the kernel's framebuffer: 2D drawing, images, icons and cursors, text and fonts, the theme and animation engines, the widget and dialog libraries, accessibility and input methods, the window manager, the shell surfaces (taskbar, Start menu, notifications and clock), the boot splash, and the Win32 GDI, USER32 and Win32k system call layers. The visual specification these pages implement is the design system; the desktop that runs today is described under Desktop.

Roadmap Overviews

One page per graphics roadmap file, each following the page contract.

Document	Topics
2D Graphics and Visual Assets	Surfaces, effects, images, icon and cursor stores today; planned render targets, vector paths, SVG icons and the icon engine
Text and Fonts	The TrueType slot manager and glyph caches today; planned catalog, fallback, shaping with HarfBuzz and FreeType
Theme System	Generated design tokens and seeded Registry settings today; planned `theme_t`, presets, accents and live reload
Animation Engine	Motion tokens today; planned fixed-point tweens, easing, a 64-slot manager, window transitions and springs
Core Widgets	Planned check box, radio, slider, progress, drop-down, tabs, theming and overlay scroll bar
Complex Controls and Dialogs	Planned list and tree views, bars, tooltips, info bar, `MessageBox` and file dialogs
UI Accessibility, Automation and IME	The pending WCAG sweep today; planned semantic tree, provider events, screen reader bridge and IME
Window Manager Enhancements	Chrome and Alt+F4 today; planned minimize and maximize, snap layouts, hotkeys, Alt+Tab and drag and drop
Desktop Shell Features	The startup wallpaper today; planned context menus, DPI scaling, screenshots, night light, Focus, Quick Settings and virtual desktops
Taskbar	The basic bar, text window buttons and clock today; planned centred icons, button menus, Aero Peek, progress, pins, jump lists and auto-hide
Start Menu, Tray and Notifications	The static Start menu today; planned data loading, search, the system tray, toasts and the notification centre
Kernel Time and Taskbar Clock	The FILETIME clock and basic taskbar clock today; planned formatting, named time zones, the calendar flyout and the Date and time page
Boot Splash and F8 Recovery	The splash, spinner and bootloader F8 today; planned progress bar, milestones and the recovery menu
Win32 GDI and USER32 Desktop API	Planned device contexts, drawing, text, windows, the message loop and dialogs over the native graphics stack
Win32k Shadow SSDT	The empty, dispatched shadow table today; planned `NtGdi` and `NtUser` services in 27 waves
Win32k Shadow Native API	The table-selector routing and range checks today; planned headers, static checks, index generation and the callback review
Win32k Shadow SSDT Master Table	The 1,300-row service ledger, its capacity gap and its planned audit