[orca-list] Can these patches be turned into plugins?

[Dattatray Bhat <bhatdv gmail com>]

The Navigator feature in Soffice is not quite convenient for visually disabled users. Suppose I want to navigate to previous or next heading. This is what I do. If there is an easier way, please let me know.

1. Set up Navigator to traverse headings (5-6 keybindings)
      Press F5 to start Navigator (there is no indication that it has started)
      Press F6 4 times (or Shift+F6 once) to activate Navigator window
      Press Tab to go the list box section
      Press Right to expand Headings node
      Press Down to go to first heading label
2. From current heading, go to next or previous heading (4-5 key-bindings)
      Press F6 4 times (or Shift+F6 once) to activate Navigator window.
      Press Tab to go to list box section
      Press Up or Down to to go to previous or next heading label
      Press Enter to go to previous or next heading (focus moves to heading, but it is not spoken)

If structural navigation worked in Soffice, I would be able to navigate to previous or next heading with a single key-binding. It doesn't work due to some Soffice bugs. I submitted detailed bug reports including screen shots to Open Office and Libre Office bug trackers in March 2011; but there is no progress so far.
I submitted an Orca patch ( a workaround) in June 2011 to implement structural navigation of headings and tables. It was rejected because the right solution should be to fix the Soffice bugs, not an Orca patch.
Recently I participated in a computer training program for visually disabled users and witnessed their difficulty in learning the Navigator feature. I also gave them my Orca patch (workaround) to test. It worked fine. They found it much easier.



Is there a way to make my patch available to Orca user community, even if as a temporary solution? Can I turn the patch into a sort of plugin which users can add/ delete easily?
If anybody wants to see or try out the patch, the revised versions are here. They are based on orcaXdesktop.


Patch 1 provides structural navigation for heading, table and image.
Patch 2 provides structural navigation for heading, table, image and form elements viz. push button, radio button, check box, combo box, list box and entry.
Regards.