Abstract
Creating interactive web-based text annotations may present a compromise between rendering performance, visual fidelity, and accessibility, particularly with complex graphical selections or dynamic content. The described systems and methods can address this by deferring the visual rendering of text within a graphical element. A browser, for example, on a computing device (e.g., a smartphone, laptop, or tablet), can first parse hypertext markup language content to perform layout calculations and update an accessibility tree without painting the text. A synchronous rendering loop may then allow an application to draw custom graphics, such as highlights or selection polygons, onto a canvas. Subsequently, a pre-rendered snapshot of the natively laid-out text can be composited on top of the custom graphics. This approach can leverage a browser's native text layout and hit-testing engine to facilitate performant, complex text interactions while supporting accessibility and high-fidelity text rendering.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Chahoud, Zouhir, "Deferred Rendering of DOM Text for Accessible Graphical Annotation", Technical Disclosure Commons, (August 07, 2026)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/11293