Windows UI redesign — Foundation epic: three focused jobs #111

Coordination epic — work through the small jobs

This issue groups related work; it is not one implementation job or one all-at-once design approval. Review and complete the linked leaf issues separately. Their questions, narrow scopes and prerequisites govern execution. The older phase-wide material below is reference context.

Screen context

This is a UI proposal, not an implemented screenshot. Implement only the boundary of the leaf job under discussion, not every contextual element visible in the picture.

Coordination status: agreed jobs #117, #118 and #119 implemented, verified and merged. See the completion record above for waivers, limitations and separate follow-up fixes. No automatic next-job work or release.

Visual walkthrough and discussion

This task is the shared visual rulebook, not a new layout. It makes the same kind of text, button, selection, and border look consistent in both Windows apps. Existing Pretendard and the Q1 brand stay.

Schematic only: these diagrams explain structure and behavior, not exact pixel geometry, font rendering, or an implemented Windows screenshot.

flowchart TD
  TODAY["Today: visual rules are applied through separate control/rendering paths"]
  TODAY --> ROLES["Shared rulebook: colors · font roles · spacing · interaction states"]
  ROLES --> VIEWER["Viewer: commands, folders, Info, status"]
  ROLES --> COMPARATOR["Comparator: filenames, role labels, metric values"]
  ROLES --> RENDERERS["GDI · DirectWrite · native-control integration"]
  SCALE["Windows theme · DPI · text enlargement · high contrast"] --> ROLES
  VIEWER --> RESULT["Same role → same appearance; image data remains unchanged"]
  COMPARATOR --> RESULT
  RENDERERS --> RESULT

Historical phase-level discussion prompts (reference)

• Typography: keep Pretendard for Korean/English UI, with monospaced numbers only where alignment matters?

• Visual tone: quiet neutral surfaces with restrained blue selection/focus, or should the UI feel warmer/more colorful?

• Theme: System by default, with Light/Dark choices and an independent neutral image background?

Reference status: use the focused leaf-job questions above for approval. This phase-wide material is not one implementation job.

Parent and dependencies

Parent: #110. First implementation step.

Goal

Establish reusable Windows UI contracts while keeping existing workflows and image behavior unchanged.

Implementation scope

• Introduce role-based Light/Dark/System and high-contrast token resolution: panel/subtle/hover/pressed surfaces, decorative versus essential borders, text, accent/selection, and semantic feedback.
• Reuse bundled Pretendard Variable and glyph fallback. Cache role/DPI/text-scale-specific GDI fonts and DirectWrite formats; reserve Cascadia Mono/Consolas for numeric roles.
• Apply the parent's type ramp: body/commands 14/20 DIP, file/folder captions 13/18, supporting labels 12/16, metric values 16/22, numeric data 13/18. Recreate caches on relevant settings changes.
• Separate application theme from neutral canvas brightness; high contrast takes precedence. Native menus/dialogs retain documented OS behavior.
• Audit existing MFC IDs and define shared display/enabled/execute metadata for menu, toolbar, shortcuts, and help. Introduce incrementally; do not replace all routing at once.
• Preserve native frame/Snap and the approved Q1 icon. Optional frame material and new production icon assets are not prerequisites.
• Include the reviewed local design documents/mockup in a documentation or foundation PR, with appropriate attribution. Until then, Windows UI redesign: Fluent Inspector design and phased implementation #110 is the self-contained published specification.

Historical phase-wide acceptance checklist

Do not blanket-check untested environment combinations. Closure follows the agreed leaf-job scope and documented verification limits above.

• Viewer and Comparator resolve the same role consistently across GDI/D2D/DWrite.
• Essential control boundaries are not drawn using the low-contrast decorative divider token.
• Theme settings persist, system-theme changes are observed, and high-contrast overrides work.
• Mixed Korean/English, fallback scripts, 100/125/150/200% DPI, text enlargement, and monitor transitions render without clipped text/hit-area drift.
• Theme/font changes preserve current file/frame, image transforms, ROI, selection, caches, and metric inputs; no directory-wide decoding or idle repaint loop.
• Existing shortcuts/native menu navigation still execute exactly one correct command.

Execution and completion rules

Windows MFC Viewer/Comparator only; follow the parent specification and existing AGENTS.md. Start a focused branch from current origin/master and keep unrelated changes intact. Reuse existing command IDs and rendering/data paths. Run relevant automated/manual checks plus local CoreRegressionTests and both Windows Release builds for changes affecting shared or release-sensitive code. Record the branch/PR, verification evidence, remaining limitations, and any regression fixes. A mockup or build alone is not completion. Do not tag/publish a release in this implementation step.