Welcome Dan Williams, new LibreOffice Developer focusing on UI/UX - The Document Foundation Blog

https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/35260914

Blåhaj Lemmy - Choose Your Interface

Boo. It’s one of the last GUI software without user infantilization syndrome. Go use Google Docs if you want your software to coddle you.

I swear if LibreOffice starts talking to me like I’m a child like MS Office does or starts having animations that actively slow me down and spike my CPU usage just to open a menu or something.

Also, I’ve noticed a pretty strong correlation between “modern UX” and instability in office software. I don’t think I’ve ever had LibreOffice crash on me, the last major UX revision of MS Office definitely crashed more often than LibreOffice, and the latest version of MS Office crashes at least once every time I have to use it taking my unsaved work with it even with autosave on. I don’t know what “experience” they’re aiming for but not crashing and causing data loss should probably be prioritized over making it look pretty.

Maybe the “you never get a second chance for a first impression” is indeed unfair but it is hurdle for adoption.

In my case my motivation to keep using and trying LibreOffice is driven by the hate for MS and not the love for LO.

For example: I went through some eye surgeries and really needed a dark mode. But I couldnt get a dark mode in which buttons still were cleary visible. Icons not showing well and hard to tell what they were for. Meaning I kept hoping the tooltips showed something usefull. But “reading” icons is a bit strange … I am sure if I search forums, git issues and documentation something usefull will turn up.

And maybe its infantile like you said but I sure like contextual filled menubars since PaintshopPro in 2005. So hats with the empty menus showing a handfull buttons and everything else in some cornermenu? Seems like a waist of screen real estate.

As for dataloss: sure my data wasnt lost but loading and pivoting a 90k row data table made Calc freeze and only restarted after killing it. 90k is not for everyone but it sure isnt a lot either in spreadsheet land.

I went through some eye surgeries and really needed a dark mode. But I couldnt get a dark mode in which buttons still were cleary visible.
I am sure if I search forums, git issues and documentation something usefull will turn up.

Ask and ye shall receive: ask.libreoffice.org/t/…/111034

Issues with LibreOffice Icons on Dark Mode in Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon

Hi everyone, I’m currently using Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon edition, version 6.2.7, which I reinstalled today on my laptop. When I open LibreOffice Writer, I’m experiencing an issue where some icons aren’t clearly visible in dark mode. The icons appear blurry or hard to see, but I haven’t tested it in light mode yet. Here are some details about my current version: LibreOffice Version: 24.2.5.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 420(Build:2) OS Kernel: Linux 6.8 UI Renderer: Default (...

Ask LibreOffice
This is great, thank you! I had not gotten around to actually attempting to troubleshoot this, but was just accepting that I should just know where the buttons are for now.