[linux] [dark theme] Icon visibility

[jamshark701]

I realize there are a lot of threads about “can’t see icons in a dark theme”…

I have tried a couple of solutions online but I still see, e.g., in Draw:

Quick – where’s the “arrow connector” or “text box” icons? No way to know except to hover with the mouse and wait for tool tips.

I saw one page advising to install the libreoffice-style-oxygen deb package – nope, no change.

I saw a thread here saying “just don’t use themes” but actually I’m not using a LibreOffice theme – it’s inheriting the dark background from KDE settings and then not smart enough to auto-contrast the foreground.

Will this ever be fixed?

hjh

[ajlittoz]

To draw attention of developers, your question must mention at least LO version and OS name. Here, you’re talking about UI. Add the desktop manager (you said it is KDE) and make sure you have the correct interface library installed and enabled (as reported by Help>About LO). In your case, you should read kf5 corresponding to package libreoffice-kf5.
However, this is not enough to fix the issue. Dark OS themes have have some faulty fundamental design flaw which break many application behaviour. That’s why most comments here recommend not using them until this “flaw” is understood.

[EarnestAl]

Try opening Tools - Options - LibreOffice - Advanced and tick the box Enable experimental options. It might make the menus visible

[jamshark701]

To draw attention of developers, your question must mention at least LO version and OS name. Here, you’re talking about UI.

Fair enough. LO 7.3.7.2. Ubuntu 22.04 (Ubuntu Studio), uname -a reports Linux dlm-21cx 5.15.0-57-lowlatency #63-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT Tue Nov 29 10:18:23 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux.

KDE Plasma 5.24.7.

I do see “kf5” in About LO.

Dark OS themes have some faulty fundamental design flaw which break many application behaviour.

What I’ve seen is: some years ago, it was common e.g. for websites to override either the background or the foreground color, but not both. This has improved on the web (it seems more common now for websites to either go with system settings or to fully specify their own color scheme – either of which is justifiable).

LO’s behavior seems similar: ignoring the system palette’s foreground color for icons, using a dark color, while accepting a dark background color from the system.

Ignoring half a color scheme isn’t the fault of the color scheme.

For me, incidentally, I’m recently developing vision problems which make it uncomfortable to look at large bright areas onscreen for long periods of time. It’s an accessibility issue. Dismissing it by talking vaguely about “design flaws” doesn’t change that, for some users, it really is an accessibility issue.

@EarnestAl

Try opening Tools - Options - LibreOffice - Advanced and tick the box Enable experimental options. It might make the menus visible

By itself this didn’t do it.

hjh

[ajlittoz]

@jamshark701

some years ago, it was common e.g. for websites to override either the background or the foreground color, but not both

Very good point. Taking into account half the colour theme is a flaw by itself.

[mrw1]

It’s possible to switch the icon theme to another one. Under “Extras → Options → LibreOffice → View” the first entry should be “theme symbol”. I can choose between 20 themes on my system. For sure it’s possible to install other themes as well.
This solved the problem for me!

[pma]

This was definitely the solution (same problem here under KDE with a dark theme), except for the path:
Tools → options → Libre Office → View → Breeze (SVG +dark) works perfectly here.

[Wanderer]

@jamshark701

Will this ever be fixed?

This sentence was your question. As the future is hard to tell and you didn’t give specifications “the” answer is ( besides 42 )
Maybe.