I just downloaded 7.1.4, thought it didnt look correct based off of the modern look in pictures, so i uninstalled and did 7.0.6, it still looks off. Brand new to this awesome resource, any help would be appreciated
Could you please define what call “old school”? What is “not right”, i.e. which standard does it violate?
If you’re talking about the “control” UI, the way to enable various effects in Writer (according to your screenshot), which is only one component of the suite, be aware that Writer encourages the use of styles instead of direct formatting. Styles emphasize a “semantic approach” to document writing. This is completely opposed to other suites control. Typographical effects/attributes and layout are only a consequence of semantic markup.
With styles, you need almost no UI apart from styles selection. And then, there is no point on having a flashy, in-fashion, distracting UI. Your attention point is the document and what you’re writing.
Is the expectation to get clear and reasonable questions “old school”, too?
See the various options from menu View - User interface
When a “tabbed toolbars” interface is selected, the menu bar may be hidden. There will be a “menu toggle” button on the far left of the row of tabs, or a menu dropdown on far right.
Also Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View for icon styles.
There are themes in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Personalisation too
And you can add more icon sets by installing some icon theme extensions: