Why is LibreOffice UI considered ugly?

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#1

I personally strongly prefer the current native look (I use all defaults except I chose the tabbed interface) and would absolutely hate a redesigned bloated, slow, resource-intensive, “modern” look.

There are multiple posts online of people wanting to improve the look of LibreOffice getting tons of views or likes but it doesn’t look good or easy to use (tiny inconsistencies, lots of empty white space, and looks like something that would be dependent on Chromium). Software isn’t even supposed to look good, it should just do the job well without wasting unnecessary resources.

Any redesign considerations should be strictly based on the current users legitimate interests (not users that just want to redesign things) and if same or better performance and usability is actually feasible with the current development team. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Otherwise, people will leave.

1 Like
#2

And what ist this? My LO looks different on Windows and Linuxand I guess there is another look on Mac. Not even conunting different Linux desktops… or settings of VCLPLUGIN as mentioned here:

#3

And yet, you can choose:

User interface in Writer

#4

What is the final purpose? Improving LO look or improving effectiveness and efficiency? I prefer the latter to the former.

Where this dilemma is most obvious is in Writer. However, the UI tends to shadow the real point: getting the job done in the most reliable way. There, you must understand that a document processor is not a dumb mechanical typewriter. Unfortunately, the tabbed interface you mention will instinctively lock you in this typewriter approach. The fact that it is adopted (imposed?) by M$ Word does not mean it is the absolute truth. On the contrary, it keeps you far way from the “professional” concepts of styles (also present in Calc, Draw and Impress) which automate your task in a extraordinary user-friendly way. But, shame, you must learn the concept …

And once you are accustomed to it, the UI question becomes really secondary because you need it much less frequently.

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#5

I mean like that the design and controls are currently native to the OS (they match the rest of Windows, Linux Mint, etc.) instead of wasting resources trying to be its own thing, which a modern redesign would probably do.

#6

I hate Calc, and I can tell you why. For example, Google Sheets uses smooth colors and rounded corners.

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