Created attachment 185323 [details]
7.5.0.3 Dark Icons on Dark Background

Hello,

Proposal: Popup a prompt to enter a Dark Mode theme when Dark Mode is detected on Windows, but otherwise stay in Light Mode.


The problem is, LibreOffice respects the Windows/OS dark mode setting in 7.5.0.3 over its own options. If you go into Tools -> Options -> View and set a Light theme, it instead goes with the Windows Dark Mode setting, Dark Icons on Dark Background, Dark Text on Dark Background, and ignores what you choose. It's very hard to see buttons or read menu options. This makes 7.5.0.3 unusable over 7.4.5.1 and earlier versions for a lot of people. 7.4.5.1 also had the Dark Text on Dark Background issue, but earlier versions did not. I was fiddling with the settings on both and could not get it to behave, even though I did manage to activate other icons on the earlier version.

This problem is currently plaguing a nearby low income seniors community. Lots of them have vision issues, and also old bad computers. (Acer Laptops more than a decade old are common. Some have burned out screens, so plugged in free old 17in LCDs from 2004, etc.) These people are prime users of free office software, as they only need to track some expenses and write an occasional letter, so it's not worthwhile to pay for anything. But now they can't see it if they upgrade, which they are prompted to when running it.

These computers have very washed out screens while in light mode, where anything over RGB 224 blends together. So in order to be able to see scrollbars and move around webpages, dark mode gets enabled. Most Windows software ignores the flag and continues to function light while in dark mode. Even Google and Bing realized that assumption is a problem, and made it a memorized toggle on their search pages, with two simple clicks. They ignore the Windows setting.

I suggest that LibreOffice default to Light Mode on Windows, and Popup a prompt to enter Dark Mode, similar to the tabbed UI popup. Assuming that Microsoft's OS settings are toggled because people like the mode is a dangerous assumption, and respecting it is building on top of quicksand. Microsoft frequently half-implements things, changes their implementation later without notice, etc; I believe that LibreOffice should take the setting as a suggestion rather than something to obey.

This probably lines up better with actual use, too. Keep in mind that there are more seniors and more crappy computers out there than actual dark mode users, so the majority may have enabled it just because the other mode has worse visibility a lot of the time. Also, back when tons of Win10 upgrades were done, between 2015 and 2016, hundreds of millions of computers were flipped to pure Dark Mode. Not everyone bothered to change it back to what they had before. A lot of people just got used to it. (Especially common among novice computer users and many seniors.) Doesn't mean that they like it more than Light Mode, though.

Is all of this dumb? Yep. Is having to second-guess Microsoft our reality? Yep.