Bug 166596 - First launch welcome dialog: example animated bitmap looks grainy, request new SVG artwork?
Summary: First launch welcome dialog: example animated bitmap looks grainy, request ne...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.0.0 alpha0+
Hardware: All All
: medium minor
Assignee: Deepanshu Sharma
URL:
Whiteboard: target:26.2.0 target:25.8.0
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: First_Launch_Welcome
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Reported: 2025-05-15 15:15 UTC by Buovjaga
Modified: 2025-08-02 05:48 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


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Description Buovjaga 2025-05-15 15:15:21 UTC
Split from bug 166588

The image in first tab looks grainy. Would it help to either improve the image if possible or make it a tad smaller in order to reduce level of grain? Or maybe use the new revamped iconset instead which have a more modern look?

See attachment 200823 [details]

Note from myself: the graininess is the only way to keep the animated GIF's size tolerable. I recommend to just drop the animation, as many have strongly suggested.
Comment 1 V Stuart Foote 2025-05-15 15:47:06 UTC
+1 for better SVG artwork and drop the animated bitmap.
Comment 2 Heiko Tietze 2025-05-15 16:13:43 UTC
Image was replaced yesterday with a more crisp version (kudos to Rania). Strong -1 to drop the animation.
Comment 3 Buovjaga 2025-05-15 18:29:08 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #2)
> Image was replaced yesterday with a more crisp version (kudos to Rania).
> Strong -1 to drop the animation.

The problem is that bad decisions like including an animation in the dialog worsen the reputation of the whole of LibreOffice and everyone who contributes to it. We don't want to be tarred and feathered by users due to decisions like this, so expect heavy pushback.
Comment 4 Eyal Rozenberg 2025-05-15 22:29:37 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #2)
> Image was replaced yesterday with a more crisp version (kudos to Rania).
> Strong -1 to drop the animation.

Dropping the animation is non-negotiable. This is _user-losing_ behavior, it's like having the dialog say "We hate you, and want to cause you pain. Don't use our application unless you want to suffer."  - and it doesn't matter that's not the case. The user doesn't know that LibreOffice is a sane application that doesn't troll you with animations in the UI.

I'm sure there could be some other opportunity to use Rania's animation. Maybe in a video of some kind. But this just can't, can't, _can't_ be in any LibreOffice dialog. I cannot stress that enough.
Comment 5 Telesto 2025-05-29 13:06:02 UTC
+1 for dropping the animated bitmap.  It's distracting and without any value. I'm still trying the decipher the meaning.. We can animate our logo? And the visual impaired people might dislike it too similar to the marching ants animation 

Surely don't loop it over and over.
Comment 6 Heiko Tietze 2025-06-27 08:00:22 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting.

The animated image was introduced to show a little touch of design in a static welcome dialog. People claim motion sickness (in fact the setting is respected with MiscSettings::IsAnimatedOthersAllowed()) and bad quality (easy to improve; goal was to keep the image size under 100kB, IIRC). Although I disagree, the majority agreed to the request of no animation.

cui/source/dialogs/whatsnewtabpage.cxx -> AnimatedBrand::Paint() -> StartAnimation() vs. Draw() does the trick. You may also just upload the image with higher quality and no animation.
Comment 7 Buovjaga 2025-06-27 08:18:36 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #6)
> We discussed the topic in the design meeting.
> 
> The animated image was introduced to show a little touch of design in a
> static welcome dialog. People claim motion sickness (in fact the setting is
> respected with MiscSettings::IsAnimatedOthersAllowed()) and bad quality
> (easy to improve; goal was to keep the image size under 100kB, IIRC).
> Although I disagree, the majority agreed to the request of no animation.

Just to clarify, nobody claimed the IsAnimatedOthersAllowed wouldn't be respected. It was known from the start of the discussion that the setting exists. There was concern that non-hypersensitive people would find it off-putting in this context.
Comment 8 Commit Notification 2025-07-31 08:23:29 UTC
Deepanshu Sharma committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/c5750839461a6bdffd363bbba8333122f709dfb5

tdf#166596 replace animated image in first launch dialog with static

It will be available in 26.2.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 9 Commit Notification 2025-07-31 15:13:23 UTC
Deepanshu Sharma committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-25-8":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/6f6f0a388527a2e52c03bdacb71a14be5926a0c9

tdf#166596 replace animated image in first launch dialog with static

It will be available in 25.8.1.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 10 Eyal Rozenberg 2025-07-31 18:35:11 UTC
I thought practically everyone was in agreement we should remove the animation (entirey or in favor of a static image)... ?
Comment 11 Buovjaga 2025-07-31 18:58:25 UTC
(In reply to Eyal Rozenberg from comment #10)
> I thought practically everyone was in agreement we should remove the
> animation (entirey or in favor of a static image)... ?

And that is what the commit does, so what's your point?
Comment 12 Eyal Rozenberg 2025-07-31 19:07:58 UTC
(In reply to Buovjaga from comment #11)
> And that is what the commit does, so what's your point?

That the title and the opening comment are easily understood as "let's have a better animation". Sorry.
Comment 13 Commit Notification 2025-08-01 09:17:51 UTC
Deepanshu Sharma committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-25-8-0":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/0001439fba32103de7ed0bb3a64940bd5ae1a581

tdf#166596 replace animated image in first launch dialog with static

It will be available in 25.8.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 14 Buovjaga 2025-08-01 09:30:04 UTC
Deepanshu: feel free to mark as fixed.