A while back, when I first updated to LibreOffice 4.4, I was incredibly happy with the out-of-the-box visual experience. It was promised to be “the most beautiful LibreOffice ever”, and it totally was. The chief distinction, as described in the announcement: “The Sifr monochrome icon theme is extended and now the default on OS X.” (https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/4.4#Sifr_as_the_default_icon_theme_on_OS_X, https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2015/01/29/libreoffice-4-4-the-most-beautiful-libreoffice-ever/) Then I updated to LibreOffice 5, and it wasn’t beautiful anymore. Breeze has replaced Sifr as the default, and it really, really doesn’t work. When the decision was originally made to switch away from Sifr, there was concern at the time about how Breeze looked on OS X: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Minutes-of-the-Design-Hangout-2015-06-03-td4150580.html I understand there may be something missing from the Sifr icon set, and work is being done to fix it. This request is simply that, when ready, it be made the default for Mac OS X once again.
Something that I failed to add to those design minutes (I surely mentioned it at some point) was that Breeze is a better fit for the new Apple iconography style that has been featured since iOS 7 and OS X Yosemite, which features thin lines. That was also a reason to switch to that icon theme *by default* on that platform (which does not mean we are discouraging people to use other themes of their liking, such as Sifr). Since we are concerned about fitting ourselves visually in the platform, we made the decision to switch to Breeze, which had the added benefit of being much more complete. This being said, we are concerned that Breeze may not offer adequate contrast with the toolbar background, because of its thinner shapes. However, we are dealing with that as a platform integration bug, because we are not using OS X’s native rendering, which features lighter toolbar colors.
Created attachment 123703 [details] toolbar buttons in Preview
(In reply to Adolfo Jayme from comment #1) > Something that I failed to add to those design minutes (I surely mentioned > it at some point) was that Breeze is a better fit for the new Apple > iconography style that has been featured since iOS 7 and OS X Yosemite, > which features thin lines. That was also a reason to switch to that icon > theme *by default* on that platform (which does not mean we are discouraging > people to use other themes of their liking, such as Sifr). Since we are > concerned about fitting ourselves visually in the platform, we made the > decision to switch to Breeze, which had the added benefit of being much more > complete. > > This being said, we are concerned that Breeze may not offer adequate > contrast with the toolbar background, because of its thinner shapes. > However, we are dealing with that as a platform integration bug, because we > are not using OS X’s native rendering, which features lighter toolbar colors. Ah, very interesting. I see your point. Breeze would definitely work better if each individual button was surrounded by a pale rounded rectangle, as in other Apple-made OS X applications (screenshot of Preview attached). However, Firefox and Microsoft Word are among applications that look quite good on Yosemite/El Capitan, while maintaining toolbar buttons and backgrounds much like LibreOffice currently does. If the kind of integration you're suggesting proves difficult or impossible to properly implement, I hope you'll consider falling back to Sifr in the near term.
breeze is the default now. I don't see LO reverting to Sifr in the near future. There are several reasons. - breeze is more complete - looks more native on OSX The issue with toolbar color, Adolfo mentioned, may be valid (although I never had complaints using breeze) but should be addressed in a separate bug. Also as already mentioned by adolfo: you are free to switch to Sifr any time and very easily via LO options. notabug as of now.
Created attachment 123883 [details] Native icons on OS X I respectfully disagree that Breeze looks more native on OS X. Take a look at the three attached screenshots. The first shows the toolbar in Pages, one of the most analogous native applications. The other two show two LibreOffice themes. Which one looks more native to you?
Created attachment 123884 [details] LO icons on OS X
Created attachment 123885 [details] LO icons on OS X
Hi isaacaweiss, This was a decision that was proposed by the design team so this default is highly unlikely to change, but as previously stated, we dont stop users from switching this default to what they prefer.