Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 112141
Reintroduce color codes for mime type icons
Last modified: 2017-05-20 10:34:06 UTC
OpenOffice.org 3.2.1 new mime-type icons are monochrome. It's nearly impossible to tell apart text documents from spreadsheets (either ODF or other formats). Previous versions color codes were much more usable. Is it possible to reintroduce colors? Thanks
*** Issue 112141 has been confirmed by votes. ***
I'd say to reintroduce them or allow the user to chose the color set
please reintroduce the old icon pack as an option in OOo 3.3 this new monochromatic icons are totally useless and unproductive....
reassigned
the icons are great just put a bit of colour on it so we can distinguish btwn them. Please!
Old icons was easier to find in a messy folder with hundreds of office files. Not only colors, but differences between icons of different file types help eye to find them faster.
30 votes in just 2 days of life of this issue should make developers rethink about the monochromatic change of OOo icons
Probably who create the icons don't use openoffice ?! At home they have only black and white TV ??? Colors are important !
Don't remove CC's from issues!
2 things: 1. I really like the new *patterns* on the new icons. 2. The monochromatic aspect has *got* to go. 3. What is up with the 'ODF' label on NON-ODF MICROSOFT file formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, etc)? That is not just ugly, it is plain *wrong*. I hope the devs are reading this bug report, as I have been forbidden by my boss (when I showed this to him this morning) from installing this update on any of our 60+ windows workstations until this is fixed, which sucks because that means we don't get any new bug fixes or functionality enhancements until then, and as slow as OOo has been to make changes, this might be a while. Please, guys, you changed these in a minor revision bump, you can bring back the different colors in 3.2.2, can't you? Like I said in #1 above, I really do like the new icons *except* for the lack of color. Oh, and what is up with making a major change like this in a minor update revision? I thought that was a big no-no in software development?
@ tanstaafl: Please don't mingle up different problems in one issue. I can't confirm that MSO documents have an ODF labeled icon. Please file a new issue and be more detailed in your description.
old color codes were rally good, why this step back?
old color codes were really nice, why this step back?
Add me to CC
so many votes to this issue (55 in 4 days) shoulobo ds. make OOo team realize that the new monochrome icons did not receive a good acceptance from user. It would be very nice to have an extension or, even better, a new OOo 3.2.2 release with an option to have monochrome or color-coded icon pack. please, OOo team, think about it.
@ of: tanstaafl isn't mixing two different problems. We re talking about OOo icons. For the ODF part, we notice that they are almost unuseful (specially in "details" view), being too similar. For the MS Office part it's the same, but tanstaafl means that there is less justification in saying "that's official ODF logo", not being DOC, PPT, etc ODF files.
@massic80 good point. apart being unfunctional, those icons are deceiptive... DOC format in not an ODF... by the way, votes keep rising!!!
I totally agree, in linux this didn't happen,but when I use windows of course I prefere colors. I really do like the new icons *except* for the lack of color. Please reinsert colors
I know many people (me included) that are not upgrading to OOo 3.2.1 because of the new icons. for my OOo experience, the bug fixes of the 3.2.1 release are not compensated by the annoying effect of the new unified ODF icons. I know I can manually extract the old icons from OOo 3.2 files and then manually reassign the extension with the Windows file manager options... but since the files associations are at least 5 and I use 5 PCs, I'm not gonna repeat that operation 25 times...
@tommy27: I am not convinced we need an options of non colour-coded icons. I can see no logical reason for anyone choosing icons that do not work in preference to ones that do. The important issue here is that the default icon set needs to be colour-coded.
@ed2 I agree with you... the old icons should be defualt... however I fear that the OOo team will not accept this because of the marketing political reasons... they wanna push the "unified ODF concept". I think the option monochrome vs. color-coded could be a reasonable compromise
It really makes no sense to use the monochrome icons. The OOo Wiki itself argues, that using colour codes similar to those of Microsoft Office leads to higher recognition value which in my opinion is highly desirable if you want to win over MS Office users. The wiki is found here: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/MimeType_Icons
I did not knew that Wiki page. I agree that color-coded icons made users transition from MS Office to OOo a lot easier... the new monochrome icons represent a giant step back... it's amazing how much they resemble the old OOo 1.x icons... I call this an incredible regression from 3.x to 1.x... what an own goal...
@tommy27: Where did I ever say the old icons should be default? If the developers want to make new properly coloured icons in line with their branding then they can do. The important thing is that colour coded icons (whether the old icons or a new set in line with the new branding) need to be default. There does not need to be an option to make the product more difficult to use, since no one would have any reason to use that option.
@ed2 sorry, when I said "old" I meant "color-coded" whatever the design... but realize that there's often a gap between what we want and what we are going to receive... compromises are often necessary as I said I'm afraid that the OOo will keep pushing in the direction of monochrome icons. I'd prefer to have monochrome as default and color-coded as an option (which I will immediately activate) rather than have only monochrome just as it is already with OOo 3.2.1
Colour coded icons need to be default. 1. The default setup is the first impression users and reviewers get. First impressions are very important in selling any product. 2. A product that works properly straight away is much better a product that requires the user to do work to get it to work properly. There is no need for an option to make your own life more difficult, since there is no reason anyone would ever need to use that option.
Is there a legal issue why it is better not to use application colors resembling MSO or is it just a designer's effort to achieve unified look and feel in OpenOffice.org branding?
I would be surprised about a legal issue: there are so many apps out there use likewise color schemes .. (But since I am no lawer, that doesn't mean that much of course) Pls note that the issue with the icon set was discussed in the community council. As outcome, the topic will be picked up again, with input as broad as possible.
Hy, About start center, see http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=90630 Regards
Created attachment 69907 [details] a little gimp exercise on colored calc icon
Created attachment 69908 [details] another little gimp exercise for non odf spreadsheet
I like the simple but effective attachments of prowlerxpla: an analogous job should be done to tiny icons (for "details view"), it wouldn't mess the logos out and would "work fine". I'd just change something in the non ODF icon: I think that just the difference of the blue stripe wouldn't be enough immediate.
There's nothing to say the colours have to be identical to the colours of the MS icons, then only requirement is that the dominant icon colour is different for each file type. If there is a legal issue with copying the colours from MS icons then don't copy their exact colours, use a (possibly only very slightly) different set of colours. I have not seen any mention of any legal issues anyway. The official documentation only refers to changing the icons in line with the new brand, it does not mention the need for colour codes. This suggests that they simply rushed the re-branding and never thought about usability.
I too agree with all those here who don’t care for the new icons. In fact, these colorless icons are a reason I will be sticking with OOo 3.2.0. —– The same monotone color for all module (Writer, Calc, etc) icons reduces the recognizability of the modules themselves, thereby decreasing the usability and user-friendliness within OOo. “By making the application icons uniform in color and orb-like, OOo is really distinguishing itself from its main competitor”[1] and shooting itself in the foot. It is a step counter-productive to attracting users from the competitor. And surely with all the press and attention OpenOffice has gotten over the years, it is not suffering from an identity crisis anymore. —– “The similarity of the icons may also symbolically reflect the modular architecture of OOo…” [1] and though that is important for developers (who know that anyway), the symbolism is trivial for end users (who know it anyway, too, and are not interested in architectural symbolism). —– “There is no OpenOffice.org branding in [the file icons] whatsoever.” [1] Perhaps a good idea because the seagulls are a bit messy in the file icons, but the ODF “logo” is bland and ugly and does not achieve a “lighter and less cluttered” appearance, as is claimed for the application icons. Moreover, end-users could give a hoot about pushing ODF as a standard open format. I wish the design decision makers would stop trying to push their idealism and concentrate instead on making an excellent product which speaks for itself! If they absolutely have to, why not keep the “orb” theme and include a simple “O” for odf-docs and a blank “orb” for non-odf, including, of course, COLOR! “It is hoped that these will become the universal ODF icons that other applications supporting ODF will adopt.”[1] As they are, I certainly hope not! ----- 1 - http://www.patentpending.co.nz/soapbox/index.php/openoffice-org-new-setup-file-and-application-icons
there's no reason OOo could not use the same color-code as MS Office... no legal issues happened with OOo 3.2 which used the same color codes of MS Office... you should remember that Microsoft doesn't own colors....
Created attachment 69913 [details] exercise for calc 16x16
Created attachment 69914 [details] exercise for calc 32x32
Created attachment 69915 [details] exercise for calc 48x48
Created attachment 69916 [details] exercise for non odf spreadsheet 16x18
Created attachment 69917 [details] exercise for non odf spreadsheet 32x32
Created attachment 69918 [details] exercise for non odf spreadsheet 48x48
I made other exercise with spreadsheet icons in smaller resolution, the 16x16 may be should need more green, what's your opinion? I'm pretty sure that a more-graphics-oriented-than-me guy will be able to better them :-) ciao
I like them prowler, and would vote to hire you to do the rest, post links to all of the OOo lists asking for feedback about these vs the 'new' blackj and white ones - and just apply the changes immediately once the majority of people gave a thumbs up (as they would, I am 100% sure)... Then I'd do what other open source projects have done - have an open *contest* where *anyone* can submit designs for new icons, post links everywhere, and let the OOo user base vote on them. I think the main point though is, these icons should *never* have been changed like this without a *lot* of inquiries on the user lists and elsewhere, consulting with usability experts - who would have, of course, nixed the idea of colorless icons in a microsecond.
@tanstaafl: I am not sure if it is helpfull to spamm all OOo mail lists. It makes the process un clear, possibly creates wrong expectations can you pls first trust what I told, that this item will be addressed?
prowler -> nice colour suggestions :) The old OOo icons did have somewhat thicker lines, making them easier to recognize. The new icons use much thinner lines and the smaller icons are therefore not that clear. Perhaps it would work better with larger areas of colour. I have made a version where I have inverted the colours so the foreground is white and the background (in this case) green. It's quite colourful (perhaps TOO colourful for some), but perhaps the solution should be found somewhere in-between - so the colour is clear without being too dominant.
Created attachment 69920 [details] a more colourful version
Created attachment 69921 [details] a more colourful version - now with correct MIME type, sorry
prowlerxpla's samples are perfect, if the icons designs "have to" remain the same (the smaller icons seem to be coming from a GUI of nineties). I also like jakobkramer's solution, maybe even more recognizable, but, as he says, might be too colourful. Perhaps a bit brighter icons wouldn't be bad. I'd allow users to choose between those two solutions! If they say there is a legal issue on using the exactly same colors of "the main competitor", well, in a 24 bit graphic card there are about 16 millions colors to be chosen, and human eye can see much less then those. Talking about human eye, have you thought about people not seeing very well? An eagle can easily distinguish between an ODB, an ODG or an ODP icon, but how can a 50 years old user (specially with the not-huge icons)? You are right! I didn't think about the seagulls: were them shot down?
I like this one too... but honestly, I'd like anything better than the b&w icons... At least you guys are showing it really isn't that hard of a thing to do.
@cornouws It is honestly hard to trust it will be fixed, considering the total lack of response here in the Issue Comments from any OOo developers, in spite of the fact that this issue has accumulated 105 votes in just 5 days, and was 'confirmed by votes' in 40 *minutes* (both of which must be records). Do a query on all open issues with more than 100 votes. Then go read all of the comments for some of them. The fact is, the OOo development process doesn't really care what those of us in the OOo user community want or think. I'm not saying all of the *developers* are like that, but the *process* *creates* *the* *condition* - and now we have these shiny new politically correct 'icons' we are now stuck with for ... how long? Only time will tell. Not to mention the fact that the issue with the most votes currently (468) is 8.5 years old, still marked as 'NEW', and to add insult to injury, is *already* *fixed* (in the go-oo code base). Shall I bring up the fact that there is still no true OOo community as was promised by Sun from day one, just a Sun (now Oracle?) dictatorship? Trust is something that must be earned, and the OOo developer<>community process has not earned much of anyone's trust, and for good reason.
things are changing...
@cornouws Well, since there has actually been a major change in that Oracle bought Sun, I'll take your word for it and stop complaining and adopt a wait and see... I can only hope the change is for the better... :)
Created attachment 69931 [details] until this is fixed, i extracted, colored, and created my own ICOs for use with my desktop shortcuts
Nice, but they lack of odf logo, :-) I'll try to add :-)
They are wonderful! Who cares about the ODF logo? They are the application icons!
massic80: "They are the application icons!" That´s right. But this issue is about document icons. And that´s why ticotexas contribution is off topic. ;-)
It is far more important to get the colors back than the get the ODF stamp on them. I don't mind the ODF being there *for ODF files*, but it si far less important than simply getting the colors back. Even though I like the older icons less than the design of the new ones, I'd much rather 3.2.2 simply revert to the old icons, than continue debating on the newer ones. The debate on the newer ones can then continue until a reasonable consensus is reached *that includes a lot of input form users and voters in this bug*.
New not colour icons are simply awful. It is impossible to distinguish types of files. I have deleted 3.2.1 and have passed on Go-OO 3.2. Please, return old icons.
I too believe that icons should be of different colors for a batter recognition of the files; also, it would be another good idea to differentiate the mimetype acronym (e.g.: ODT, OTT, ODS, OTS, etc.) instead of using the only ODF. Emanuele Forner
I agree. Why to use an "anonymous" ODF when ODT, ODS, etc would be more clear? (Yes, even this is slightly OT, sorry)
I find it a noble goal to promote ODF as a collection of file formats using icons. If filetype icons can get their color back with different symbol and ODF inside that could use as good marketing for ODF and still not cause harm to the usability. Having extension repeated is not as strong as having ODF on all Open Document Format filetypes. Also ODF should never appear on non ODF filetypes. Having ODF text on icon representing Microsoft Word .doc file format is just plain wrong and dangerous. Icons without ODF text (but with same background/color/symbol) should be used for other supported office file formats.
I strongly vote for the easy distinguishable coloured icons from OOo 3.2.0. Won't update my clients' OOo installations because of the new unusable icons (and changing icons by hand is too much work either).
I've heard rumors that say this issue will be probably ignored and labeled as "OOo later" despite the impressive amount of votes... I hope these rumors wil not be confirmed... it would be so disappointing...
> Stefan Taxhet and Christoph Noack agreed to work out a request to > the ODF Icons team to iterate on the design and/or processes. This is a quote from OpenOffice.org June Newsletter sent out today. It is good news, so let us wait and see updates to this issue and who it will be assigned to.
I'm just adding my two-cents worth, by saying that the color coded icons help... If Microsoft can understand this simple feature, why can't oracle?
> I'm just adding my two-cents worth, by saying that the color coded icons help... > If Microsoft can understand this simple feature, why can't oracle? Because she is projected into the future she is ahead of its time. Next step ? All icons must become monocrome: jpg, tiff, mp3, pdf ... A developer is writing a new software that "recognize, for you, the icon selected and paint it with the correct color". But, this new software is not freeware!
temporary...... http://user.services.openoffice.org/zh/forum/viewtopic.php? f=2&t=740&p=2686#p2686
sorry, I can't read japanese...
tommy27 -> If you copypaste the whole link (not just the "link part" of the link), you are taken to a page with a temporary set of colour coded icons. The page is definitely not in English, but the link should be fairly easy to locate :)
do you mean that specimen.zip file below the icons screenshot? I downloaded it but AVG anti-virus finds 2 trojans inside it...
it's an exe file, i'm runnig linux, could someone put me somewhere that file?
Don't download Specimen.zip. Tested on: http://virusscan.jotti.org/ http://www.virustotal.com/ and it contains trojans/backdoor signatures. I also looked at the data files in the .exe & they are all dated 31 December 1969. a-squared 5.0.0.26 2010.06.20 Trojan.IRC.Backdoor.SdBot4!IK Antiy-AVL 2.0.3.7 2010.06.18 Backdoor/Win32.SdBot.gen Authentium 5.2.0.5 2010.06.20 W32/Backdoor2.EUUP AVG 9.0.0.787 2010.06.20 Dropper.Generic2.FAN etc. etc.
(Sorry for my poor english) to: tommy27, prowlerxpla, noop: I'm the author of that patch. It seems that I'd better say something. The patch is created with diablo2oo2's Universal Patcher - [dUP]. Someone said "A trojan virus was detected ...... However, a quick Google shows this is commonplace for this patch program (diablo2oo2's)". If you check the report, you'll find some engine call it "patcher". You can download dup2 and make a patch yourself and scan it. In fact I use another tool to edit the icons in soffice.exe directly, but I don't know if it's legal to upload the EXE( And an EXE is much bigger than a patch); Similarly, I can't upload the Icons (Not to metion I don't have stand- alone icons, they are embedded in the exe...) If anyone worrys about the trojan, please don't download the patch. If anyone knows whether it's legal to upload the EXE, please tell me.
(Sorry for my poor english) to prowlerxpla: I'm not familiar with linux, but it's said that exe trojan won't injure linux, linux system doesn't use exe. But similarly, the patch can't work correctly, because it will only patch the win32 bin - soffice.exe . Harmless but useless, (-_-);;
On 06/21/2010 07:42 AM, kongnan wrote: ... > I'm not familiar with linux, > but it's said that exe trojan won't injure linux, > linux system doesn't use exe. > > But similarly, the patch can't work correctly, > because it will only patch the win32 bin - soffice.exe . > > Harmless but useless, (-_-);; Agree. Confirmed by Bitdefender Antivirus staff: > The analysis of the files has been completed with the following results: > > The application is a crack/patcher for Open Office 3.2.1; It is not malicious, > therefore, detection will not be added. I reckon that AVG & the others are reporting a false positive. Sorry for the noise.
It is impressive the lack of feedback from the developers. 166 votes for this issue and no replay. This is the classical case where "design" decrease "usability". PLEASE REINTRODUCE COLOUR CODES FOR MIME TYPE ICONS Thanks
come on, devs!!! say a word!!!
come on, spirit of devs!!! If you're here knock once for 'yes :-)
Quite agreed with all those who want colored mime-type icons back. Please re-color!!!
Devs: I tried to do some comment/question, but no matter how many times I tried, I still ended with something unpolite. So bad it is... Basically I would love to know who/when/why, so I can [ok, I will stop here]. Workaround: go to http://ui.openoffice.org/nonav/VisualDesign/OOo30MimeType.html and download the single .ico files for each type you use/like/need. Put the resulting .ico files somewhere where they can occupy space and you recall that place well. (I put them into "C:\Program Files") Then in (WinXP) explorer in Options switch to file types, find all the extensions (ods, xls, xlsx, etc..), and at the bottom is some button for adjustments, where you can select the icon to the downloaded .ico files.
ped: It's not letting me do that for Windows files (xls, doc, etc.) and those are the ones I really need to change the icon for. When I click on one of the Windows extensions it gives me these two options: Change (to change the program used to open the file) Restore (to restore it back to the default setting of MS programs opening it) Is there some other way to accomplish this?
hatchjn: WFM, sorry. (I don't have english XP here to give you exact steps, maybe somebody else will be able to help you better) Also I'm not sure what Vista/Win7 does in this aspect. I did these icon changes only in Kubuntu (can't recall where exactly, but it was easy to find) and now in WinXP (as described in previous post).
@ped Where did you get the Linux icons? The link you provided only has Windows and Mac versions.
@ed2: I had them already in the big list of available icons, not sure where they came from. (probably from older OOo package?)
does anybody here have any news about decisions of the devs about this issue? 179 votes deserve at least an answer
@ *, The item has been discussed again in the community council and up until now work has been done to get foundation on which we can work to resolve this issue. May sound superfluous, but it isn't IMO. The changed icons, how much they may be criticized by part of the users, have not been worked out in a fortnight and definitely were designed with certain ideas and goals. And on the other side the strong criticism. So a necessary start is bringing this all together before we can actually work on the best solution. I do not see a big change that this will be finalised before 3.3.0 (sorry, but speaking for my own involvement, and knowing the situation of many others: much work has to be done beside many other demanding tasks). Therefore, what I saw passing by here (intermediate solutions) may be useful. Possibly that can even be bundled in an extension or so for people that can not wait? We will make sure that we keep you informed, either in this issue or in another way. Regards, Cor
Looks as if I should have typed 'chance' in stead of 'change'. Sorry.
@cornouws No offense, and this isn't aimed at you, it is aimed at the politicians masquerading as software developers: I don't care how long it took them to redesign these icons, the fact is, they BLEW IT by going with b&w, and whoever's decision this was/is simply is not man (or woman) enough to admit they made a mistake and fix it. PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE. What infuriates me the most about things like this is how totally unnecessary it is. The solution is easy: 1. GO BACK TO THE OLD ICONS WITH THE NEXT POINT RELEASE, and 2. Start the process over again for redesigning the icons, taking into account the fact that b&w icons are NOT ACCEPTABLE. There is absolutely NO reason that the above cannot be done for the 3.2.2 release (much less the 3.3 release), save one: THE DECISION MAKER(S) DON'T CARE. Well, guess what? As of now, I don't care either. I am now in the process of working on migrating our entire office over to KOffice. Since we're on windows, and KOffice isn't entirely stable on windows yet, it may not be able to happen in the next few months, or even the next year, but it will happen - unless by some miracle things change drastically with the OOo development process prior to KOffice being ready for prime time on windows. So long, OOo devs, and thanks for all the fish!
[sorry for my poor English] @tanstaafl: I'm afraid the icons will NOT go back. The old icons have an S-shaped "Sun Style", which can't be accepted by Oracle. Remember the beautiful blue VirtualBox "About" window? Now it has gone...
IMO, the new icons look fine. Just PLEASE ADD SOME COLOUR so that they can easily be differentiated between each type.
@kongnan I don't want to have exactly the same old "SUN design" icons. I just want color codes back... they can even mantain the actal design but just colorize it with old color codes (Calc green, Writer blue etc etc(
@kongnan Like I said - it is *not* a physical impossibility, it is purely a *political* decision, and a piss poor one at that. The fact is, it would only take any half-competent graphics artist an hour to colorize the new icons. It is the political red tape that is preventing this from simply happening. What is needed is someone that can make a command decision without requiring a 'consensus' of some brain dead 'committee'. And yes - if you hadn't noticed, I loathe politics, and political correctness, both of which, I'm sorry to say, OOo is massively infected with. @tommy27 If you read this thread, and my comments, you sill clearly see that most people do indeed like the new icons *except* for the lack of color.
@tanstaafl that's whta I said... keep current design but colorize it... and if you wanna keep promoting the "ODF format thing" leave the monohromatic blue ODF tag in each file type and colorize just the icon background. I agree with you that there's no real technical trouble to rapidly release OOo 3.2.2 with a color coded icon pack... it seems they are postponing the decision to OOo 3.3 or even OOo Later...
Oracle can use existing icons as a means to free advertise (marketing) ... Oracle need only add a small red O on each icon (O=Openoffice but also O=Oracle) and change the background color that should be different for each application (Write, Calc, ...) This is very easy, fast and inexpensive to make, also solves a problem objectively using OpenOffice, makes many people happy and can increase the appreciation of Oracle. Quickly makes the change more quickly enjoy the benefits. Longer waits longer creates dissatisfaction. So the alternative is: to divide the tasks for each of us, to vote the best draft icons by inserting what we want (as the initial letters of the author, the photo of his girlfriend, etc. :-P ) and to find a way to quickly deploy a plugin. hi.
@ itmanager I'm 100% agree with you. your proposal is acceptable and feasible. the devs should listen to it and release an OOo 3.2.2 version with fixed icons 183 votes still do not mean anything?
Bring back the colours because I can hardly distinguish my Calc icon from my Writer icon when I got the two different files open on my taskbar!
I started the update process until I realized what the Oracle team had done to make the icons less usable at which point I halted the update. I will also be sticking with 3.2.0 until color coded icons are reintroduced.
@OOo devs please, face the facts... nobody likes these monchrome new icons.. this new feature is making OOo loose users...
For a second there, I thought “why is there an AT&T logo in my quicklaunch?" So much for brand identity. The application icon doesn’t bug me. The new file icons however, are making me nuts. The whole color scheme is silly, and I think it is a step backward in user experience. I’ve been using OOo for years and when I opened it up, it looked as if I was picking my application off of a piece of paper. It’s so bland and colorless. No, it isn’t “minimalist” or “sleek.” It’s just ugly and the lack of color and all of the icons looking exactly the same makes everything kind of blend into the background. The old color scheme made OOo seem friendly and easy to work with from the start. It just seems so impersonal now. It’s cold and mechanical and new users will be turned off by it. I can understand uniformity, but this is just stupid. The old icons were easily identifiable without even having to read anything. You could tell by the shape and color what you were clicking on right away. It’s just the fact that having everything look exactly the same slows you down because you can’t sift through things as easily. You wouldn’t think that something like this would be a big deal, but it’s HUGE. This is the first thing someone sees when they open OOo, and it puts you in an irritated mood immediately because you have to stop and take the time to look around for what you want since everything kinda mushes together. This is the face of OOo, it should stay colorful, friendly, and easily accessible. Heck, I LIKE the new design! Just adjust the hue on the darn things! Make them slight pastel colors if you want to stay drab. Do SOMETHING D:<
this issue is very close to collect 200 votes after 5 weeks... this issue affects usability and decreases user productivity... we could see it as a regression from previous version where color coded icons worked fine. IMHO we could consider this issue a potential OOo 3.3 stopper. http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=111112
Hello, I am agree, the news icons have a good idea: write ODF on the icon's document, but it's monochromatic and similar between the differents icons. People always find the color blue for a word process (Writer, Word), the green with spreadsheet (Calc, Excel), the red with presentation program (Power Point, Impress). Why to change ?? Just add a little color to the new icons. It could not be an issue for the renaissance team or the User experience team? http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Renaissance http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User_Experience Sorry, i can't create an issue: i am a beginner and english is not my native language :-( Thanks
In my opinion it should be a stopper for 3.2.2 release, but when I submitted this bug for approval to the releases list as a blocker, all I got was a lot of grief, and was even accused by someone of being a troll... Maybe if 10 or 50 other people joined the releases list and did the same thing it would get someone's attention...
By the way... Whoever is the Bug Opener for this bug - please change the Issue Type to DEFECT - since it is, regardless of whether or not the change was intentional.
How does one go about adding an issue as a blocker? This issue definitely needs block ANY further releases, and should really be the subject of an emergency release just to solve this issue.
Changed from enhancement to defect.
Hi guys, Additional comments on how important this issue is, do not help. If you are interested in what is intended to solve this issue: pls re-read my previous comments here. But since we deal a. with a large company as main sponsor (that takes time); b. volunteers around that are busy too (takes extra time); and c. it is vacation for many, do not expect a quick fix. I do regret this, but it is better to be honest than to keep up appearance. Since there are many people here and thus many skils: maybe you can work together to create an extension or whatever, as temporary solution...
Changing Issue Type back to ENHANCEMENT. Setting the issue type wrongly against its definition does not emphasize the issue. I do strongly support the proposal to restore a color code to the mime type icons, the sooner the better. But sorry: by definition this is *not* a defect, because what we have got is exactly what was intended. http://de.openoffice.org/scdocs/ddIssues_EnterModify.html#issuetype
so, basically, as conrnows said, we should fix by by ourselves... is there anybody able to recompile the new 3.2.1 soffice.exe file and replace the new monochrome icons with good old 3.2.1 icons?
@tommy27 "so, basically, as conrnows said, we should fix by by ourselves..." pls be honest when quoting
The developers did have time to redesign the icons - and to botch it pretty badly. They had time to really tear the Word export filter to pieces in 3.0.1, so that tables and stuff got lost in conversion. All of this looks as close to sabotage as it can get. If this black & white thing was intentional, then better fire the people who thought of it. Hire some people for your communication who have the sense to say: "Sorry, we blew it here" instead if making snide remarks about what an enhancement or a defect is. The users can tell the difference, and they're smart enough to read between the lines that it serves them right for using the software.
Then we should at least change the Priority from 3 to 2 since this is not a "non-trivial problem" and this issue deserves greater attention! It is a severe usability problem which will affect ALL customers and not just a noticeable number. "P3 marks non-trivial problems which probably affect a noticeable number of users." "P2 marks severe problems which affect a significant number of customers Issues with this priority must be fixed before the target release (see Target milestone), which usually is the next major release, and should be dealt with as soon as possible. Not fixing them for the target release is not acceptable."
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@sweigel: "But sorry: by definition this is *not* a defect, because what we have got is exactly what was intended." Excuse me sir, but WHO did *intend* this? Can he finally stand up and say he did it? I want basically know who's the brainless f*cker, so I don't have to blame whole OOo team (although for the pain caused over years ... why do I care, oh well, blame them all).
no need to have a dispute about issue type and priorities. this topic is clearly on the current agenda and will be worked on the public mailing lists.
Can we get rid of 'community members' who call other people "brainless f*cker"? I'm not willing to work together with such users. Remember: We are just talking about icons!
@of: "Remember: We are just talking about icons!" You just exposed your level of ignorance here. Don't even try to ridicule the people who are put out by this set of icons. OOo is advertised as a productivity suite. If users' productivity goes down because of these icons, then the developers did something seriously wrong. You only fool yourself by pretending that the users are wrong or that they're overreacting. If you object to people hinting that you're a ******, then don't give them the polite rendering of "go **** yourselves", which is what the developers have been doing pretty consistently in this discussion.
@ped I hate the new icons too but the comments you made are very offensive. shame on you. @cornows I think I was honest quoting you. you said that the OOo cannot face this issue immediately because of several factors (sponsorship, busy devs, vacation) and you suggested that the users should try to find themselves a temporary solution (extension or something else). this basically means: "fix it by yourself" it's not your exact words but it's the meaning of what you said. there was not polemic intent in my quotation... if the OOo can't do it, I accept that decision and, as I said in my previous post, I will ask if there's any enough skilled user able to recompile soffice.exe replacing new icons with old ones of with recolored new icons (some tests have been attached here by some users). I don't care of the new design... the ODF tag could be left in place... I just want back the color coded backgrounds because improved usability OOo is opensource so users could change the code and reintroduce color-code icon unfortunately I'm not able to do this but maybe other users could be able to accomplish this task
@hm"no need to have a dispute about issue type and priorities. this topic is clearly on the current agenda and will be worked on the public mailing lists." this is a good news:-), where did you take the news to be able to say "clearly"?
@of "Can we get rid of 'community members' who call other people "brainless f*cker"? I'm not willing to work together with such users. Remember: We are just talking about icons!" Totally agree with you
@sweigel said: > But sorry: by definition this is *not* a defect, because what we have got > is exactly what was intended. > > http://de.openoffice.org/scdocs/ddIssues_EnterModify.html#issuetype Excuse me sweigel, but just because someone broke something intentionally does not mean it is not broken. THESE ICONS ARE BROKEN. PERIOD. AND THAT MAKES THIS A DEFECT. @mh said: > no need to have a dispute about issue type and priorities. this topic is > clearly on the current agenda and will be worked on the public mailing lists. Please point to JUST ONE example of how the seriousness of this issue is 'clearly on the current agenda and will be worked on the public mailing lists'? I have not seen even ONE serious statement from any OpenOffice.org developer in an official capacity, much less anything from Sun/Oracle -and no, comments in here from someone who may or may not be a developer or employee of Sun/Oracle don't count. @of said: > Can we get rid of 'community members' who call other people "brainless > f*cker"? I'm not willing to work together with such users. the truth sometimes is painful. While I would not use such language, I agree with its sentiment. Whoever made this decision should absolutely and unequivocally be FIRED. > Remember: We are just talking about icons! Rotflmao! This actually sounds like something the one who made such a brain-dead decision would say... so was it you?
@cornouws ssid: > Hi guys, > Additional comments on how important this issue is, do not help. You said that things were changing for the better. I have been waiting patiently, but have seen no evidence to support your claim. Sorry, but BP has been doing a better job of handling the Gulf Oil debacle than Oracle/OOo developers have of handling this screw up with the icons. How about a FORMAL STATEMENT from someone at Oracle? Or at least from one of the lead OOo developers? I have said it before, but I'll now put my money where my mouth is: I'll wager $1,000 that this issue was 'confirmed by votes' faster than any issue in the history of OOo's development (40 MINUTES), and that it garnered 100 votes (less than 5 DAYS), then again 200 votes (a little over one MONTH), faster than any previous issue as well. If that doesn't warrant at least a formal statement from someone admitting the mistake and promising action, then nothing does.
the responsible product manager can easily be found. Just look at the spec: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Unified_ODF_Icons_-_Specification I also don't want to read all those flames, I'd rather go on and work on my part of OOo (what curentliy is translation). What happens here could have been easily foreseen (and it was). All the flames could have been prevented - but product management decidet to go on. Unfortunately now *we* have to deal with the flames.
I already know that new mime type icons are located inside Bin/soffice.exe I will figure out a way to modify that file in order to replace monochrome icons with color-coded icons... there's another request: do you know where the GUI filetypes icons (those used in the splashcreen and in the new file dropdown menu) are located? I suspect that icons located in soffice.exe are used for extension assignation, while icons in the GUI are probably located elsewhere. my aim is to change the look of the icons either in Windows file manager or in OOo 3.2.1 GUI.
I think that this issue shows on one side how poor is the "official" marketing behind OOo and on the other side how poor is the Oracle understanding of office productivity. Unfortunately, OOo is a very good product in very bad hands (and brains, too). Any hope that the situation could change from the past has been frustrated by the way this issue has been managed so far.
Created attachment 70652 [details] 3.2.1 soffice.exe with replaced icons from 3.1.1 soffice.exe
@ morobus did u read my previous post? does this modified soffice.exe file change the icons look in the "Welcome to OpenOffice" screen as well in the "new file" dropdown menu?
Created attachment 70654 [details] Workaround script for Windows users
@tanstaffl cornouws is absolutely right: further comments on the importance of this issue are not helpful. @ALL We needn't emotionalize this any further (actually not it all). We've complained more than adequately - to the point of incredibility. Repeatedly venting anger and even hostility reduces the serious discussion of this issue to a cheap chat-room. Please refrain from swearing, name-calling or expressing violence towards developers. Do that somewhere else, if you must, but NOT HERE. We must move forward on this issue. What does that mean? It means this: 1) This issue has been set from Priority 3 (P3) to Priority 2 (P2). What that does, among other things, is REQUIRING that this issue be resolved for the next release. Not fixing it is unacceptable. "Issues with this priority must be fixed before the target release (see Target milestone), which usually is the next major release, and should be dealt with as soon as possible. Not fixing them for the target release is not acceptable." (See http://www.openoffice.org/scdocs/ddIssues_EnterModify.html#priority for more info on Priorities.) @corounws: You mentioned that you "do not see a big change that this will be finalised before 3.3.0." Is this still the case when this has P2? If so, why? 2) @corounws: What needs to be done to assign this issue a "Target Milestone"? It is indeed troubling that this has not been set for this issue! And what does "Assigned to: requirements (requirements)" mean? This also does not sound promising. We would expect to see a username or an issue owner here and not, as in this case, a plural noun. Please advise! 2) cornouws' comment (Thu Jul 15 20:55:40 +0000 2010) has evidently been helpful to some of us (i.e., working together to create a temporary solution), but it is probably beyond the skills of the discussion participants (including my own) to integrate new icons into the OOo source code and recompile or even to create an extension (which is also no piece of cake!). What has been offered so far (i.e. colored shell file icons that can be integrated into the user's OS) is modestly helpful. That is exemplary of the kind "moving forward" we need to do, so thanks to prowlerxpla, jakobkramer and ticotexas for these! [Honorable mention goes to kongnan (°±°)] !!! And at the time of writing morobus just submitted a new soffice.exe !!! That's the spirit! 3) Until this issue is resolved, use OOo 3.2.0 or Go-OO 3.2.0. unless there is some fix or feature in 3.2.1 that is worth sacrificing the colored icons. syzygy successfully deleted 3.2.1 and installed Go-OO 3.2. to return to the old colored icons. If you do that, let us know by posting here! (I had read the release notes and saw the new icons before doing an update. Since there are no fixes, security patches or enhancements in 3.2.1 that are important for me, I decided not to update from 3.2.0 to 3.2.1. I then deleted OOo 3.2.0 and tried Go-OO 3.2.0., which uses only a bit more than half as much memory than OOo does on Win XP. ----- Another contribution just came in from vvzh, making this entire comment seem nearly superfluous... mb
Attached workaround for Windows users. Zip-archive contains old 3.2.0 icons from OOo wiki and batch file that changes registry settings for ODF files. The script is provided as-is, use it on your own risk. You can always look through the source to ensure it does not contain malicious code. To use it, unpack zip-file contents to some persistent (i.e. not temporary) directory, e.g. "C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\" and run "seticons.bat" file.
I replaced the icons stored in the soffice.exe, so only the icons on the windows ui are affected not the icons used in the application itself. To achieve this, i guess you'd have to modify the source code and recompile the whole thing. That would be quite a bit of work if you have to get into how to do it, but its all well documented. At least this solution makes the distinction between different file-types in windows easier. Btw.: it would be nice if someone tested the exe, for me it works just fine, but i don't know if it's really compatible on other computers with different setup.
Created attachment 70657 [details] Icon-files form the soffice.exe, for anyone who wants to paticipate artistically by coloring the icons.
@ morobus r u sure that the GUI icons are not stored elsewhere? if we knew that file we could change them as well.
FYI - A little history on this issue and to show you this is an "old", pre-3.2.1-release (!) issue! ------------------------------------ This issue was barely given attention in the recent "Community Newsletter" http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=423. "Document icon design: Christoph will formulate a proposal to be discussed with Stefan. This will be presented to the CC on the CC discuss mailing list." That was it. >:[ The latest Community Council Meeting Minutes http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Community_Council/Minutes#Minutes_of_Meetings mentions that 'current ODF "only" icons seem to be undesired by the community', but there is NO MENTION of the issue of monochrome vs. color icons! Why not?!!! Please address this issue in the August meeting!!! Or is the CC not the right place for this??? cornouws can you comment on this? In the Minutes there is a link to the original, very lengthy discussion on ODF vs. OOo icons, but there is no mention in there about the (colorless) start center icons. I did find a thread to that and the topic of color was brought up on April 19: http://marketing.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=branding&msgNo=122 And the next response in that thread is exactly what has happened!!! ----- "Hi Rosana, Jens, everyone, Is there really no possible compromise on the use of a color scheme? And if not, why? I think this might be a huge usability hindrance. (I mean, before, people thought to click the green to create a spreadsheet or click the orange for a presentation. Now that's gone, and it's a lot harder to quickly find the wanted application or file. Is the step back really necessary?)" ===== And here was the answer given: ------------------------------ > 1. Why is there a need for complete lack of colors (besides blue). What > is the rationale? > The reason is to make the ODF icons promiment and not take the attention away from them by placing other elements with different colors on the start center. But as mentioned above the start center can be modified. ===== For those interested, you can follow the rest of that debate here: http://marketing.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=branding&msgNo=130 and continue following it by clicking on "Next in thread: New start center icons" towards the top of each post. Summary: One contributor summed up the discussion nicely with: "if we are going to discuss the color issue in that early stage, why do we expect the others to accept the "single color version"?"
@ tommy27 I think the GUI Icons are .png files and were possibly encoded during compiling. I have no idea how to replace them in an already compiled application. Maybe someone else can. But i may have found the location of them in the source code (but again, thats only speculation): http://svn.services.openoffice.org/opengrok/xref/OOO320_m19/sysui/desktop/icons/ (look at hicolor and locolor) And you are right about other icons. The following files also contain Icons which can be replaced: quickstart.exe, sbase.exe, scalc.exe, sdraw.exe, simpress.exe, smath.exe, sweb.exe, swriter.exe, unopkg.bin und soffice.bin. Replacing the icons in the files which are named after the separate applications, results in changed icons in the title-bar and therefore in the task-bar as well. And of course the icon of the separate application itself. As far as i have noticed, changing the icons in soffice.bin changes the icons shown in the quicklaunch-list. For changing the icons in the applications GUI, i guess, you'd still have to compile a full/partial build or make an extension. But i too, am not an expert.
Sorry, it seems i have been a little overhasty. I found the GUI icons. They are located at \Basis\share\config\images.zip\res Simply copy, modify and replace, there you go. For easier locating of the new icons; sort by modification date.
Created attachment 70662 [details] Coloured versions of the 3.2.1 icons for Linux.
I have modified the 3.2.1 Linux mimetype and application icons to have easily distinguishable colours. On Mandriva extracting this tar.gz file to /usr/share/icons/gnome, /use/share/icons/hicolor and /use/share/icons/locolor seems to have replaced all the monochrome OOo icons on the system. The procedure should be the same of similar for most Linux systems but I can't definitely confirm this. Note that I have no graphic design experience. These icons may not be "professional quality", but I think they look OK and they are a lot more easily distinguishable than Oracle's icons.
Created attachment 70663 [details] Recolored OOo 3.2.1 start screen
@morobus it worked!!! see the screenshot above!!!
Fantastic work, guys!
Created attachment 70664 [details] Extract in "OpenOffice.org 3" folder to replace all icons with colored ones from 3.2.0 (Backup the files first!)
Just realised I saved the wrong png file for the 48x48 non-ODF text document icon. Uploading corrected version. I'm working on a way to correct the icons used within OOo (toolbar icons, startup screen, OOo file picker) next. Only working on Linux for the time being but might try to sort this out on Windows soon, unless anyone else volunteers to convert my work.
Created attachment 70666 [details] Coloured versions of 3.2.1 icons for Linux. Corrected minor mistake in my previous upload.
@morobus I tried your "icon swap" trick copying it inside "Bin\OpenOffice.org 3" It works over a virgin version of OOo 3.2.1, changing either Windows file extension icons or GUI icons (start screen & new file dropdown menu) however, if subsequently I copy my OOo 3.2.0 User profile inside the recolored OOo 3.2.1, then the "start screen" & "new file dropdown menu" turn back to monochrome. i made some tests and it seems that it happens if you transfer the sufolder "User\OpenOffice.org 3\user\registry" from the 3.2.0 version to the 3.2.1 version. do you have any idea why does this happens? by the way, all my tests were done with the portable version of OpenOffice, the so-called X-OpenOffice by winPenPack.com http://www.winpenpack.com/main/download.php?view.1035
@tommy27 I wasn't able to reproduce your loss of the recolored icons. But to change the GUI icons you'd have to change the images.zip located at "OpenOffice.org 3\Basis \share\config\". The only reason you get the monochrome icons back, i can think of right now, is that you could be using another imagepack. To verify this, you could replace the content of the following zips with the content of the images.zip from my icon swap package: images_classic.zip, images_crystal.zip, images_hicontrast.zip, images_industrial.zip, images_tango.zip. If that's the case and you want to keep the changes of the different packs, you would have to change only the icon graphics, located in the "res" directory of the different zips. I hope this helps.
@morobus u r right. the problem was the icon pack. in my previous 3.2.0 User profile I was using the classic icon pack. your recolored pack fixes just the default icon set. that's why on a virgin 3.2.1 recolored icons worked and reappeared when using the 3.2.0 user profile. to fix alternative icon pack colors I just copied the corresponding zip files from the 3.2.0 version to the 3.2.1 version. now it works!!!
I uploaded a new version of morobus' "3.2.1 --> 3.2.0 icons swap zip file" to sendspace: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vkzhu2 this version fixes alternate icon packs as well. follow the same instruction as before: extract the zip file content in "Bin/OpenOffice.org 3" folder to replace all icons with colored ones from 3.2.0 (Backup the files first!) I thinks we did it!!! we finally found an easy way to get rid of the useless and annoying monochrome 3.2.1 icons replacing them with the good old 3.2.0 color coded ones. credits go to morobus who found this workaround. after all the fix was not that hard to do so I'm very surprised that the devs who know better that anyone else the internal structure of OOo did not suggest this solution to us... I think that if we release the "icon swap zip file" workaround as an extension we well get many downloads. let me just say: "FAREWELL MONOCHROME ICONS... COLOR CODED ICONS RULE AGAIN!!!"
@morobus have u ever thoght uploading the "icon swap zip file" to http:// extensions.services.openoffice.org ?
@tommy27 Sure, but only as a functional .oxt package. I don't think you can upload zip- files, which should be extracted into the openoffice program-folder, there. I may be able to write a script which overwrites the files automatically, but i don't know how to launch it via the extension manager. How i see it, the extension manager is mostly designed to add functionalities to the openoffice suit, which then are accessible over the GUI, not to replace files within the folder-structure of the program itself. Nonetheless i guess it should be doable, though i haven't figured it out yet. If anyone has some expertise on this extension-stuff; feel free to share or develop the extension.
@morobus you are right. I think the most difficult part (maybe impossible) is to make OOo overwrite it's own files while running
The new icons introduced in 3.2.1 are hard to distinguish. One has to look very careful. If the icon stands for e.g. a .doc, it's even worse, since then the icon is all monochrome. Whoever designed these new icons should be send it a usability training immediately.
I like the idea behind this 'feature': using default icons for all ODF files as provided by ODF Toolkit. Unfortunately, the icons lack any color and therefore are not user friendly. http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=108159 I propose someone with a bit of design skills submits a new proposed set of icons to ODFToolkit.org after which they will hopefully filter down to OO.org http://odftoolkit.org/ODF-Icons
I used the "swap icons from zip" file, and it worked great within Open Office and the icons in Windows for ODF documents. However, Microsoft documents (XLS, PPT, DOC) still show the new 3.2 OO design (all blue, dull, hard-to-distinguish) icons. If I assign these Microsoft documents back to their corresponding program, the documents show the old OO logo. When I assign them to be opened by Open Office, the 3.2 icons come back. Any suggestions on how to change this? I cannot change the icon from Tools- >File Types, since my only option is "Restore", which brings the documents back to Microsoft. Thanks!
I have uploaded a complete, already recolored package of X-OpenOffice 3.2.1 which is the portable no-install version of OOo assembled by www.winpenpack.com. here's my recolored version of X-OOo 3.2.1: http://www.sendspace.com/file/aos02r here's the standard X-OOo 3.2.1 with monochromatic icons: http://www.winpenpack.com/main/download.php?view.1035
> ------- from Fri Jul 16 13:24:42 +0000 2010 ------- > @corounws: You mentioned that you "do not see a big change that this will be > finalised before 3.3.0." Is this still the case when this has P2? If so, why? > > 2) @corounws: What needs to be done to assign this issue a "Target Milestone"? > It is indeed troubling that this has not been set for this issue! And what does > "Assigned to: requirements (requirements)" mean? This also does not sound > promising. We would expect to see a username or an issue owner here and not, as > in this case, a plural noun. Please advise! @corounws: Would appreciate a response!
@methylene_blue: Sorry for having missed your remark! I am not entitled to decide about efforts from Oracle employees or release blockers. So pls understand my "P2" to emphazise the importance. (Hmm, this probably won't be the only P2 that is not integrated in the next release ..) Knowing that this issue is picked up, I see no touble in 3.x target.
@cornows did you see the workoround "icon swap" trick we found? I think that the devs should try at least to enable this alternative icon pack as an OOo option, just like it already happens with GUI icons skins
@tommy27: well, I did see passing some messages that give me the impression that there is a reasonable solution. But sorry, to bussy to really get my head around it. Before writing anything else, could you pls tell me where I can see the alternative icon pack? (Must be linked somewhere above here, I know ... sorry)
@cornows The icons we used in the workaround are the same icon packs used in OOo 3.2.0. here's a Ctrl+C & Ctrl+V from my previous posts with the files to downlaod The solutions provided are very simple and I think OOo devs should not have troubles to integrate this in a future release 1- I uploaded a new version of morobus' "3.2.1 --> 3.2.0 icons swap zip file" to sendspace: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vkzhu2 this version fixes alternate icon packs as well. follow the same instruction as before: extract the zip file content in "Bin/OpenOffice.org 3" folder to replace all icons with colored ones from 3.2.0 (Backup the files first!) 2- I have uploaded a complete, already recolored package of X-OpenOffice 3.2.1 which is the portable no-install version of OOo assembled by www.winpenpack.com. here's my recolored version of X-OOo 3.2.1: http://www.sendspace.com/file/aos02r here's the standard X-OOo 3.2.1 with monochromatic icons: http://www.winpenpack.com/main/download.php?view.1035 Please note that Sendspace links won't last forever, so hurry up downloading those files.
ok, thanks. If you and others can be helped with the package, that is important. (However sendspace does not get my appreciation, as I see it now. So for better user experience ...) When you talk about enabling the icon pack in the product, it means combining a new not so good current solution (3.2.1) with an un desired old solution (the S-curve). I tend to see this as not the way to go. As intermediate solution, I would go for an as easy as possible to use extention/package that can be used aside the regular download. If there is a single point where people can go for that, I am sure that it will be appreciated.
@cornows I will answer to each point of your post: 1- the icon swap package helped me a lot. the monochrome 3.2.1 icons made OOo annoying and unproductive to use and were the reason I had to downgrade to OOo 3.2.0. Now I'm finally enjoying the latest OOo release because icons are again color-coded. I know many users who are finally using 3.2.1 with recolored icons after sticking with 3.2.0 becuase of the monochrome ODF icons. 2- I wonder what problems do you have with sendspace... I think it's one of the best webhosting services on the net. Upload & download is easy and fast. 3- old undesired solution... what are you talking about? I don't understand... we used old 3.2.0 icons in the workaround files not because of their graphic design but just because they were color-coded and were already ready. as many people have already said, the problem about 3.2.1 icons was not their design or the ODF tag... the only problem was the monochromatic background that made different applications file types very hard to distinguish... the title of the issue is indeed "bring back color codes" and not "bring back 3.2.0 design". if the OOo team had released 3.2.1 ODF tagged icons with color coded backgrounds (green --> Calc. orange --> Draw etc. etc.) nobody would have complained at all. 4- integration of color coded icons in next release. I don't see exactly were's the technical issue about asking your icon designer just to recolorize the 3.2.1 icons with the usual color associations we had in past releases. as you may see some users here attached here some examples of recolored 3.2.1 icons. as I said in previous post, I understand your aim was to promote the ODF brand but you did it in the wrong way making many users angry (222 vote speak by themselves). just keep the ODF tag on each icon and just change background colors. it's so easy... no rocket science knowledge is needed to do that. 5- regarding the icon swap as an extension I do not have technical knowledge to pack those files as an extension, but I think that there should be at least somebody able to do it among the OOo developers. 6- thanks for feedback. you are the only one of the OOo team who's spending time answering users requests in this issue page.
@cornouws The icon pack is most certainly *not* a 'reasonable solution' to this bug. It is a hack and workaround that would be a major headache to employ in a corporate environment and I will *not* be going down that road.
Oh - and that said, thanks and kudos to tommy27 and anyone else who provided the icon packs and figured out a way for individual users to get their icons back.
@tommy222 I will reply to new items. Makes no sense for me to repeat myself. (OT: > 2- I wonder what problems do you have with sendspace... I think it's one of > the best webhosting services on the net. Upload & download is easy and fast. WHen I follow your link and choose downlood, I get three subsciption offerings - payed, and one link to instal doanload software ... ) > 5- regarding the icon swap as an extension I do not have technical knowledge > to pack those files as an extension, Sorry, I can't help you. But many people follow this issue, so ... > 6- thanks for feedback. you are the only one of the OOo team who's spending > time answering users requests in this issue page. Thanks you for the compliment and your effort for a solution. But in my opinion, we are all 'of the OOo team' in a certain way.
@cornows OT: sendspace has ads just like many other free webhosting services. I think people should be aware of this and be able to download files avoiding the ads links and whatever may be annoying @tanstaafl corporate users need a better solution, i know. maybe you could try with the full, already recolored version of X-OpenOffice 3.2.1 that I have uploaded here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/aos02r
Hi Thanks for the good work with this issue. When I worked with ooo3.2.1 for the second or third time, I thought: "theese icons are really annoying (no color!)" and found this issue right away from the oooforum. Within an hour I had the problem solved: The script from http://www.openoffice.org/nonav/issues/showattachment.cgi/70654/oooicons.zip does a good job for the windows-explorer (especially in w7, with no folder options). I had to rem-out the delete command though, because "merge" is not my standard-action with .reg-files. But this jumped right into my eyes, when inspecting the .bat-file, before running it. Nice script! To get the old colored icons in the task-bar and when Alt-tabbing, I replaced soffice.exe and soffice.bin with the files from this package: http://www.openoffice.org/nonav/issues/showattachment.cgi/70664/OOo3.2.1%20icon%20swap%20with%203.2.0.zip I made just this one shot, and so far it works fine and doesn't cause any problems. The new design in color would work fine for me, but i definitely want the colors (I often need to jump to the only spreadsheet, while a lot of text-documents are opened, so i just Alt-tab, until I'm on the green field). Thanks again for your contributions, and let's hope, there'll soon be a solution that can be installed conventionally. We probably need an option to load icon-sets, that affect all aspects (task-bar, window-frames, file-icons etc.). Dan
[quote]opendan We probably need an option to load icon-sets, that affect all aspects (task-bar, window-frames, file-icons etc.). [/quote] that's what I asked too. I hope the OOo will do something like that.
@cornouws > Knowing that this issue is picked up, I see no touble [sic] in 3.x target. What do you mean with "picked up"? Picked up by whom? Where? This issue has not been added to the track 3.3 release issue 111112 (see: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=111112). I'm not convinced that this has been OFFICIALLY picked up by anybody in development. Only the contributors in this issue (who are not involved in development as far as I can tell) have "picked up" this issue. Are you the right person to be addressing this to? This issue has been assigned to "requirements (requirements)" - which means who? Nobody! It has not been "picked up". There are a total of two P2 issues assigned to "requirements" for the 3.x target milestone. Shouldn't this be ASSIGNED TO SOMEBODY?! (PS: >So pls understand my "P2" to emphazise the importance. Your "P2" setting was done at MY request from Thu Jul 15 21:41:46 +0000 2010.)
What does target "3.x" mean? What precise number is "x"? Can someone please change this target to the precise version number of whatever release is scheduled next (either 3.2.3 or 3.3, whichever happens first). Also, can someone please advise how to add this issue to the 3.3 stopper list? There have been numerous requests added as comments to that issue, but although the poster keeps adding issues they do not appear to be reading any of the comments.
@ed2, For your information: As long as this issue is assigned to 'requirements' no one will actually be working on it. AFAIK there is no person behind 'requirements'. The topic of icons has been discussed on several mailing lists, including releases@openoffice.org. The latter is the place to nominate an issue to become a stopper for the next release. This issue has already been nominated as a stopper, but has not been accepted. (I am not a developer nor am I in charge of any decisions, just observing things.)
the votes count is still rising. is this issue on the schedule of the OOo devs for OOo 3.3?
> is this issue on the schedule of the OOo devs for OOo 3.3? Unfortunately, there is no reason to think so, tommy27. It is still assigned to nobody (i.e., "requirements") and is, by definition, not a show-stopper, though it should be! As a matter of fact, in light of the controversy surrounding this issue, the definition of "show stopper" should be modified to include issues that will grossly effect branding/marketing of OOo. Moreover, as tanstaafl has pointed out, the implementation of new icons turned out to be a major change introduced in a minor release and this should be undone in the very next release, whether major or minor, but certainly at the latest in 3.3 @cornouws I think classifying this as ENHANCEMENT is incorrect since it does not improve a "feature" (the monochrome icons removed the "feature" of color!). This is a TASK which, as demonstrated by the fix presented here, does not require direct changes to the code base! Please change the ISSUE TYPE to "TASK". Perhaps that will help put this on the table for 3.3 since there would be no compiling involved - just simple packaging.
it seems the devs are ignoring this issue by purpose. i'm afraid that monochrome icons will make them loose new users. as a true lover of OOo i will spend time change the icons with the "icon-swap" tricks but many new users could be discouraged by this
I reverted back to 3.2.0 a while ago and stopped updating. I deal with too many mixed file types in the same folder in list view to have to deal with the icons being indistinguishable from each other. The new branding is only bad thing I've ever seen in OOo, and it will prevent me from replacing my office's deployment of MS Office as all of my users will have an even harder time than I do telling an excel spreadsheet file apart from a word document file when every icon is white.
in case the sendspace link was not available anymore, here's a permanent link to download the "icon tweak file" to recolor OOo icons: http://www.winpenpack.com/main/e107_files/public/1281013659_1_FT18030_ooo3.2.1_i con_swap_with_3.2.0_all_icon_packs.zip many thanks to winPenPack.com who provided their website space. I also suggest you to try X-OpenOffice which is their portable package of OOo. http://www.winpenpack.com/main/download.php?view.1035
This is obviously getting zero-point-zero attention. It still has the status NEW (which means it is unassigned) and it is incorrectly typed as an ENHANCEMENT (should be TASK). @cornouws - please see my post on Mon Aug 30 22:24:54 regarding the above and advise what the "community" (we) can additionally do to get moving on this issue! Please respond this time.
@meth_blue: as a one-time exception (I tend not to repeat what I have written before): Apart from building your own, creating smart systems (extensions) to replace the icons with your favoutites, I would have no idea. And then still, 'zero-point-zero' is not true, although I agree that it really does look like that. Cheers, Cor
cornouws wrote: > @meth_blue: as a one-time exception (I tend not to repeat what I have written > before): @cornouws: Indeed, I was hoping you wouldn't, cor! It would be nice to hear something new and promising from you on this issue. And just for the record, I have had to repeat myself as well to get a response out of you sometimes, so we are pretty much even as far as forced-repetition goes ;-) I figured since you take part in the Community Council Meetings you would be able to provide us with some new insight. At least you could have mentioned what was in the August CC Minutes regarding this (which I will now do here for you): ----- * 2010-08-12: Marketing contact is in vacation, and information also depends on others at Oracle. More information defitively to come at the OOoCon, presentation "Brand Refresh and new Brand Initiative" @ http://www.ooocon.org/index.php/ooocon/2010/paper/view/215. Next steps: Waiting for the reaction by Oracle, either getting in touch with the community or an official announcement. ----- @cornouws (cont.): Since you appear to be able to set field values (e.g., STATUS, PRIORITY, etc.) for this issue, how about setting the ISSUE TYPE to TASK for reasons I have already mentioned but will repeat again here: ------- Additional comments from methylene_blue Mon Aug 30 22:24:54 +0000 2010 @cornouws I think classifying this as ENHANCEMENT is incorrect since it does not improve a "feature" (the monochrome icons removed the "feature" of color!). This is a TASK which, as demonstrated by the fix presented here, does not require direct changes to the code base! Please change the ISSUE TYPE to "TASK". Perhaps that will help put this on the table for 3.3 since there would be no compiling involved - just simple packaging. ------------ > And then still, 'zero-point-zero' is not true, although I agree that it really > does look like that. > Cheers, Cor You're right. I can see it is being "discussed" and, as we see above, "Marketing is on vacation". So "greater-than-zero-and-less-than-one" would perhaps be more fairly representative. Thanks for the response. Meth B.
@ OOo Devs the facts are: 1- monochrome icons do not work... they are a step back in terms of usability. 2- the vast majority of old OOo users have been pissed off by this change and some of them are not upgrading to OOo 3.2.1 or 3.3 if the color-coded icons will not reintroduced 3- new users will not appreciate the new monochrome icons and will revert to Microsoft Office which has color-coded icons so if you don't wanna loose either old or new users, hurry up replacing the useless monochrome ODF icons with some color-coded version. you made a mistake... you have now to repair that mistake.
@ OOo Devs Hello. Peace and love! It seems that the OOo 3.2.1 b&w icons are a "casus belli" and have started the Third World War. Dear OOo devs, now that all users SSBM seem to have been launched, please could you get out of your anti-atomic shelters, remove your black glasses,and consider that users are right when they claim that b&w icons ARE a regression? I fully agree with the last comment of tommy27 who gives a good summary of the problem: COLOR CODES ARE NEEDED! Users are not bad babies who want color just to make OOo prettier, but color is needed to help recognizing document types. You have made a mistake with these b&w icons and you must recognize it. I cannot believe you when you claim that it's impossible to add color for OOo 3.2.2. You could find time to change the design between OOo 3.2.0 and OOo 3.2.1 although it was a minor realease, didn't you? We don't ask you to change again the new Oracle design, we just ask to ADD COLOR, not rewriting OOo. Although some people here had made a good job finding some workaround to get the color-coded icons, I don't like the idea of overwriting files in a an existing OOo installation, and I wonder if I will remove OOo 3.2.1 and return to OOo 3.2.0. Dear Devs, if you continue to be deaf and blind to the user's community, many users may turn to other products. Anymore SSBM? So, peace and love.
For the fourth time (!!!): this is by definition a TASK. Change the Issue Type to TASK! (Believe it or not, this is not trivial!) "Task is an activity to be done on behalf or in support of a feature or enhancement. Tasks do not typically require direct changes to the code base."
Holy mackerel! That was fast! Thanks!!!
finally the issue has a proper type: TASK has the priority of the issue been changed as well? actually is P2
@tommy27 Issue was changed from P3 to P2 quite some time ago. P2 is correct. "P2 marks severe problems which affect a significant number of customers Issues with this priority must be fixed before the target release (see Target milestone), which usually is the next major release, and should be dealt with as soon as possible. Not fixing them for the target release is not acceptable." Unfortunately, the Target Milestone = OOo 3.x, which means at the latest this issue would have to be resolved by release OOo 4.0 (yikes!) Setting the Issue Type = TASK is a marker that no source code is involved in the (already existing) fix, thereby avoiding any possible argument by Marketing & Branding et al. based on the overhead complexity and effort of making a change. As far as I can tell, this is now in the hands of (currently vacationing) decision makers in Oracle Marketing. I would hope to hear their position on this in by the end of October, but I wouldn't bet on that.
Can some US resident do some research on how and if the color change is compatible with American with Disabilities Act? If it's not, we may be able to ask for an upgrade to P1.
http://www.ada.gov/?v=t
ADA webpage isn't easy to understand. But I've found this http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1944632 that does some recap on the US situation: Are color blind people handicapped? On One Hand: Not According to the ADA Color blindness is not among the disabilities listed by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Businesses and governments are not required to make accommodations for color blind employees and customers, nor are color blind people protected from discrimination. On the Other: It Does Affect Lifestyle and Opportunities. Depending on severity, color blindness can limit or make more difficult many daily activities such as choosing clothes or creating art. Also, many jobs rely on accurate color vision and some, especially in the military and public service, specifically exclude people with color blindness. Bottom Line It depends on your definition of 'handicapped'. Color blindness does affect the lifestyle and opportunities of people afflicted with it. However, it is not legally defined as a handicap or disability in the United States. Too bad :-)
I am not an attorney. I am handicapped. The ADA is meant to remove barriers. I suggest you seek the advice of an attorney who specializes in this area, since this affects not just federal but possibly state and local. Personally, I believe we have a moral responsibility to providing or enhancing technical assistance for all. See also: http://www.ada.gov/reachingout/lesson21.htm http://www.ada.gov/business.htm http://www.ada.gov/5yearadarpt/fiveyearada.pdf http://www.ada.gov/un_statement.htm
I noticed my reasoning was reversed: it's not a problem for color blind people, it's us who all became color-blind for Office documents due to this change. So the right check to do would be to check if with ADA you have provisions to facilitate access to computer software for people with limited vision by providing for example high contrast color patterns, screen readers and such (there are some provisions for website access). I'll try to find something in the next days, but since I'm really busy with a project I don't know if I can work quickly on this.
Usability is the name of the game! This office suite is really sweet, better than MS Office with their pesky ribbon! Please re-intro the color icons, or at least a choice at setup or post-setup config for this.
I second, eh, two hundred second the motion to reintroduce color codes. This issue is confirmed by public vote.
even if i have 20/20 vision, monochrome icons gives me troubles recognizing different file types. i think that the situation is even worse for users with impaired vision.
I am against any and all government intrusions into the private sector, regardless of how well-meaning such intrusions may be. The bottom line is, if I, as a software developer, choose not to cater to the handicapped, then that is my problem - the worst punishment that I should suffer is the loss of users that are handicapped. Give fascists an inch, they'll take the whole damned playing field.
Flame bait and troll post. Please keep politics out of a scientific discussion.
@bluedrache Excuse me? I wasn't the one who suggested using thugs with guns to try to force the OOo developers to change their software.
@tanstaafl nor was I.
@bluedrache Well, if your comment was directed at the person who initially suggested using the ADA Act to force this issue, you should indicate so (by specifying who you are addressing as we are doing now). The way it reads, it was directed at my comment.
@tanstaafl Where on earth have you imagined anyone has ever "suggested using thugs with guns to try to force the OOo developers to change their software"? Certainly no on has on this page, indeed searching the whole page for the words "thugs" and "guns" only returns ONE occurrence of each word on the entire page, and they are both in your post YOUR post!
@ed2 What exactly do you think happens when government enforces a law? Every law is enforced at gunpoint, and the ones bearing the guns are thugs, nothing more nothing less.
Godwin's law still alive... The only chance to escape : Do not feed the troll !
@tanstaafl What gave you the ridiculous idea that "all laws are enforced at gunpoint"? That is completely untrue. If you know a single incident where any software development company anywhere in the world has been forced to obey any disability discrimination legislation at gunpoint then please provide a link to the report of that incident from a reputable news agency. Until you can provide such a link I will assume that no such incident has ever occurred, and your belief that "all laws are enforced at gunpoint" is complete fantasy. None of which has got anything to do with the issue at hand, which is the damage that has been done to OOo's usability by the lack of colour-coded icons.
@ed2 You're not serious? What do you think happens if someone disobeys a law, then disobeys a court order to obey the law? Someone (or more) comes knocking on their door, and guess what? They'll be armed to the teeth. ALL laws are enforced at gunpoint. Just because you don't always see the gun is irrelevant.
Do everybody a favour and stop this silly debate. I, and a lot of other people, received some 12 mails about this. I wish I could unsubscribe from this topic.
@tanstaafl of course I am entirely serious. It may be true in some third-world, corrupt country that laws are enforced at gunpoint, but it is certainly not true in the civilised world I have never heard of a single incident anywhewre in the world where a software company has been forced to obey disability discrimination laws at gunpoint. Can you provide a link to a news report of such an incident? Also, no one has ever suggested using thugs with guns to try to force the OOo developers to change their software. So to summarise, neither your claim that someone here suggested using thugs with guns to try to force the OOo developers to change their software, nor the claim that "all laws" are enforced at gunpoint have any basis is reality.
@ed2 Enjoy living in your fantasy world. Or better yet - pick a law and refuse to obey it (of course it would have to be a law where someone in power will notice that you are disobeying it), and let me know how it goes when the enforcers pay you a visit and you continue to refuse to obey... I'm done, sorry to everyone else for the OT noise...
Just to set the record straight, I am not living in a fantasy world. Not can we please get back to the issue at hand, stop falsely accusing users of advocating behavior they have never advocated, stop making ludicrous claims about law enforcement, and stop falsely accusing anyone able to see how untrue your claims are of "living in a fantasy world". Sorry to drag this irrelevant discussion on for one more post, but I find being falsely accused of "living in a fantasy world" to be a hurtful attack on my character, and I feel it ids my right to defend myself from it and set the record straight.
Can you all please stop those effectless discussions here! This is the issue tracker system and not a forum, and the impertinent flames only will prevent responsible staff to start fixing the problem.
@rainerbielefeld >impertinent flames only will prevent responsible staff to start fixing the >problem. Just for the record: flames in no way influence "responsible staff" from fixing a problem. However, comments not related to the issue (like this one, too, sorry ;-( make it increasingly difficult to track an issue. Thankfully, this issue already has a "solution" and is just waiting for Marketing & Branding to reach a decision. All we can do now... is wait...
waiting sucks!!!
Maybee solves LibreOffice this bug :)
it seems that LibreOffice beta uses good old color-coded icons... please, tell me why OOo 3.3 can't do the same?
I can only agree! The monochrome icons are so similar that it takes a good while to find things in a explorer window. Bring back the colour coded ones. They looked nicer and brought a bit of colour into the daily routine. I saw that the new iTunes version is now just as bland with grey in grey colours... Sad, we don't have to follow suit and go all of a sudden grey in grey, or who followed whom here? Bring back colours...
The colored icons where a lot better to distinguish. Our company went back to 3.2.0 only for this reason. We will wait for an update where this designer mistake will be repaired. So I totally agree with this issue.
I miss the coloured icons ...
everybody misses them... except Oracle... they seem to have no intention at all to restore the good old icons... I don't understand them...
Switch to LibreOffice.
I'm considering switching to LibreOffice as soon as they release a stable version they already feature color-coded icons
@to everybody who voted this issue read this: http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/initializing_an_i_team_for why is so difficult to revert to classic color-coded 3.1 icons?
THAT IS JUST FREAKING NUTS!!! WHAT IS THE BIG PROBLEM? "So following the recommendation of the community council we would like to make the icons better. That’s why we are creating an i-team" Wait a minute! Aren't these the same people who once said "they are just icons" and therefore introduced them into a minor-release? And now they are creating an I-Team (???) for "just icons" to come up with some incredibly mysterious and ingenious way of making monochrome icons more usable? I recommend that ALL VOTERS on this list bombard these I-Team creators and bureaucrats with protests against their new creation and letting them know how preposterous their antics are and the need to get us back to simplicity and usability as quickly as possible. They "welcome the input of users and experts." Yes, that's what it says: EXPERTS. Can you believe it?! Innovation Comedy of the 21st Century, folks! Oh yeah - do point out that a "solution" is already available. Just install release 3.2.0 and have a look! And if they don't fancy that, they can always take a look at all the icon contributions right here in this very issue! Don't let "them" get away with this! (By the way, for some reason "they" think BLUE "helps users identify the document format and avoid conversion problems", and many of us know how much freaking blue we already have on Windows OS' and some Linux window managers (KDE) by default as well. Let them know their reasoning, assumptions and assertions are completely frivolous.)
I posted a link to the zip file to replace the icons to the I-Team, so Hannibal and BA can find their files a wee bit quicker in the grey in grey windows...;-)
For whatever it may be worth, yet another "Vote for Color Icons" has been started on the <a ref="http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Talk:ODF_icons_i-team">newly created wiki for the i-team </a>. At this point I really do have to wonder who is making us repeat ourselves over and over again. It's as if the responsible parties can only write and not read English. Is Oracle behind this or some philosophical, idealistic Open-Document movement at the top? Is it a conspiracy to kill OpenOffice? Must we find a way to pry OpenOffice out of the hands of corporate sponsorship?
- sorry, can't be of any help here anymore
@cornows bye, at least you tried to hear us.
"Must we find a way to pry OpenOffice out of the hands of corporate sponsorship" Well, LibreOffice is trying to do exactly that. Someone mentioned it in the thread, and it seems promising. I am using Beta2 right now.
@OOo devs and icons i-Team hey guys, do you wanna some inspiration for new user friendly and productive icons? take a look here... http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Branding/Mimetype_Icons/Proposals
beautiful!!!! I like best the Ivan Miskovic ones and the elementary :-)
Nice icons for LibreOffice! Unique, easy to recognize and distinguish amongst other application icons. Who would have thought that a change in "just icons" would drive users to seek an alternative. Viva Libre!
@tommy27: ad initializing I-team - "We think the icons are a step in the right direction," ... in second sentence, should I read further? (I will, but I'm still surprised how Oracle manage to upset such content and cold person like me and makes me fire with almost every reaction to the issue, which luckily isn't often, as they ignore the issue most of the time). ad freelibre icon proposals page - made me almost cry. Funny thing, every of those proposal is much better then current OOo icons. Ok, that's not funny, that's actually very sad. I think I will join the leaving pack ASAP, although I like 3.3.0 changelog, I really do, impressive work Oracle, but the f*ck up with icons is too big, sorry. And you could have know it, it's so easy, just read the votes counters, it's not like community and customers was silent about this.
yes, u r right. even the worst LibreOffice icon set is much better than current or future OOo icons... this icons-gate will make OOo loose users
> hey guys, do you wanna some inspiration for new user friendly and > productive icons? take a look here... > > http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Branding/Mimetype_Icons/Proposals I like dr.Faust's Eco-style the best...
> hey guys, do you wanna some inspiration for new user friendly and > productive icons? take a look here... > > http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Branding/Mimetype_Icons/Proposals > > I like dr.Faust's Eco-style the best... If you would like to comment on the lovely icons, this is likely not an effective place to do it. Please show the creators your support on the discussion page! http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Talk:Marketing/Branding/Mimetype_Icons/Proposals
I just installed LO beta2 to change. After installation I wanted all my configurations back. So I copied the user folder from OOo to LO. Most things worked fine except of the document icons (the theme of this issue). You wouldn't believe: I got the Oracle icons at the startup screen of LO b2. My history is that I first tried the OOo update 3.2.1, then went back to 3.2.0 by uninstalling 3.2.1 first and then additionally installed LO b2. Some diseases are really contagious.
@landydoc As it stands LO uses the Oracle icons in the startup screen if the "Classic" icon style is selected, and the previous OOo icons with any other icon style. The icons in the "New Document" menu and the file icons in the file picker are (depending on the icon style) either the dreaded Oracle icons or theme-related icons which are also not clearly colour-coded. Hopefully before LO becomes final all these icons will have been replaced by new colour-coded ones, but as it stands this issue IS NOT solved in LO.
Thanks for the comment ed2. I noticed this too just after installing LibreOffice. The Start Center opens with colored icons, but the menus have the monochrome ones we've all been whining about here. So, aside from the fact that Libre is corporation-independent, I can't understand the recommendations (e.g., by tommy27, e7 and perhaps areynaldos?) to switch to Libre. I've gone back to the resource-saving Go-Oo version 3.2.1 with the colored-icon solution presented in this Issue. Let's hope (and encourage!) Libre to demonstrate better sense than the Go-Oo devs and breaks away from the monochromatic approach.
@methylene_blue LibO is still in beta stage and I'm agree that is not yeat ready to replace entirely OOo... but maybe it will be at some point in a near future what I wanted to say is that if Oracle and current OOo will continue to be deaf and sistematically ignore users protests against such stupid features like monochrome ODF icon, the will disgust them to the point they will be tempted to switch to another alternative package such as LibreOffice... LibO creators have already shown a better understanding of what kind of icons we really need. my message to the ODF Icons i-Team is: "there's only one thing worst than making a mistake... is not to solve it just because you don't wanna admit that mistake!"
as soon OOo 3.3 final will be released, we shoul assemble a brand new icon-swap file. the files we used with 3.2.1 will probably not work on 3.3 it's such a shame that the devs intentionally did not do anything to fix this annoyoing icon controversial feature they introduced with 3.2.1 despite the impressive amount of votes this issue received, our legitimate requests have been unheard and sistematically ignored. IMHO this is not the way to deal with the users community
Dear Santa Claus, I'd like to have OOo color coded icons for Xmas!!!
I hope you were good, for goodness sake, tommy27! Surely one of us were... please?
please mark this issue as: FIXED in LibreOffice 3.3 UNFIXED in OpenOffice 3.3
What about a new trick to insert the old beloved icons in OOo 3.3 executables?
what on earth were the developers thinking releasing another major version while this serious but trivial to solve issue is still outstanding? THIS ISSUE SHOULD HAVE BLOCKED ANY RELEASE! Now can someone please get on with solving this!
I want colored icons that are easy to distinguish from each other. That's it, thanks for the chance to be, heard?
@ed2 even with 10 RCs they did not find time to fix it.... I think Oracle has told the devs not to fix this one.... blame on Oracle...
I never lost my beloved colored icons... Must admit that I had to keep my OOo 3.2.0, until an "easy to implement" solution was found. But I'm happy now, I get it ! It's called LibreOffice 3.3.0... So long, OracleOOo...
Who are you shouting at, ed2? No one will hear you (or no one is allowed to hear you). Looks like the people who were able to fix this one have moved on to … guess where?
@hartmut_bremen This issue tracker system is supposed to be the official channel for raising issues. If not through the official channel for raising issues, where do you suggest I need to raise this issue?
@ed2 I think Helmut comment was ironic... he said a thing that is true: "no one will hear us, since Oracle doesn't allow the devs to hear us" don't you see it? 253 votes in this issue page and basically no answer from the devs... the only one who tried to argument something was cornows
@tommy27 Obviuously I can see that the developers have failed to fix this issue, the fact that OOo 3.3 has been released despite this issue still being outstanding shows this pretty clearly. Where do you suggest I need to raise this issue in order for it to be heard? This is supposed to be the official channel for raising issues to be heard by the developers. If this is not the official channel for raising issues then what is? I will gladly raise this issue through the channel that will get it heard if you tell me where that channel is.
@ed2 This issue received 252 (two hundred and fifty two) votes as of today, there are dozens of comments, but as far as I can see, no official statement: Yes, we will be working on this one. The target milestone is still set to 3.x, which means no decision has been made to work on it. "This issue tracker system is supposed to be the official channel for raising issues." Underline the words: "is supposed to be". "If not through the official channel for raising issues, where do you suggest I need to raise this issue?" I’m sorry: I don’t know. This issue can’t be raised higher. The icons won’t be changed, that’s the official policy. (I’d be glad to be convinced by the opposite.)
For anyone that wants to manually change the icons, you can download file type manager which works on most versions of Windows including Windows 7. Im also checking out Libre office which a couple posters mentioned and will compare. It looks like they are virtually the same product. The developers can do whatever the like with their product but I think it would be wise to listen to their customer base. Without an easy way to distinguish between icons its looses too much functionality. I have way too many documents to look through a sea of notepad style icons. Would go blind! Anyways Im using the icon's from the old version now with Open Office, but it would still be nice to have the main launcher also appear with those. It may be off to Libre office for me as well. For years I have recommended Open Office to those who didnt want to pay high MS prices nor needed too. Just my 2 cents, as long as I have a working product it really doesn't matter to me what its called. Open Source code rocks. Thanks!
A question to developers; why aren't you participating in this Q&A? We are asking questions and giving opinions, and are obviously getting frustrated with the lack of feedback from your end. Why won't you respond?
Hey All, I just read a couple articles that explained a few important things. It looks like Libra Office is the "real" open office. The developers that had designed open office had a legal disagreement with Oracle, Oracle now owns the name open office. So effectively that means anyone who has supported open office all this time needs to switch to Libre office, they also have better support for the MS XML formats and Powerpoint from what I read. You can Google all the details about this but the bottom line is Libre office is the "new" open office, only the name has changed due to a legal snafu. Got to love it, anyways you have a choice and its pretty clear to me which product is going to get the most support from the community in the end. Oracle was one of the biggest contributes to the original project but it looks like everyone has taken separate paths. New name same great product.
It is NOT that simple, cyborg! Be careful on what you post! LibreOffice is a fork, developed by The Document Foundation, which DOESN'T include all the former OOo developers. The MS XML support isn't perfect, and itìs the same deactivated in OOo code for that reason. LibO inherits the efforts of Go-oo, so it's parallel to OOo, but not "the new" OOo. LibO and OOo share most of sourcecode.
I should have stated the majority of the developers, anyways as I said anyone can do their research on the Web and make a choice. If Oracle doesnt want to listen to their customers or makes very poor choices about design then personally I dont see a reason to support their version of the product. Being open source anyone can spin off but the article I read said the core development team of this product is now designing Libre office. Thats good enough for me. I dont expect perfect emulation of MS products, I personally use both though and have had very few problems going between MS Office 2007 and Open Office / now Libre Office. I have seen some issues with mail merge between the newer version and bringing that source data to open office but again for free you really cant complain. I do alot of system builds and support, I think Oracle needs to pay attention to their community or else techs like me will be recommending the more user friendly products available. Shouldnt have to hack a product to make it functional is the bottom line. If you have more detail on the exact break down, please post it as Im sure everyone is interested in having that info. I have spent enough time on this and have made a choice to go with the product I see as doing more for the community. That may change if the current Open Office changes in response to customer demand. Everyone is free to make their own educated choice in this matter.
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@ mindaugasv85 Who do you think you are bothering with that flooding ? If you don't want to receive anything else by that list, just change the "email settings" in "your prefs" at the top of the page of the issue ; but please, just stop flooding us : as writen before, none of us is part of Oracle ; we just are (or were) users of OOo, as you are ; so, I dont think anyone of us has to be blamed about this. Don't do as Oracle did with a part of the community about the icons : before acting, try to think, just a little bit.
@mindaugasv85 First of all you seem to be repeating yourself. Secondly, can you please mind your language.
I withdrew my vote hoping to be spared from receiving any more mails with disgusting content, anyway, it doesn't seem to matter how many people vote for it. Vote with your feet.
Sorry this post is almost off topic and "spamish", but in the end I think it deserved to land here before I leave OOo for now. Dear Lutz Hoeger (responsible product manager), I was unable to find single response in this thread from you, to stand out and validate your decision. Or eventually to admit mistake or something. (if you did, sorry, I can't find you in this mess of posts and advices with quick fixes) In case you really never bothered to write anything here, you are total coward for me (that's the better part), and from factual point of view you are something I already wrote here (but will not repeat it, because some people take it as pure offense, while I was meaning it more literally as a fact) (that's the worse part). Anyway, I have also seen some positive voices who do appreciate the change. This is beyond my understanding, but I'm glad at least some people did like it. Anyway, I did uninstall OOo, install LibreOffice, and guess what, ODF documents have colored icons. XLS took me another few clicks of mouse to set up. Rest of OOo macros and settings were automatically adopted. So far smooth ride. @cyborg1024: About LibreOffice developers ... I didn't do any huge research, but I'm afraid you have fell to be victim of PR scam. According to my quick look on the things I would say Novell moved go-OOo team out into wild to make it look more independent (AFAIK they are still paying their salaries), and renamed to whole thing to LibreOffice plus made that PR stuff around to make it look like OOo devs from Oracle did run away (which is probably true in particular individual cases, but that's it, no team exodus). Anyway, if I'm right, then I have to say "well done Novell", because they certainly got lot of media exposure and support, much more then before with their go patches. Disclaimer: this information is based on very poor research, so I may be still as wrong as you were. :D But it makes lot of sense to me. Anyway, I'm far from happy, because the SUN is gone, and whatever my feelings toward it and OOo project were (i.e. not ideal), it has been tremendous effort and amount of work. Yes, I do object a lot about how OOo is written, but in the end it's the best office suite for my needs (tried KOffice which looks to be written much more to my taste in terms of source code, and guess what, totally unusable for my usage scenarios). So I have to thank SUN sincerely for such a great tool. And I really hope Oracle will continue to support it at least enough to make it survive. Thank you beforehand for that. Good luck with those efforts, I will be appreciate your hard work in a bit tuned up delivery trough LibreOffice.
I don't reply to inquiries via issue tracker. And I won't do this time. But it becomes obvious that one or two essential links are missing: Here is how to provide - constructive - feedback to the project: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/ODF_icons_i-team And just FYI (and subject to change), here are the latest design suggestions: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/ODF_Icon_Redesign Again, I am no longer cc'ed to this issue. Please use the ways outlined on the wiki page to communicate with the design team.
Personally, I am sick to death of hearing about where we should "really" post feedback in order to be "heard" or to "contribute". I have posted all over the place and computer magazines are already running articles on LibreOffice, mentioning how Oracle sent OpenOffice to dungeon. The links you give, lh, are quite frankly the same old crap - colorless icons we have been incessantly complaining about for over 6 months now. Since you insist, I posted a comment in the discussion of your links pointing to the finest examples of icons for "this project". (http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Branding/Mimetype_Icons/Proposals) But you know, "this project" you mention is dead, lh. LibreOffice is already underway to replace OpenOffice. And I must say, it is perhaps a blessing in disguise: Thanks to Oracle for embittering the community enough to take matters into its own hands! OpenOffice is now really "libre". Oracle adé!
"Here is how to provide - constructive - feedback to the project: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/ODF_icons_i-team" HOW do you provide feedback via that page? I have read the whole page, and there is no feedback form anywhere on it! "And just FYI (and subject to change), here are the latest design suggestions: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/ODF_Icon_Redesign" Neither of the two suggestions there do anything to address the lack of colour coding, they are not colour coded either!
@lh your answer is useless, like the monochrome icons you contributed to create. you should take responsability for the worst, most hated OpenOffice's feature ever released. you should take responsability for all those who are leaving OOo for LibO. face the facts: monochrome ODF icons were a colossal fiasco... redesigning them, still with no color-codes, will not solve anything... if you keep defending those useless icons beyond any common sense you will just piss off the community over and over again... you are making OOo user experience worst... OpenOffice would be a better software if you would sign a letter of resignation... after so many mistakes you don't deserve to lead this project anymore.
@lh just forgotted to say that removing yourself from the CC is just an act of cowardly...
I am now moving my clients to libreoffice. After 25 years in the industry Oracle is now blacklisted from my consultancy work PostgreSQL will be my advice of default now. A company which fails to listen to users has no place in the supply chain. In laymans terms who would buy a database from a company who makes it hard for users to find their own documents by turning them all blue grey monochrome. My tests of Libreoffice vs Openoffice through all the betas and RCs indicate Libreoffice to have better compatability with a wider range of document types. For those who don't understand http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/ODF_icons_i-team here is a translation. Anyhow, we also know that the best way to get an i-team not to work in a productive way is to have clear and transparent nearly identical icons. There are a requirements that must be taken into account because we simply do not want a real change when re-designing the icons. These are the common blocking points of the main project and represent the framework within which the icons cannot be changed. But apart from these requirements, the process of designing the icons is open for any interesting but not different ideas. Requirements: 1. ODF IDENTITY = BLUE badge for worse communication-usability (senders & receivers can no longer distinguish document types which creates usage problems?) 2. CORE FUNCTION = FORM plus gray, black and white for 1980's antique feel (make users lose documents fast?) 3. STATUS FUNCTIONS = COLOR badges for emerging loss of collaboration-usability (make sure any users left recognise a document incorrectly before opening?) Openofice.Org closed for comment
unified monochrome ODF are stupid and useless just like a traffic light with 3 blue lamps instead of red, yellow and green how could you have been so dumb to create them?
What a useless discussion. Just vote with your feet and leave. I'll do, heading to LibreOffice wdich has colored icons.
I'm gone as well. LibreOffice works perfectly. OpenOffice has already been uninstalled from my computer.
Goodbye OOo .... and goodbye Issue Tracker! "Bdee-bdee, that's all folks"
@lh @iTeam look what you have done with your stupid icons. you are disgusting your users to the point they are leaving OOo
I'm in the process of switching all of my customers to LibreOffice (hadn't updated since the OOo icon desaster). Personally, I've already said Good Buy to OpenOffice. And this is not mainly because of the icons, but because of the absolutely ignorant handling of the issue. Such developers can't be trusted anymore. As a consultant and lecturer, I'll definitely inform about the facts, and add my opinion ... Bye, Martin Ramsch (Passau, Germany)
Just wanted to say that i switched over to Libre Office last weekend and have been satisfied with the ease of installing. I found it funny that a link opened up in my browser when i uninstalled Open Office asking why i was leaving. I filled in the couple of answer boxes and left in the comments that i was annoyed by the monochrome file icons, but mostly the lack of an acceptable response to addressing the issue. Goodbye Open Office, I hope your ego doesn't destroy the jobs of your employees. They deserve more than poor management.
OK, this does it for me. Everybody seems to be satisfied with LibrteOffice, so I tried it out, it migrated most of my stuff (formats, macros...) automatically, looks and works fine, so I uninstalled OpenOffice. I have been using OpenOffice from version 1.0 on, and have always been satisfied, especially because of the easy ways to migrate personal icons, formats and macros to a newer version (this also worked fine with LibreOffice; adjust the size and style of the icons in the Options, if it doesn't look right, after installation). I will still be watching this issue for some time, but as it looks now, i might stick with LibreOffice for the next decades. Bye, Danie Schär (Switzerland)
Hmm, good old icons seems to be back with 3.3. My Windows Explorer display them with colors. Dears developpers, could you confirm it in this issue and set to target with appropriate status ? And to silence critics. Thanks for that
@oooforum Are you using a third-party build? This has definitely not been fixed in the Oracle build, version 3.3 still has the same unusable icons as 3.2.1.
I'd like to cast all my 5 votes to this issue if it had been possible. I have migrated to LibreOffice, just because of this issue.
another useless and stupid blog-post on GULLFoss about the useless and stupid monochrome ODF icons. http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/odf_mime_type_icons_redesign your iTeam can redesign those icons over and over again but if you still refuse to use color-codes and keep insisting on the monochrome dull blue & grey scheme, you will still have useless and stupid icons... what does the "i" of i-Team means? idiot-Team, right?
At least the blog mentioned in the previous comment by tommy27 gives a direct hint of what this is all about: Andreas Bartel writes, that they try to make "significant improvement compared to the current ODF icons, without violating any ODF marketing constraints." The use of the "we-wish we-were-word"-blue color seems to be a marketing constraint. Good luck! dan
I haven't logged in to the OOo website for months, since I've not bothered to upgrade the software for a good long while, but Jesus Christ with the new icons! I want the old ones from 3.2 back, just like all of the other users who have expressed their opinion here. Please. The old ones were much better. The new ones are a user repellent, not a user attractant.
It's official. I'm not an OpenOffice user anymore. Today I migrated to LibreOffice 3.3.1 and I feel fine with color-coded icons and othe interesting features. more users will leave OOo because of these stupid monochrome icons. farewell Lutz, iTeam, OOo Devs, Oracle.... you are killink OpenOffice with your suicidal marketing moves
Exactly what I am going to do. Instead of changing the icons back to the color versions, I will move away from OO and move to LibreOffice. For those who contributed to the new icon set: Thanks for convincing me to move away from OO. It almost looks like you guys did this on purpose and where silently part of the whole LO movement. Once again, thanks for opening my eyes!!! http://www.libreoffice.org/ Marcel
I downloaded and installed OpenOffice 3.3.0 and they still haven't reintroduced the colour codes. I cannot believe that they would intentionally press the self destruct button with this issue. I'm to going to switch to LO because this is a REAL productivity issue.
I would really appreciate a reintroduction of color coded icons for newer versions of OpenOffice. These could be recolored versions of the current icons. I really miss the old OpenOffice icons, because they where color coded and the current icons are not. The current monochromatic icons are unusable, because it's now virtually impossible to distinguish the different file types at a glance. Because of this design issue, I can no longer find the files I'm looking for in a messy folder.
Hello, considering that a lot of people use OpenOffice without checking forums, they might even be totally oblivious to the fact that there is a forum to speak out about things that bug them, the number of people voted on this is quite big... Wouldn't it be better to save the i-Team some work and get some truly approved older designs out of the drawers again and use them again instead of the "new improved" version? I could even live with the old icons and your proposed "ODF" tag simply pasted on top of it, at least they would have colours... You can download IrfanView to name just one free program and do this job in about ten minutes...or inkscape if you want to do a more elaborate job. All this saved developer time could be used more productively somewhere else... How can we work on the i-Team? can we register or help in any way to get this thing going a bit faster than just replacing 2010 with 2011? I could send a pound of coffee if that's necessary to invigorate your mind a bit... All the best... in the meantime I have a snoop into LibreOffice and see what these guys are up to... Regards, a slightly disgruntled OpenOffice user for ten years now... ;-)
will this issue ever be fixed now that Oracle decided to give OOo back to the community? the community wants color-coded icons indeed
Apache Foundation, please bring back color coded icons in your future OOo release
grabbing issue.
I am using a Linux version of 3.3.0, employing the Mandriva desktop integration (although not a Mandriva system). There are coloured mimetype icons for the OO applications in /usr/share/icons/locolor/. Indeed, they are the only icons in that folder.
Started.
Thank you, Ariel. This is a very nice Christmas present.
I just installed OOO340m1 (Build:9585), Rev. 1236920, 2012-01-30, and this is still not completely fixed. The monochrome Oracle icons still remain in a number of places, most notably: 1.) None of the icons in the "Classic" theme appear to have been changed at all. The Start Centre, "New Document" menu and file picker all still use the monochrome icons; 2.) The Start Centre in the "High Contrast" theme still used monochrome icons; 3.) The non-ODF versions of the icons compiled into the Windows program (and presumably to be used by Windows Explorer for non-ODF files assigned to AOO) have not been replaced.