Icon Improvements in Global Administration

Last modified by Adina Milica on 2026/06/11 10:14

 XWiki
 Implementation
 Idea
 
 
Yes

Description

Update based on forum discussion


Success

This proposal has been validated.

  • The general consensus is the proposal would be a good improvement to the product and easy to implement. 
  • Both versions (bordered and unbordered) versions are liked equally so far, but if I would choose, I would go for the bordered one.
  • The inital proposal proposes to use PNGs, but now that we are updating to FA7 we can just use directly the icons themselves

Proposal


Information

The idea would be to get advantage of a low-hanging fruit: changing the files of the icons in Global Administration with more modern images, high-res ones.


Pros of the proposal - We easily modernize GA, thus improving the perceived value of the product

Cons of the proposal - The documentation will not be cohesive with the reality of GA. I think it's worth changing things even with this con, as we don't change the contents of GA - the text items stay the same, in the same order, in the same layout.

Implementation


The idea is to add .png or, preferably, if easy to do, .svg icons in only one color for all themes (a medium gray, that work for light themes and dark themes at the same time)

The icon itself (not the border) has the color: #939598 (has 3:1 contrast against the white background in Iceberg)

Style of icons


With border

No border

with border.pngnoborder.png

Light mode / dark mode


Warning

XWiki Standard doesn't have a "dark mode", but it has darker themes.

How the icons would look on different themes

Asset 14.pngAsset 15.png

The rest of the icons in all categories

Success

Every icon was chosen based on what main feature/function does a section a cover and what object/symbol would the user associate with that feature/function.

Information

Note: 

There are 2 styles possible for the following icons:

  1. with rounded border around them
  2. with no border around them

The images below present the first style, but in both styles the icons stay the same (having a border around them or not).

Current situation

#1 Images are not cohesive with the current style we are going for XS UI or with the default icon package (FA)

#2 Images have a dated look, that make the whole GA seem that way (bad first impression)

#3 There are not enough images to cover all items in GA

#4 The icons are not adapted to darker themes (they are very bright on dark themes)

 

Updated look

#1 New icons are simple, minimalistic, cohesive with the flat style of XS and with the default icon package 

#2 Their style makes the GA look more modern

#3 Each item has its own icon

#4 The icons can be recolored to each theme

Main page

  • we use the icons from Font Awesome 7, but choose the corresponding icons to the ones in the side menu
maiin.pngAsset 14.png

Users & Rights

main.pngAsset 17.png

Extensions

extensions.pngAsset 18.png

Look & feel

look and feel.pngAsset 19.png

Content

content.pngAsset 27.png

Editing

editing.pngAsset 22.png

Mail

mail.pngAsset 21.png

Search

search.pngAsset 20.png

Social

social.pngAsset 24.png

Wikis

wikis.pngAsset 26.png

 

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