KDE developer expands Oxygen symbolic icon set with standardized naming efforts

A KDE developer is currently executing a large-scale update to the Oxygen symbolic icon set, focusing on expanding the library of functional icons used across the desktop environment. The project involves creating dozens of new SVG assets for categories including search, mail, navigation, and data distribution tools.

Beyond simple drawing, the work includes rigorous multi-size scaling optimizations to ensure visual clarity at 16, 24, and 32 pixels. The developer is also performing a comprehensive audit of existing Breeze and Oxygen assets to establish a more consistent naming convention aligned with freedesktop.org standards.

Technical scaling and naming standardization

• SVG Scaling Optimization: Icons are being custom-drawn for specific pixel densities, as 16px constraints require different line weights and detail removal compared to 32px versions to maintain legibility.
• Asset Inventory Management: A centralized spreadsheet is being used to map existing Breeze and Oxygen assets, tracking size variations and functional distinctions to prevent redundancy.
• Naming Convention Alignment: The project aims to move away from ambiguous identifiers toward 'freedesktop-ish' nomenclature, such as proposing 'Math-fraction-display' for the 'dfrac' icon.
• Functional Categorization: The expansion covers a wide range of UI elements including dialogs, graphs, alignment tools, and mail-related actions (forward/reply).

Why it matters

This effort improves the visual consistency of the KDE Plasma desktop and its derivative distributions. By aligning icon names with freedesktop.org standards, the developer is facilitating better interoperability and predictability for software engineers building applications for the Linux desktop.