Make Course Menu Sticky

[jdesiderio]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through the  Canvas Release Notes (2021-10-16) - Instructure Community

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I know this was already created as an idea a couple of times already but I'd like to open it up again as a new idea. With the recent changes to the Canvas layout it might be a good idea to revisit this.

When scrolling down in a course the course menu will disappear. See screen shots. In the first one you can see that the menu is present.

In the second one you can see the menu is gone. This is very cumbersome especially when on the modules screen or another screen that is really long. I'd like to have the course menu be in a sticky position to the left like it was before.

Please also refer to this closely related idea: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/5489-freeze-top-left-and-side-banners-of-canvas

[siouxgeonz]

If you click on "NEW" then the next page includes on the left margin a "create an idea" link. 

[aleonard]

Hello, if anyone would like to implement this "sticky" left menu soon (before Canvas implements their own version), you can utilize the code at the following link:

Stick the left side menu in canvas (until Canvas fixes itself) · GitHub

We developed this and have been using it for a couple weeks. It has been working well for that. It covers many situations: the user resizing the window, the user collapsing the left navigation, the window height being too small, etc etc.

This can be pasted anywhere in the root account Javascript file. Be on the lookout for changes in the HTML structure, sometimes the class names of the various HTML elements (which this script depends on) change without announcement.

[sweetera]

Please make the navigation menu float or stay "sticky" to remain visible to users during vertical scrolling.  

Why it matters:

• Currently, users get lost when viewing longer Canvas Pages because the Navigation menu disappears from view. This creates weird workarounds and user frustrations.
• Getting lost trains users to disregard readings that require scrolling. (Design best practices aside, if longer scrolling pages are possible, then navigation needs to remain possible and clear at the same time.)
  • The same problem used to happen in the gradebook sideways scrolling in courses with more assignments. You fixed it! Thanks!  This is the same type of visibility issue, just in the Course navigation menu visibility/ 

[u0841272]

This has been driving me nuts since the implementation of the new layout right before fall 2016. It takes me twice as long to navigate through my courses now because I have to scroll all the way back up to get to a different page. This is especially a problem when the page I'm on is a very long assignment page / grade page. I thought I would get used to it over time, but it's now spring 2017 and I'm still constantly clicking the sidebar thinking that the other course pages would be in there somewhere. But nope. Have to scroll back up. Pleeeeeease make it sticky again.

[crafte]

Please make the content selector seen on the right when editing content 'sticky' as well. When editing pages that have a lot of content and an instructor drags the editing window to enlarge it, the content selector on the right remains at the top. This is also a problem if editing quizzes with many questions. 

[Stef_retired]

 @crafte ‌, I would support this idea, and I can't say that it's ever been floated for consideration before--but it would be a completely different development project from the one under discussion. Could you submit it as a new idea?

[crafte]

Hi stefaniesanders‌, I just created the following idea: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8219-make-the-content-selector-sticky 

[sweetera]

It is possible that those who voted this request down do not understand the issue.  

When is it ever beneficial to not see a navigation menu or to know where you are in Canvas?  Getting lost is a frequent student complaint that causes people to tune out and then log out...

The sticky menu fix is already in place in the gradebook where student names stay visible with sideways scrolling. (Remeber the nightmare Math courses when the student names disappeared from view?  Ugh.)

Let's get this done for the full course navigation menu. 

[jdesiderio]

I'm not sure why people voted this down either but I guess it doesn't really matter as it's moved into the Product Radar phase.  That's good news. Hopefully this gets done sooner, rather than later as it's a big time hassle.

Thanks for the support in getting this done. 

Joe

[stevencopeland]

This feature would be awesome!