New UI: Make collapsible course menu easier to discover

[cdoherty]

  This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

  Idea open for vote Wed. November 4, 2015 - Wed. February 3, 2016  Learn more about voting...

Our university is in the process of transitioning to Canvas, so we have many users seeing Canvas for the first time since we changed over to the new UI. We have had many tickets from instructors and students not being able to do anything in their course because they are on a small screen and don't see the course menu. The hamburger menu icon is not being discovered. I think that is because while the menu icon is an expected convention on a mobile device, it is not so in a browser window. I have seen the course menu being collapsed by default on a full browser window on a 13" mac. It also doesn't make sense to keep the global menu open, but hide the course menu, when first entering a course. If this feature is to save course real estate, it would make more sense to collapse the global menu. Just this week we had a consultation with a professor that is tech savvy, but he was completely unable to start working on his course because he could not find the course menu. He clicked everything else on the screen, including the set up check list. There was nothing giving him a clue that there was a hidden tool menu.

We feel it would make a lot more sense to have a visual indication mid-screen to the right of the global nav to suggest there is a collapsible menu there. Other ideas are to collapse the global menu instead, display the course menu when first entering a course and make it clear how to collapse it, and/or make the collapsible menu an option that institutions can disable.

  Comments from Instructure

Canvas Production Release Notes (2016-01-09)

Course Navigation Menu

The Course Navigation Menu no longer collapses unless it is minimized manually by a Canvas user.

[biray]

Check out this idea: ​. Although it is slightly a different request (because I think it's referring to the legacy UI and not the new UI), I think it could have value in the new UI (something about locking the class menu). Do you think it's aligns with your outcomes? Or do you think your idea is significant enough to warrant its own idea post?

[cdoherty]

I already saw this. It's totally different. My issue is a more severe problem because users can't even find the course menu and can't get started.

Christine

Sent from my iPhone

[jordan]

This idea has moved to the next stage and will be open for voting among the Canvas Community, from Wed. November 4, 2015 - Wed. February 3, 2016.

Check out this doc for additional details about how the voting process works!

[kroeninm]

Yes, it still confuses me trying to find my Course Menu in free Canvas.  The Course Menu to me seems to be the menu needing the greatest visibility in the course versus the global menu but it might be because I'm using the legacy UI.  It hasn't gotten easier though yet, I still fumble in trying to navigate in the new UI.

- Melanie

[Renee_Carney]

Canvas Beta Release Notes (2015-12-28)

Course Navigation Menu

The Course Navigation Menu no longer collapses unless it is minimized manually by a Canvas user.

[Renee_Carney]

  This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through the Canvas Production Release Notes (2016-01-09)

[Renee_Carney]

Thank you to cdoherty for submitting this idea, as well as,  @kroeninm  for your contributions. Your investment in this idea helped refine a feature which is now part of the Canvas!