Tables/column text

[DaniPowers]

When creating a table to create columns on a page, is there a way to default the columns that have text in them to automatically start at the top vs the middle, so that you don't have to go back in and figure out code to populate something to show a two column page that reads correctly?

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @DaniPowers ...

What is the purpose of using tables in your page design?  Is it strictly for layout purposes?  If so, tables are meant to hold data...and not be used so much for page design.  There are accessibility that arise from using tables in this way.  So, if possible, you should find other ways to present your material to your students.

Do you know if your school has purchased DesignPLUS / Design Tools from Cidi Labs?  You may have heard of this software, but it integrates with Canvas and provides a wide variety of tools to design your course pages.  One of the very new features of DesignPLUS is columns.  The new columns tool lets you add two or more columns to a page (and yes, the cursor starts at the top of each column) where you can add your information.  This is different than using tables.  (For example, you could create two columns to use as a comparison between two things.)

On this page, there's a video called "Stories of Heroism", and if you go to about the 49:30 mark, that's where Kenneth will start talking about the new columns tool that is part of the DesignPLUS sidebar.

Webinars | Cidi Labs

If you don't have the Cidi Labs product, I did find a posting here in the Community that might be a good alternative for you...though you may need to know a bit of HTML coding.  I don't know if the code snippets in this link will still work ... as I have not tested them in my own sandbox course, but you might want to test it out in your own sandbox course:

Columns Without Tables: code-snippet - Instructure Community - 243013 (canvaslms.com)

I hope that some of this will be of helpful for you.  Sing out if you have any questions about this...thanks!

[DaniPowers]

@Chris_Hofer, thank you for your reply. The purpose would be for formatting. Our school does use Cidi Labs/DesignPLUS on a very small basis. Apparently it is only for some courses and we have yet to publish one with it... So, working in caveman times if feels on trying to create a nice looking homepage at least without all the cool features of DesignPlus.  Thank you for that alternative with HTML - I will work with that. 

Appreciate your reply and help!

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @DaniPowers ...

I would highly suggest investigating Design Tools/DesignPLUS more at your school.  There are so many great features you can use to build really nice pages.  In fact, they also just released their own "Library" so that you can import designs that other Cidi Labs customers have created into your own course(s)...including full page templates.  The DesignPLUS sidebar does take a bit of learning and getting used to, but it's pretty intuitive once you get to know it...and the columns tool would be worth your time to at least check out...even if you were building a page in a sandbox course to try it out.

This isn't the library site, but here is their Design Showcase so you can get some other ideas of what you might want to design in the future.

[DaniPowers]

@Chris_Hofer

Totally agree with you - if only I was the decision maker here... I will pass this along to those who are in hopes we can solidify this as the new norm. I would love to be able to have this tool to design all the courses as it is so much easier to work with - for whatever reason, our account here is setup to where if we use it, the course we are using it for must be in a paid account section, so that seems to be our limitation. Our IT team that supports Canvas doesn't support Cidi Labs/ DesignPLUS, so when things go wrong, they cannot help - also why they don't just apply it to all courses. But I totally agree with you, it is a great feature and helps solve a lot of headaches, all while making the course look super sharp! That is great they have a library now. I will check out the Design Showcase. Thanks for helping me through the columns thing.