New Canvas Interface Basics

The new canvas interface has a great deal that is familiar, but here are some highlights of the changes you will find.

Our new Canvas look and feel does not significantly adjust the functionality of courses in Canvas, but there are a few things worth noting about the redesign:

The global navigation for items like user account settings and course menu has moved to the left side of all pages in Canvas, rather than the top of the page. To customize your courses list, click the courses icon in the global navigation and then click the All Courses link at the bottom of your course list.

In tile view on the user dashboard, you can find quick link icons to main areas of a course (announcements, assignments, discussions, and files). Each user can also customize each course tile by clicking the edit icon in top right corner of the tile and entering a course nickname or choosing an alternative color for the tile.

The global and course contextual to-do list, calendar items, and recent feedback streams remain at the right side of the page.

On all Canvas pages, you have two options to contact support. The green chat bubble remains in the bottom right corner of every page in Canvas. If the bubble has a chat icon in it, that means someone from our support team is available for live chat. If the bubble has a question mark, then you can submit a ticket to our team and we will reply as quickly as possible. The Canvas Help menu, in the bottom left corner of the global navigation bar, also offers several support options, such as links to this knowledge base site, links to Canvas user guides, and the Report a Problem link, which will also submit a ticket to our support team. As always, you can also reach us be emailing [e-mail].

Once inside a course, things will look very similar to the previous interface. The three bars at the beginning of the navigation crumbling at top of course page allows you to hide and show the course navigation to maximize course content on the page.

If any questions come up as you begin working with this new interface, please contact us using one of these methods. We look forward to learning with you.