Unfortunate Audio Icon Needs Replacing

[bruni]

Linking to an audio file I get a large slightly rectangular playback icon on my course page (shown below). This graphic is way too large and the wrong shape. What I want in its place is the thin horizontal black playback line (shown below) that comes up after I click the grotesque icon. Can you fix this so all users see is the thin black playback line?  Thank you for your efforts at this!

🔎 This idea has been archived. While this idea isn't open for comments, it is an important part of Instructure’s idea conversations and development process. Contributions like this are valuable as Instructure prioritizes work on new or existing features.

[kmeeusen]

Why?

I mean, really WHY?

[Renee_Carney]

Thanks go to  @James ​ for finding Canvas audio link size which contains a solution for this feature idea.

[canvas_admin]

 @Renee_Carney ​,  I'm not sure that that discussion does contain a solution.   It seems to me that this feature request is really asking for a way to replace the icon (perhaps it can be re-worded and/or re-titled), whereas that linked discussion only talks about resizing the default icon.

[scottdennis]

Hi All,

Just to clarify, we on the Community team discussed the exchange [here] and this related feature idea suggestion.  We decided that while there are the work arounds mentioned in earlier comments, some people might prefer a UI way to click and resize the embedded player or change how the option to play embedded media is displayed.

Also, why what Kelley?  I’m not sure I understand your question.

Thanks

[kmeeusen]

Why? Because I am not at all understanding the use-case for this request, and am not understanding the need at all.

It is advantageous when submitting a feature request to tell folks why you think this is needed. In this case, I have been using/seeing this icon for three years and had never even thought of it needing changing. perhaps it does for some folks, but I would like to know why.

[scottdennis]

Hey Kelley,

I can't speak for Peter but in the past I remember working with course designers who wanted a smaller way to display embedded media, sometimes because they wanted to include links to many recordings or clips in one page or quiz question.  As part of OCL I remember working with one instructor who wanted students to choose from over 30 recordings all in one densely packed region of a single screen.  Another wanted sound files linked into multiple choice question answer choices and wanted the one line answers to be as small as possible on the page.

[James]

 @scottdennis ​,

What you describe from OCL sounds exactly like the accessibility nightmare that most people don't consider when they want things to look a certain way. With my fat fingers, I can't effectively use the keyboard on my wife's smart phone  Trying to make things smaller would only exacerbate the issue.

Anyway, I'm glad Canvas is looking out for those people who don't have 20-20 vision and toothpicks for fingers.

[scottdennis]

 @James 

Yep, for sure.  Like you mentioned here, accessibility, scaleability, different sized screens and platforms all have to be considered.  Makes me realize that as certain aspects of course design get easier as the technology improves, so the bar gets set higher as well.

[tom_gibbons]

One of the advantages that I could see is that the audio playback image looks like a video playback image with no thumbnail. For me, that reads as: video with some sort of rendering problem/corruption.

Having an audio-specific icon would help to eliminate that doubt and confusion.

[rseilham]

Wow, this request has stirred up quite a debate! Personally I think it looks like a button to play a video and is a little out of date. Is that enough to change it? No, but I'm glad someone brought it up. It even has a film strip in the icon! I think from a usability standpoint to easily recognize the correct kind of media, it might be better to have an icon (or as suggested, a play bar) that better represents audio, independent of CSS, external hosting, or other workarounds.

[amjanz]

I agree with both Tom Gibbons and Ryan Seilhamer. One should be able to tell it's for audio, not video. Apart from that, I've never liked the aesthetics of it (or the thumbnail that appears for You Tube videos or embedded webcams using the Canvas tool).

[biray]

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!

[berrysa]

The size and block display of this image make creating a well-designed layout difficult. It should be possible to include an in-line link to an audio clip so that paragraph and column layouts don't get pointlessly blown-out. If it has to be block-displayed it should be smaller so that column-formatted text and images can still be aligned properly for good legibility & usability.

[asatkins]

I agree with that - even if it couldn't be the small line because of accessibility issues mentioned above, if it was anything else that would be really helpful.

[asatkins]

That's a good thought too, it could be interesting to have like a hover-over display for the audio, if that's accessible (which maybe it's not?) to give an option for not having to find a place for it on your layout.

[allison]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I'm hearing two things from the discussion here: one, that it would be nice to have a little more flexibility about how a video or audio clip is presented on the page and two, it might be worth looking at a more modern "thumbnail" look and feel. Both are valid ideas. I will share this with the team that handles media in Canvas. Please be aware, however, that this is not a near-term priority.

Keep voting, though, and we'll archive this one until we can focus more of our attention on media presentation and media management.

[paul1]

Any idea how long-term it might be before something changes? As a music school that has video and audio samples peppered throughout our courses, these unformattable video filmstrip icons look clunky to students and break up the flow of course material on a content page - and not in a good way.

[Renee_Carney]

  Idea is currently in Product Radar Learn more about this stage...

[lekern]

The audio icon is the source of dismay for some instructors, to the point that they are linking instead to pages outside of Canvas for audio clips. One instructor is doing a simple pronounciation guide for language and the visual for the player makes the list of items awkward to navigate. Would be great to get the iconography to be more flexible, or at least something smaller and more contemporary.

[Renee_Carney]

The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.