[ARCHIVED] Color Overlay - off by default?

[S9300807]

I'm beginning to think that the color overlay on the Dashboard should be off by default.  From a clearly design perspective it mostly detracts from courses that have an image. What's your opinion?  coloroverlay 

#dashboard‌

[kona]

Yep, that would be my preference as well. Drives me crazy!

[laurakgibbs]

And it was a long drawn-out process to even get them to add the option to turn it off; originally you couldn't even turn it off!

I make it a point to tell students about this in my "tech tip" about customizing the Dashboard.

Online Course Wiki / Canvas Dashboard 

(the feature they seem to like best is choosing their own nickname for courses, which really is good at my school because the course naming conventions in the official listing are really unhelpful)

There's a cool feature request that would let students choose their own coursecard images by the way!

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/10557 

[penny_christens]

Students would love that. Admins might not, haha. Ah, the price of engagement!

[Boekenoogen]

Yes, I agree 100%. It should be an off or on button.

[phelpsja]

I totally agree. I have thought this since the beginning. The color overlay will only look right with certain images and colors, so having it on by default makes no sense.

[joseph_allen]

This makes a lot of sense.  Many, if not most of our teachers are using images on their course cards now and the color overlay just makes it look odd.   

[S9300807]

Vote! Removing color overlay as default is open for voting.

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8611-new-color-overlay-feature-should-have-a-way-to-change-def... 

[tina_busch]

A big thumbs up from me, would definitely prefer it to be off by default.

[adon_irani]

Could it be off by default when an image is present. Otherwise on? 

Also - I believe colours are per user settings, so one course may appear with multiple colours, no? If that's the case, perhaps when an image exists the overlay is replaced with a border on the image. This way the colour swathes in the calendar would be retained. 

[S9300807]

when color overlay is off the courses without an image will still display a variety of colors. 

[robert_spadoni]

If the Canvas designers want the color overlay on, so that any user will see differently colored cards for his or her courses, then that might be a way to differentiate the cards for any Canvas user interface. If so, then turning random overlay off as the default might have a counterargument. However, if an admin/teacher uploads an *image* for his or her card, then, automatically, Canvas should turn the overlay off (or give the admin/teacher a way to do it for *all users of that course*). I made the image for my film class a shot from a film that is famous for its use of green. The image is brown, pink, red, etc., on my students' computers. 

[S9300807]

If the color overlay of off by default the color card will still display. I don't think have it off by default will impact that

[robert_spadoni]

Dear users, the version of this open issue with the most votes is, I believe, this one: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8611-new-color-overlay-feature-should-have-a-way-to-change-def... . Please consider voting and commenting there, so that hopefully we can get this change made. Thanks. 

[danielcktan]

Yes, colour overlay should be off when there is an course image.

If the developers feel that the course color is an important feature for user dashboard customisation, then a coloured top border will be sufficient.

[julie_fairless]

The default should be colour overlay off. 

[rudeb]

I agree. Having the color overlay on images by default makes the dashboard look unfinished. It also takes away from the consistency in how students dashboard looks.

[rachel_knowles]

Definitely needs to be "OFF" by default. It makes our courses look terrible! All of our courses have images. 

[penny_christens]

I wonder if it is on for student-convenience? It is on and cannot be turned off in the mobile view.

[valentinesking]

Actually I just went into the iOS student app and there is a toggle for color overlay!

Sky V.

[S9300807]

Can we vote this up again?  It needs to be off by default 

[terry_roundtree]

Agreed! Disabling the color overlay by default would be extremely helpful. Every course has an image and having an overlay makes it look like there is something wrong with the course, the image, or Canvas. It looks like the course isn't complete.  

[dspiel]

One would think this is a no brainer... but it seems when something is really wanted it gets ignored

[terry_roundtree]

Is this a featured idea? If so please include the link so I can vote for it.

[ChristineAhern]

I'd like to add my voice for no color overlay by default!

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello everyone...

As mentioned a couple times up-thread, there is an existing Feature Idea titled New "Color Overlay" feature should have a way to c... - Instructure Community that I'd encourage you to take a look at, give a star rating (if you haven't done this yet), and maybe even post a comment on that thread to let Instructure know why this would be important to you.  Take care, all...

[DrAJP]

Chiming in too - the "color overlay" needs to go. 

[JacobB-ASUTR]

Hard to believe this has been a problem for 5 years without resolution.  This should be a global option.

[DrAJP]

Why is the color overlay even still a thing, all these years later?

[Chris_Hofer]

@DrAJP ...

Not everyone uses images for their courses to display on the Dashboard.  This might be especially true for instructors who are new to Canvas or are just beginning to get their content set up in their course(s).

[peter_concannon]

But the solution offered in many comments above is to have overlay off by default if a course image is present. Commenters were aware not all instructors have an image.

[peter_concannon]

It should definitely be off--and probably under the control of the course designer as to whether a student could even use an overlay.  I use my own photography for the dashboard cards, and I find it irritating when I notice that students are seeing a shoddy, worse version of the course I designed.  And, I am auditing an art class, where the card image is a famous photo. It's really tampering with core content to have an overlay.

But I would settle for "off by default" and probably will never get my wish that I can prevent use of an overlay.

But, hey, I'd prefer that Canvas show students their assignments and grades in the categories I created rather than the messy and confusing date.  I realize they can toggle to categories, but many don't realize that, and I don't really think the date order helps my students in the least.  But that is another issue.