[ARCHIVED] why does "pages" only go to the home page (and require separate click through to index)?

[boocanvas]

Why does the 'pages' link just go to the home page and require an additional selection to go to the (plural) pages index? You already enter on the home page which you can then edit and you can also go to that through a link. It is clunky to have to click through every single time I want to see the list of all pages to work on one and to have the home page (which I rarely need to work on) always being the default.

Is there a way to set the default view for "pages" to the index? Its very annoying to have to go through multiple steps to access the list. 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hello there, @boocanvas …

If you were to remove the “Front Page” label from the page listed on your “Pages” index page, this would solve the issue you are referring to.  Check out the bottom of this Guide (under “Remove Front Page”):

How do I set a Front Page in a course? - Instructure Community

However, if you had purposely designated one of the pages on your “Pages” index page to be the page that people see when they enter your course (via the course “Home” page), removing the “Front Page” label would then not display that particular page as your “Home” page any more.  You’d have to select something else as your “Home” page…such as your “Modules” index page.

How do I change the Course Home Page? - Instructure Community

I hope this help to explain how this all works…and that I’ve not made things too confusing.  Happy to clarify if anything is unclear.  Take care…

[boocanvas]

This doesn't actually answer my question. It simply repeats back that the poor ux is built in.

If I want a specific page as my home page, it then shows as the only immediately available page when I go to 'pages' AND that same direct editable page that is the home page as well. This seems silly. Why can't the 'pages' link go to all of the pages? Instead I have to navigate to a small button at the top and click through again to an index of pages that includes the home page. Why can't this list just be what we see when we click pages?

Based on my experience so far with Canvas and the questions on this forum, Canvas has many other issues that need to be worked out (and they don't seem particularly interested in putting the actual time and money into solving them) but this is yet another annoying thing that makes clear that Canvas was created by non-users and that no one involved actually cares about the ux for the direct user (teachers/designers).

The practice of marking these things as 'solved' when they aren't solved (answering "because its that way" to "why?" is not great from a teaching perspective) is another thing that makes the overall canvas experience a really poor one. 

[Chris_Hofer]

@boocanvas ...

I don't work for Instructure, so I can't really answer the why question.  However, I thought of a slight work-around for you that might meet your needs.  Would you be willing to try creating a bookmark on your web browser that took you right to the "Pages" screen of your course?  That way, if you had some bookmarks displaying at the top of your browser, you could easily click on it and go straight to the page.  The only potential down-side I could see here is that you'd have to set up new bookmarks every term/semester for each class that you wanted to do this for...but once you set it up, it's done for the semester.

So, for example, your bookmarked link might look something like this:

https://SchoolName.instructure.com/courses/12345/pages

I've highlighted the parts that you'd have to change for your school and CourseID number.

What do you think of this possibility?

[SusanNiemeyer]

HI @Chris_Hofer, I completely agree with @boocanvas on this one.

When I click on Pages, I want to immediately see the entire list of Pages. It's cumbersome and totally unnecessary to be directed to the Home Page first and then have to click again on "View Pages.

I don't want a "workaround," and I don't want to remove the "Front Page" label from my Home Page.

All I want to do is click once on Pages and see the Pages, all of the Pages. I think that every instructor feels the same way.

This would be another quick fix for the Canvas programmers, but I'm not holding my breath. 

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @SusanNiemeyer ...

I hear you, and I do see the benefit of being able to go to the "Pages" index page right away.  There is a Feature Idea available for Community members to check out at One click "ALL PAGES" - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com).  You might want to consider giving it a star rating if you feel that Idea aligns with something you'd like to see implemented in Canvas.

This would be another quick fix for the Canvas programmers, but I'm not holding my breath. 

---

What might seem like a quick fix for you and me might not always be the case, however.  If you take a look at What is the feature development process for Instru... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com), there is a section called "If my idea doesn't align with a priority, is it still important?" at the bottom of the document.  Instructure offers a couple paragraphs on why things might not be as simple as we might think to implement.  I'm not saying this is the case for the topic at hand, but just wanted to provide this as a resource.

Hope this helps.

[SusanNiemeyer]

Thanks, @Chris_Hofer, I'll will "upvote" that idea. In the Course Navigation Bar, all of the following terms are plural:

• Pages
• Discussions
• Quizzes
• Assignments
• Announcements
• Rubrics
• Outcomes
• Files

Except for "Pages," clicking on each term take the instructor immediately to a list of ALL of the items in that category. "Pages" is the anomaly.

I assume that the Canvas Developers are capable of making these kinds of "fixes" in Canvas. 

[RTC123]

Here is clunky workaround that so far is working for me: We have the ability to add our own navigation links to the course navigation menu using the Canvas "redirect tool", found under Settings and Apps.  I have added a "Pages All" link that goes directly to the Pages index url (copied from the "View All Pages" button, which is what we want "Pages" to actually do).  Now when I click my new "Pages All" in the navigation menu I get to the index list of all pages directly. This link also works in student view.

Added cautionary note: I was so pleased with myself about this solution than I then moved their original "Pages" link out of the navigation area, disabling it completely. Although my "Pages All" still worked for me, it no longer worked in student view, saying "Pages" had been disabled. There is some dependency between the original "Pages" link and the pages index, even though they are two different urls. So I seem to be stuck having both their "Pages" and my "Pages All" enabled at the same time in the navigation menu.