[Account Settings] New 'Color Overlay' feature should have a way to change default setting

[chriscas]

With the new "Color Overlay" feature for course card images in this weeks Beta Release Notes, I think there should be a way to set the default behavior at an account level (edit: not subaccount level, since this really applies to users). The current default is to have the color overlay enabled, but I'd prefer the opposite behavior by default.  Rather than requesting to change the default, I think admins should have the ability to choose the default (enabled or disabled) for this feature.  I did mention this request in the release notes, and in the canvaslive beta release notes chat, and seemed to get some support.

Deactivated user‌laurakgibbs‌,  @kroeninm ‌,  @stuart_ryan ‌, Beta Release Notes (2017-05-01) Collaborative Chat 

[garrett_william]

Hey Jesse!

Sorry for the delayed response. I went on a beach hiatus. I was look for a way to attach the photoshop template file but do not see the option.

[robert_spadoni]

I teach film classes. For my Hitchcock class, my course card is an image from a film famous for its use of green. It's green on my computer, because I turned off the color overlay. I asked my students to screenshot their screens and send them to me. Sometimes the image is a muddy green, sometimes it's purple, brown, and so on. My other film course card shows a famous image from a black and white film; it looks terrible, in varying ways, on my students' screens. Everything about Canvas should aspire to consistency and pedagogical value. The randomly assigned color overlays, controlled by students and not the teacher/admin, is arbitrary and meaningless. If a teacher/admin wants to leave the random overlay on, fine. But it's not fine for those of us who have genuine reasons to control the overlay for our courses. I would like to see the card color separated from the color of the text for the course name, below the image/square of color, so that I could still set it; but as long as that text is dark enough to be readable, I don't care.

[olsona]

Hello,

There is a more recent request in August of 2018 score 8 https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/12084-color-overlay-option-on-individual-student-courses 

We would like to use Dashboard images to distinguish between course sections, but the color overlay limits what we can do as we don't want to our Canvas users to have to turn off the Color Overlay so the image looks like it should. That would be so great and that is all I want for Christmas. 🙂

Thank you,

🙂 Andy

[garrett_william]

Do you have access to your theme editor? You can use the code I posted to remove the color overlays.

[olsona]

Hi Garrett,

Why yes I do. Splendid! Thank you for taking the time to point that out. I’m checking it out to see what needs to be done.

I found this one: 

This video is currently being processed. Please try again in a few minutes.

 

The video helped me know what I was going to do was correct and Mike Cowen  posted code as well. I tested it in test and it worked!!!! The color overlay for the course that has a dashboard image is gone and the color overlay was not turned off from its on position.

Now I'm going to have another Canvas admin at BHC look at it to make sure we are all good.

And what would you like for Christmas? I owe a few people in the Canvas community gifts.

Thank you very, very much!

🙂 Andy

[garrett_william]

No problem Andy! All the things I want for Christmas are hanging out somewhere in Canvas Ideas or Feature Requests. If you need help just let me know. I'm not very good at the coding bit but I have learned just enough from others in the community to get by : )

[rwhite3]

The color overlay needs a transparent option.

[Stef_retired]

 @rwhite3  Welcome  to the Canvas Community! Users can remove the color overlay (i.e. replace it with a transparent overlay) by deselecting the Color Overlay option as described in https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12892-4152719656 

[rwhite3]

Thanks for the comment Stephanie, I appreciate the help. What I am trying to do is change the color overlay that my student see. I would like there to be a transparent option in the color selection or be able to enter #ffffff which would normally be transparent. The globe settings appear just effect my browser. Thanks again

[garrett_william]

Unfortunately, your only option is to have your Canvas Admin upload special coding to your Canvas instance's Theme Editor. I reference the CSS code above. It's pretty simple if you have someone willing to implement it for you.