Restore column width adjustment in Gradebook

[llane2]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

The new minimum column width causes enormous problems for those of us with many assignments, who shrink the width, manually, to try to see more of the grades.

For example, I have many, many small graded assignments. I have designed the beginning of the names of these assignments to be two or three letters long so I can squeeze the columns as tight as possible and see grade trends for the class at a glance. It will really slow down my workflow to be continually side-scrolling and/or reorganizing columns between "by due date" and "by category" just to see the patterns.

Please restore the capability to manually adjust column width in the gradebook.

Comments from Instructure

This idea is complete in the New Gradebook. For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-15130-canvas-release-notes-2018-08-04 .

[jbuchner]

Is this still happening to you? (I've still not switched on "New Gradebook," so I want to know.

[kvoyles]

I see that at present, it appears that a compromise has been reached.

While the minimum column width remains, Instructors can now adjust the column widths to be as slim or as wide as they need.

This is a step in the right direction, however, it appears that what negatively impacts the usability of the gradebook for the OP Lisa M. Lane, everyone else who has commented on this thread, and all of the Instructors I work with, is that no matter which column width you prefer, there is no way to save your preferred widths.

Whether you are trying to compress them so you can see over 20 assignments at a time, or expand them to see the name of the assignment for a particular column, all of your column width changes are not saved. If you refresh your page, or log out of Canvas, you have to do it all over again the next time you need to view your gradebook.

If column width customization has been reinstated, we should also have the ability to set and save that width, rather than adjusting columns every time. 

[egv1]

If we have to adjust column widths every time, the "compromise" is mostly useless. Being able to set a "permanent" default we be a compromise I could actually live with.

[kvoyles]

Thank you @Elizabeth Vaughn. This is my point exactly. 

I was just trying to sound less salty and more amicable since in general, Canvas seems  pretty responsive to our requests. 

[llane2]

What I'm seeing is only a partial solution.

I'm afraid that because the column assignment title is now forced at center, one cannot shrink the columns effectively and still show the assignment name. It's forced at about three times the width I normally set them.

Perhaps my request should have been more specific to retain all previous functionality for setting column width? 

[llane2]

How do we report it when Canvas claims to have fixed something, but has only done so half-way and not addressed the initial problem?

The centered headings on each column make it impossible to shrink their width sufficiently to solve the problem I initially reported. 

See the problem here.

[Renee_Carney]

Right here,  @llane2  

Thank you for the video, this helps show what appears to be a problem that occurred as a result of the column adjustment implementation.  So, this idea is complete, as requested, but it looks like there was an unexpected impact.  To me, the titles disappearing is not intentional design - will you please submit a support ticket for that element.

[llane2]

Hi Renee - I'm so sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean? My understanding of a "support ticket" is a specific problem from within my institution. Where would I submit something larger like this?

[Renee_Carney]

 @llane2  

This guide might help?  https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12877-4152719652 

The help menu in Canvas should have an option for you to 'report a problem' or maybe 'submit a ticket'.  A report that you create may begin at your local school support team, but they can then escalate it.

[llane2]

While that seems strangely convoluted to fix something that was already fixed but had unintential problems with the fix, I have submitted within a course from my institution's Canvas the following:

As explained here https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/10859-restore-column-width-adjustment-in-gradebook with a video clip, the repair of the original problem of column width in the New Gradebook does not solve the problem because the width cannot now be narrowed without losing the heading. I have been told to submit this here to have it escalated to Canvas developers. 

Thanks for the help!