Comments Section - Shakes and Flickers

[GraceStinson]

Each time I enter information in the Comments Section of an assignment, the screen is either shaking up and down or flickers.  This happens in both Canvas environments of the Colleges I serve.  It is very hard on the eyes and makes me dizzy.  It also becomes like a game of anticipation where I position my cursor to type additional information or attempt to delete something.  Please help.

[CallieAlreza]

Try restarting your computer. If that doesn't work, contact your manufacturer. By the way, what device are you using? Computer, tablet, or phone? Sharing your device details would be helpful!

[GraceStinson]

Thank you for your response.

1.  I am using a Lenovo Idea Centre that has not given me any problems.  Less than one year old.

2.  This behavior is also happening on Desktop and my laptop.

The behavior can be intermittent.  I notice that when I refresh the page, it will be steady for a bit, however, it is iffy when it will behave similarly again.  It is very frustrating.

[chriscas]

Hi @GraceStinson,

Are you able to get a short screen recording of the issue?  I was at first inclined to think the problem was specific to a device you were using, but since you mentioned it's happening on both your desktop and laptop, that somewhat rules that out.  I haven't observed this behavior myself, so seeing a video would be great to see the exact behavior and figure out some possible causes.

In addition to a possible screen recording, could you tell us what web browser you're using, or if you've tried it on multiple browsers and have the same behavior too?

Look forward to hearing back from you!

-Chris

[CallieAlreza]

Interesting. Do you have any screen magnifyers on? If so, that might be the problem. Try turning them off.

[GraceStinson]

Hi Callie-

I have included a video as evidence of the problem.  Thank you for your help.

Grace Stinson

[chriscas]

Hi @GraceStinson,

The video was definitely helpful to see what's going on.  It appears it's scrollbars that keep showing up and disappearing that's causing the problem.  I tried this on a couple computers I have and still couldn't replicate it though, so it's probably some kind of specific combination of windows monitor settings, browser zoom, and maybe other customizations coming into play.

It looks like you're using Windows, so for at least a temporary workaround, you could try to change your windows settings to always show scrollbars. No guarantee this will fix the problem, but it's worth a shot.

-Chris

[Gabriel33]

Indeed, we can see in the video that she is zoomed out (small magnifying glass image on the right of the address bar).

So first thing would be to reset the zoom (can be done by just clicking that magnifying glass and then "reset")

[GraceStinson]

Hello Community! @chriscas @Gabriel33 @CallieAlreza 

Thank you all for offering your input.

1.  I have tried resetting the View to 100%, and that definitely works.  However, I prefer it if I can minimize the view.  So, when I minimize the view below 80%, the behavior starts again.  I will, therefore, stay no lower than 80%.  So far, 80% view size is steady.

2.  @CallieAlreza I am unfamiliar with "screen magnifiers."

3.  @chriscas I tried your suggestion of change your windows settings to always show scrollbars.
It did not work.

4.  I have not tried another browser because both of the Colleges I serve told us that Google is the preferred browser.  I don't even have any browsers on my computer except for Google.  This has never happened before since I started using Canvas in 2008.  Just this past Winter session, everything was just fine with all of the computers I own; desktop and laptop.

I put in a "Help" request with both colleges I serve so hoping they can help me out.

Thank you to the three of you for replying.  Glad there is a temporary fix, which is to minimize the View to no smaller than 80%.

Sincerely,
Grace Stinson

[CallieAlreza]

Hello! A screen magnifier enlarges a selected area on your screen.

[GraceStinson]

Thank you.  Then the answer is "No, I do not have the screen magnifier turned on."

[Gabriel33]

Right, so some websites are not really optimized for working at zooms different than 100%, and fixing that is probably not a priority.

So, besides keeping the zoom closer to 100% as you found the 80% to be the closest you can, 2 other (software) options you can try are:

1. Checking the scale of the monitor in the Windows settings: Settings -> System -> Display -> Scale. See if you can lower it.
2. A Tampermonkey/Greasemonkey script that either always hides or always shows the scrollbar in that page (it probably didn't work in chriscas' suggetsion because that page has up to 3 vertical bars, given its splits). One script that worked for me (from ChatGPT) is below:

Spoiler

// ==UserScript==
// @Name         Always Show Vertical Scrollbar
// @namespace    http://tampermonkey.net
// @version      1.3
// @description  Forces a specific div to always show a vertical scrollbar in Chrome
// @author       Your Name
// @match        *://*/*
// @grant        none
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    'use strict';

    console.log("Tampermonkey script loaded and executing...");

    function setOverflowScroll() {
        console.log("Checking for target div...");
        const targetDiv = document.querySelector('div#rightside_inner.full_height');
        if (targetDiv) {
            targetDiv.style.setProperty('overflow-y', 'scroll', 'important');
            console.log("Applied overflow-y: scroll");
        } else {
            console.log("Target div not found yet.");
        }
    }

    const observer = new MutationObserver(() => {
        setOverflowScroll();
    });

    observer.observe(document.documentElement, { childList: true, subtree: true, attributes: true });

    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', setOverflowScroll);
    window.addEventListener('load', setOverflowScroll);
})();

[GraceStinson]

"Yikes" to the Script.  It's waaaay above my "paygrade!"  LOL!  It scared me.  I'm afraid to tackle an action I am not equipped to navigate in the event it becomes non-responsive or opens a "Pandora's Box" inadvertently.

I looked into the "Display" and "Scale" option and that is doable.  The problem is, I like 100% in other environments.  It's only when I deal with the Comments Section and the Grades section that I prefer a lower scale.

Thank you for your pursuit of this.  My College "Help" has not yet responded.

Sincerely,

Grace

[Gabriel33]

Of course, take any code from an internet stranger with a grain of salt, but feel free to share it with your College "Help". If they don't find a solution, they may at least be able to tell you whether that's safe and how to implement it.

[GraceStinson · Accepted solution]

Thanks, @Gabriel33   I just hung up with one of my College's IT this very late evening.  Over an hour's worth of conversation.... NO GO.  He will research it some more and get back to me.

The "other" temp resolve is to use Firefox.  He gave me the 411 on using a Lenovo computer with Chrome.  Too long to repeat, if I can even remember what he said.  The bad behavior was not present in Firefox.  So that answers the question of the other night on whether I have tried other browsers.  I don't have other browsers on my computer because I have been indoctrinated to use Chrome.

Thanks for your help.  I will share the script with the IT Help Analyst when he calls me again.  For now, I'm spent dealing with this!  😞

Sincerely,

Grace

[GraceStinson]

I am also responding to Gabriel33 who stated:

If you click on Account on the left, and then Settings, at the bottom of the page, you should see Feature Options. One feature option is Disable Celebration Animations,

Please try toggling that on, and see if it stops those.

I went to both Colleges I serve and in both Colleges, this option does not exist.  The closest one I can say is the option that shows: "Emojis in Submission Comments."

Thank you!

[Gabriel33]

Yes, sorry, I deleted my original reply almost immediately, after I realized that was not the issue, sorry for the confusion.

[AnitaCunningham]

I have been experiencing the same issue for the last couple of months.  I'm using free canvas.  Have tried changing the zoom (it was 80%) - will see if that fixes it.  It does seem to be related to the scroll bar.

[anne_marenco]

Any idea when this wil be fixed in Chrome?

[JamiWeidmann]

I, too, continue to have this issue. I'm at 100%. I'm in Chrome, and shouldn't have to change. Please, any solutions? 

[GraceStinson]

@JamiWeidmann I was told by my IT Support to delete the EXTENSIONS I subscribed to.  So I removed the extensions and ever since then, my Comments Section has been normal.  Thankfully, I can live WITHOUT the extensions I deleted.  Hope that helps. The Extensions icon is located to the right of the URL Bar, next to the Favorite Star.

[anne_marenco]

I will try that. Thanks Grace.

[jenn4]

I know that this already has a solution, but I've found that the Comment Library is the cause of my problem with the jumpy comment box. If "Show suggestions while typing" is turned on, Canvas is refreshing to look for similar comments.

Try turning it off.

[anne_marenco]

Hi jenn4, Thanks for the solution, but I don't use the comment library. I use typeitin.  Anne

[kmahaffy]

I had this issue with Chrome and switched to Edge (Win 11).  Worked great for a couple of months, and now it is also doing the shakes and wiggles. Yes, I have a Lenovo.  I may need to use Firefox to see if that resolves the issue once and for all. I wish Lenovo would figure out what is causing this issue and provide an update/fix.