Releases Q&A: 2022-03-19 Rich Content Editor Equation Editor Update

[AlliFoote]

Looking to discuss this feature from the 2022-03-19 Release Notes? Post a reply and start a conversation!

POSTING GUIDELINES

• This topic is for feature discussion only—please share use cases, best practices, etc. regarding this feature
• Please thread replies as much as possible to keep posts organized

WHERE SHOULD I POST...?

• Idea enhancement feedback to product managers should be submitted in ideas.canvaslms.com (though linking to the idea here so others can find it is welcome)
• Bug reports should be submitted to Canvas Support—bugs will not be triaged in this thread

[JosephSpink]

In testing the update in beta the formula doubles briefly in size when refreshed/saved and then corrects itself. This happens across all browsers, video example attached.

[dlyons]

@JosephSpink, that is actually related to a different issue that we're already working on addressing. Thank you for reporting it still! 

[dadaniel]

It appears the preview when editing directly with LaTeX does not match the preview when not editing with it.

[themidiman]

I noticed this too when comparing the legacy equation editor to the forthcoming one in our beta instance. I used a slightly more complex equation (the Quadratic Formula)

Legacy:

Beta: 

Here's hoping this will be ready when it's supposed to be ready. I'm supposed to create a LaTeX equation/formula training resource for our math faculty.  

[dlyons]

@dadaniel and @themidiman, thank you for this feedback. We're already working on a fix for these display issues. The feature won't be enabled until these known bugs are squashed! 

[olden043]

Why was the release of this updated editor delayed?

[dlyons]

Unfortunately, yes. The release notes should be updated to indicate the delay. The display issue is being worked on currently so the delay shouldn't be very long.

[dlyons]

Thank you for your patience and understanding, all. The display bug has been fixed and the update has been enabled in all environments!

[AD20]

A recent change was made to the Equation tool on Canvas, which has removed the ability to use certain classic shortcuts and has thus made it somewhat difficult to work with.

For example, one cannot use Ctrl+C or Ctr+V for copying text into the equation or out of the equation, as one was able to do before. These only work in "Directly Edit LaTex" mode.

In addition, prior to the change one could select plain text in the body of the question and the text would automatically be imported into the equation field once the Equation button was clicked. Now that is not the case.

Both of the above now require full retyping of text into the equation, increasing both the workload and the possibility of typing error.

As a side note, I only just learned about the MathJax inclusion and will likely only use it from now on.

A question and a suggestion:

Is there a reason why the old image-based equation is still there if MathJax is available?

It might be better to completely replace the Equation tool with MathJax-based Equation tool, with the Equation then serving to wrap selected text with LaTex delimiters (inline, perhaps?) and to visualize the expression without the current requirement to save and preview before being able to view the MathJax expression (and catch errors if any).

[chriscas]

@dlyons,

This appears to have been more than just an interface update, as generally advertised.  We have faculty reporting the editor is no longer functioning as it used to when entering LaTeX (the previous version apparently said if LaTeX was too complex and perhaps offered suggestions as well if there were errors).  The faculty member entered a support ticket, which was escalated to a L2 tech, and the response was that we should file a feature request to get back the functionality the previous editor had.  That's not really an acceptable response in our view.  I'm hoping you might be able to look into this and provide some info back here.  The case is 08672943 if you're able to take a look at it.

-Chris

[dlyons]

@AD20, copy/paste in and out of the equation editor works for me in basic and latex mode. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to do? As for arbitrary text, it will import automatically if it is delimited as latex \( ... \). This is to stay in line with math rendering across Canvas. Finally, the equation "image" will go away completely in time. Some parts of Classic Quizzes and the editing view in the RCE use it as a placeholder to properly block space in the view. The image should never be used outside of those contexts (and eventually it won't be in those contexts either) so let us know if you see it pop up somewhere it shouldn't be!

@chriscas, after looking at the ticket I think there may have been a misunderstanding about the issue that was actually occurring. I confirmed there is a display issue in certain contexts in Classic Quizzes and an engineer is taking a look at it now. Sorry for the confusion there! I'll get the ticket updated so the instructor receives communication as a resolution proceeds.

[chriscas]

Thanks for looking into the issue @dlyons, I'm glad to hear an engineer is looking into this and hopefully we'll see a fix soon!  We are approaching finals time, so faculty are get very nervous when they encounter issues building or editing their last few assignments or exams for the term.

-Chris

[jerry_troupe]

From an accessibility perspective, I note that there are no alt-text tags associated with the icons.  I am an LMS administrator, so I am not as familiar with this tool as I am with other portions of Canvas, however, students are asked to use the equation editor to craft their responses in quizzes, and I would imagine that any icon or image should have an alt-text tag associated with it.

[dlyons]

Thanks for the question, @jerry_troupe. I double checked that the aria labels (screen reader only info) is set correctly and it is but there is an opportunity for us to improve that experience even more after we looked closely at it. Can't say exactly when that change will happen, but for now the buttons are accessible to screen and screen reader users so your students should be good to go. 🙂