Releases Q&A: 2022-04-16 Emojis in Submission Comments

[HeatherAhern]

Looking to discuss this feature from the 2022-04-16 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

[snugent]

I'm not seeing this update in beta. The release notes don't say anything about it not being in beta. Can you confirm if we should be able to see this in beta. 

[jsailor]

Hi, @snugent! You should be able to enable the feature option under Account Settings >  Feature Options > Emojis in Submission Comments under the course level feature options. Please let me know if you still have trouble finding the option to enable in order to try this out. 

[snugent]

@jsailor I don't see that option in our beta account settings. 

[jsailor]

Hi, @snugent,

I can see the feature option in your beta instance. I'm including a screenshot of it to hopefully help guide you in finding it. You will see that I searched for emojis to limit all that was included and cropped to ensure no data is shared. 

[sjohnson6]

Not seeing mine there either.

[jsailor]

Hi, @sjohnson6,

I was able to see the feature option in your beta instance. Does the screenshot included above help you in locating it?  

[dbrace]

In beta and at the account level, is this feature preview intentionally set to "Disabled" and "Locked" by default?

Is that how it will be rolled out on 2022-04-16?

[jsailor]

Hi, @dbrace,

When released to production, it will be set to off/unlocked.  

[dbrace]

Is the skin tone for an emoji saved as a web browser cookie or is it saved in a Canvas user account's settings?

[jsailor]

Hi, @dbrace. It is actually neither. It is saved in what is called localStorage to the browser, and therefore the settings are tied to the browser+machine that you are using. 

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

Hi @jsailor 

Are there any instructions on how to change the skin color in the browser?  How do we get the choice into localstorage so that is what the choices will be for the user on their own computer?  We really need for students/teachers to be able to choose the skin tone or this isn't useful.

Thanks,

Nancy

[jsailor]

Hi, @Nancy_Webb_CCSF,

Users can select their skin tone by clicking on the color button on the bottom right of the emoji tray. You can see it boxed in blue in the screenshot below. When clicked, the various skin tone options will show for selection. 

Emoji tray with skin tone selection highlighted

[Chris_Hofer]

This seems like a nice feature some of our faculty might be interested in using...since emojis are already very popular in social media, texting, and even in chat interfaces at work (e.g. Microsoft Teams).  I was testing it out in our "beta" environment, and I noticed the following:

Why do the emojis look different once you add them to your comments? For example, when you click on the smiling emoji above the "Submit" button, the selections you have to choose from look like the three emojis displayed on the bottom left.  But, once you insert them into the text field/comments box, the look of the emojis change slightly.  Shouldn't they be identical?

[jsailor]

Hi, @Chris_Hofer. The emoji picker that we have implemented has "Apple-themed" emojis, but the way that they show once selected may vary slightly depending on the native display. It appears that you may be using a Windows machine, is that correct?  

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @jsailor ...

Ah...ok.  That makes sense.  Yes, I am using Windows 10 Enterprise on a virtual desktop at work.

[rmurchshafer]

I never miss a chance to share this related to emojis appearing different depending on the platform you are viewing. https://www.boredpanda.com/entomologist-rates-ant-emojis/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_c...

Rick

[dbrace]

What version of emoji from Unicode is being used?

[jsailor]

We are using version 5.0.1 of the emoji-datasource package, which supports Unicode version 12.1.

[dbrace]

@jsailor, thank you for going around and answering questions. As a follow-up, how often will the library of emoji be updated?

[jsailor]

@dbrace, happy to! I apologize for the wait time on answering your last question. As for updating the emoji picker, we have not set a cadence but will be watching for updates made and will vet the emojis that are added before updating to determine if there are any that should be added to the default blocklist.  

[tspisso]

Can you turn Emojis on for Instructors while restricting students or is it all or nothing??

[jsailor]

It is available for all users when enabled. 

[DarinSenestraro]

Mine is controlled on the account level. I can't turn it off/on. I want to. 

Having emojis available is fine, but the placement is horrible. And I can't even move it. 

It makes it very hard to get at the down-scroll button in the Assignment Comment box.

I'm regularly opening it by accident. It's very frustrating and I can't turn it off! 

Why do Admins think they have a right to configure MY Canvas? Who do they think they are, Microsoft?