Change the quill icon to a pencil icon for Compose a new message

[eholtmann]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

In the Messages section of Canvas, the way to compose a new message is to click on the icon of a quill. Some students don't even know what a quill is. And several of my students though the quill icon was a picture of a leaf.

A pencil is a standard icon on the web for "edit." Let's make the button easy to find by changing the quill to a pencil. (See attached files for examples.)

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13988-canvas-production-release-notes-2018-01-27 .

[thecapnvideo]

Valid point I was unaware of.

Great time to teach kids (K-12 about the history of writing and

calligraphy as an art.

Bet I could get you some nice feathers to teach the kids how to cut a

quill with a pen knife!

[thecapnvideo]

Thank you for the kindly reminder, I will simply assume you sent the

same message to the good Dr. Smith.

I have nothing but respect for the venue.

There is no ill intent in voicing my honest observations and opinions,

any scholar should welcome a defensible alternate position.

I know I do.

[thecapnvideo]

As was pointed out to me today, Dr. Smith, Canvas operates for K-12 and

beyond. I was unaware of that. For me Canvas was college only.

Hopefully the quantity as well as the content of this topic will reach

the eyes of "He who must be obeyed" and the icon will change magically

overnight, it is simply the replacement of a GIF file of the same

dimensions and POOF the issue is gone.

Cap

[Renee_Carney]

Deactivated user‌

Again, I will refer you to the message at the top of this idea.

Thank you to everyone that has commented and voted. We know this seems like a simple fix, and technically it is. The more difficult part of this conversation is agreement in design. Even this thread demonstrates how difficult that can be. We want you to know that we have brought this thread to the attention of our designers responsible for the icon set. We'll post here when we know more.

[meichin]

We had instructors also ask why it was a leaf.  

[thomasb2]

I'm not dead...yet. 

Not sure I like the "yet".

But yes, change to a pencil for compose/edit, a red pencil for edit or red strikethrough text. Or just "edit" since that is what students see in the pull down in Discussions.

[thecapnvideo]

 Heh heh heh

  Because it is a leaf.

 I believe it is a birch leaf.

[funkmastaz]

Personally, I wish this icon would be replaced by a "plus" [:smileyplus:] to match Canvas' style for signifying options that let you create. I also like the simplicity of the shape of the "plus" and its universal recognizability.
Pretty soon, we will have a generation of k-12 students who need to be taught what the pencil is (yes, I realize I'm being a bit hyperbolic).

[sbickley]

I'd like to second  @kweiler  that the icon/button needs to be much bigger, too. Perhaps it should even be a different color to make certain no one misses it. Based on my experience, the industry standard is to make the "Compose message" or "New email" action easiest to locate. This is not the case with Canvas!

[kburner]

Just did a training webinar yesterday and had to explain it was a quill...it's a leaf and it's not intuitive.  I think the suggestion to have a consultant in HCI is a good one.  Right now, Canvas uses the gear, three dots, and the pencil to signal users - consistency there would also lend to greater ease of use.