Managing User Settings

ID&D KB How-to Guide

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In User Settings you have the ability to enable several features of the DesignPLUS Sidebar. User Settings are accessed in the More Options Menu (3 dot icon) found in the upper right corner of the Sidebar.

This article provides the step-by-step instructions on enabling the following features:

Selecting the DesignPLUS Version
Launching the Sidebar
Other Display Options
Enabling Advanced Tools

To access the User Settings:

Open the More Options menu by clicking on the three-dot icon in the upper right corner of the Sidebar.
Select User Settings at the bottom of the list.

Tip!

You can click on the images in this article to see them larger and with more detail.

Selecting the DesignPLUS Version

If you have not used the new DesignPLUS tools yet or had switched back to the Legacy version, your page will display the old version of the Cidi Labs Design Tools Sidebar (accessed by a grey rocket icon).

Switching to the New Version (DesignPLUS)

To activate the new DesignPLUS Sidebar:

Click on the Settings option (grey gears icon) in the upper right side of the sidebar.
Click on the "Try New Version" button that appears in the pop-up window.
Select New Version

Switching back to the Legacy Version (Design Tools)

If you need to convert back to the Legacy System (not recommended) for some reason, you can do so by clicking on the "Switch to the Legacy Sidebar" button at the top of the User Settings window,

Back to Menu

Launching the Sidebar

You have the option of how you will access the DesignPLUS Sidebar. You can select options to either show the rocket icon each time you enter edit mode on a page in MyClasses, or have the entire tools sidebar open every time. Most people just opt to have the rocket icon visible so they can click on it if they need to use the tools, rather than having the big panel open every time.

To make your selection, click the appropriate tick box to:

Show Launch Button (the red rocket will appear in the upper right corner when you click edit for a page) or
Automatically Launch Sidebar (the sidebar will appear when you click edit for a page).

Back to Menu

Other Display Options

Below the options related to launching the Sidebar you will have three items that you can toggle on or off by selecting or unselecting the tick box under each one.

These options are:

Hide New User Intro Message: Check this setting to hide the new user intro message from the notifications. By default, this message will appear for all new users until they check this setting either through the User Settings tool or in the notification itself.
Overwrite Current Block with Template: If this setting is enabled, then the Content Block tool will overwrite the current block when a template is selected. If this setting is disabled, then the Content Block tool will add a new block under the current block when a template is selected. This setting can be toggled from the User Settings tool or in the Content Block tool itself.
Display Quick Styles Panels: This setting controls the visibility of the Quick Style panel for the active tool. The Quick Style panel offers all the custom Quick Styles for the current element as well as global styles. These styles can be applied to the current element with a single click. The Quick Style panel also offers shortcuts to remove the style, edit the style in the Style Editor, add new styles, or jump to the Quick Style Manager tool.

Enabling Advanced Tools

DesignPLUS Tools has the option to enable access to advanced tools to give you more choice and control over the features you can use.

The PLUS tools are automatically set to the Basic Tools option which is suitable for most users. You have the flexibility to enable all or some of the advanced tools, by:

Enable All Advanced Tools: Select the tick box next to this item to have all of the tools listed below it enabled.
Select Specific Advanced Tools: Select or deselect the tick box next to the specific tool identified. If you select all tools individually, the tick box next to "Enable All" will be updated to reflect this.

If one of the Add Advanced Elements tools has been used when creating content, the controls for that tool will show up for a user when editing that content even if they have not turned on that tool. This allows teachers to work with relevant content without needing to turn on all of the tools.

Instructional Design and Delivery Support Center