ID&D KB How-to Guide
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The Cidi DesignPLUS Toolset for Canvas is an add-in toolset that allows instructors and course designers to painlessly develop and style high quality, accessible, and professional looking course content in the most efficient way. We currently have both the Legacy Cidi Design Tools and the newer DesignPLUS Tools operating. You can continue to use the Legacy Tools if that's what you're familiar with, however, company support for this older version of the tools will end 12/31/24.
The Cidi DesignPLUS Toolset has three main tools:
What does the DesignPLUS Toolset offer you? Watch this short overview video:
Please Note!
You can click on the images below to see them larger and with more detail.
I. The Content Editor Sidebar
The DesignPLUS Sidebar is not a replacement for the Canvas rich content editor (RCE). Rather, it complements the RCE with advanced content, formatting, and design capabilities.
Here are some of the things you can do with the Sidebar:
Apply a theme to your content: A theme is a page layout with predefined text and heading styles, colors, graphic elements, etc. Applying the same theme to all of your course content can give it a professional, polished look.
Add a banner image to any page: Select from several sample banners (including IU-themed banners) or add your own.
Add a navigation menu to any page: Add set of links in a dedicated content block that jumps to a part of that page or another page. Each link can be modified once the navigation block is added.
Add/rearrange content blocks: Quickly create or rearrange reusable blocks of text while maintaining your current template design (if applied).
Copy existing content: Add content to a page from other sources, including from institutional templates, pages and templates from the current course, and your other courses.
Create reusable templates: Create model pages, assignments, quizzes, discussions, and announcements to ensure a unified design across your entire course. Then, use the Cidi Labs Multi-Tool to generate module items based on your templates.
Add accordions, expanders, or tabbed elements: Add interactive content that users can hide or show by clicking the title.
Add module progress indicators: Select from several page footers that help students understand where they are within the course structure.
Customize any HTML style: Use a graphical interface to customize any HTML style on the page. Select an element in the RCE to see the available style options for it.
Check accessibility: Use the built-in accessibility checker to confirm the accessibility of headings, links, images, and color contrast.
II. The Multi-Tool
The Multi-Tool is a real time saver consists of the following tools:
Template Builder: Use the template page tool to create home and template pages, assignments, discussions and quizzes that can be added to modules.
Module Builder: Build your course structure - create new modules, add or edit existing modules, add assignments, discussions, text headers, pages and quizzes.
Due Date Modifier: lets you manage assignment dates from a single screen.
Delayed Announcement Modifier: lets you pre-pan your reminders and course announcements
III. Upload/Embed Images Tool
The Upload/Embed Image tool, an external app in the DesignPLUS suite allows you to modify images inside of Canvas rather than pulling them into an external editor before uploading to Canvas. With the tool, you can:
Find royalty-free images from http://Pexels.com or http://Unsplash.com , embed them in the Canvas rich content editor, and save them to your course
Load, edit, and save an image using a public URL
Crop, flip, rotate, and/or resize an image
Change the aspect ratio for an image, including preset ratios for course images and course banners
Save an image as the course image (course card image for the Canvas Dashboard)
Play and practice!!
If you would like to try out the newer DesignPLUS Tools, the articles in this section can show you how to use them! Request a Playground course to practice and play with these tools!
Not ready to convert? The article Accessing the Content Editor Sidebar provides instructions on how you can navigate between the two versions.
Related Articles and Links:
Visit the DesignPLUS Training Series Tutorials for more videos. For more step-by-step guides, visit the DesignPLUS User Guide.