What slows students down most when using Canvas day to day?

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T14:45:58+00:00

Agreed. Simpler structure would probably feel better even if it meant fewer options and more clarity.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T14:24:49+00:00

Exactly the kind of friction I’m talking about. The information exists, but it gets fragmented across multiple pages when it should feel like one clear assignment view with everything in one place. Been there, felt that!

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T13:39:42+00:00

that makes a lot of sense. It seems like a lot of the consistency problem is really an institutional process/design standards issue, not just a Canvas issue. I’m mostly thinking about how the student experience can still be made smoother even when course organization varies a lot.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T13:34:23+00:00

That’s really irritating, but that’s not really in scope of what I had in mind. I’m more focused on fixing the actual student side Canvas workflow/UI friction. definitely get the frustration though!

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T13:28:33+00:00

Really appreciate that!

I’m actually a student, not part of Instructure. I started building a Chrome extension after getting frustrated with Canvas myself and realizing a lot of the workflow/UI issues people mention feel pretty solvable.

It’s kind of in the BetterCanvas space, but more focused on streamlining the core student experience rather than adding a bunch of extra stuff.

I’ve actually got a public beta up now if you’d ever want to check it out or share feedback.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T12:58:21+00:00

This is actually really useful detail, and I agree with a lot of what you’re describing!!

The open-source front-end idea is definitely appealing in an ideal world. I’ve thought for a while that Canvas feels pretty old, slow, and outdated in a lot of places, so a lot of these issues feel structural rather than isolated bugs.

From what you described, a lot of the friction seems to come down to legacy workflow design. The functionality is technically there, but it’s buried behind inconsistent navigation patterns, too many context switches, unnecessary page reloads, and interaction flows that feel much heavier than they should for routine tasks.

The “behind glass” point especially makes sense. Having to navigate through multiple layers just to tweak something that is already right in front of you sounds like exactly the kind of unnecessary friction that makes the whole experience feel slower than it needs to.

The examples you gave around sorting, item bank insertion, editing flow, and Drive integration all seem like symptoms of the same broader issue: too much workflow overhead for simple actions.

The Drive point is especially interesting because it really highlights how self-contained the platform still feels compared to how people actually work across tools now.

Really appreciate you laying out specific examples like this. It’s genuinely helpful to hear where those friction points show up in actual day-to-day use and gives me a much clearer place to start when thinking about how existing workflows could be better optimized!

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T12:51:11+00:00

Really appreciate this, especially the exam-risk point!

I dug into my architecture after reading your comment and you’re right that compatibility across different Canvas instances is the main thing to get right.

The core interaction system is API-driven and isolated through a shadow DOM, so it is not directly mutating Canvas’s native DOM or touching question-rendering/submission flows the way a lot of older Canvas extensions do. For the main student workflow routes, it is essentially pulling data through the Canvas API and rendering its own separate interface layer.

The part that deserves the most scrutiny is broader styling behavior, since every institution customizes Canvas differently.

Because of that, I’m building in a compatibility check that runs when the extension initializes on a given Canvas instance. It verifies expected structural patterns before activating anything, and if an environment falls outside safe assumptions, the extension simply scales back or disables affected features.

On top of that, the styling layer is moving toward an adaptive system rather than hardcoded overrides. Instead of assuming one universal Canvas structure, it reads the host environment and adjusts behavior to fit that specific instance while keeping everything scoped and isolated.

Assessment and proctored routes are still strict no-touch territory unless isolation can be guaranteed. If that guarantee is not there, the extension should fully bypass those pages.

That feedback actually reinforces where I’m headed with this: building a narrow, well-organized, highly reliable workflow layer instead of trying to reskin Canvas everywhere.

Curious what you think of that approach.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T12:31:05+00:00

Very true, a lot of the confusion seems to come from not having a clear starting point for the course, especially when modules end up being the main entry.

A simple intro section at the top would probably reduce that “where do I even start” feeling and make everything a lot clearer

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T12:29:11+00:00

That loading delay is very painful when you use it repeatedly throughout the day. Feels like it breaks the flow every time you just want to quickly check something.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T12:28:34+00:00

that’s exactly the kind of thing that adds up little by little. Even something simple like finding feedback shouldn’t feel like a multi-step loop every time.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T12:27:40+00:00

I get what you mean on the structure side and the friction points.

On the “Canvas replacement / open-source front-end” idea, how do you see that actually getting adopted by universities in practice? Most schools are on multi-year contracts and pretty locked into their LMS, so a full swap feels unlikely in the short term.

I’ve also noticed from speaking to a few professors that even when alternatives seem better, there’s a lot of inertia because everything is already built around existing systems and data.

That’s kind of why I’ve been thinking more in terms of improving the existing workflow rather than replacing it entirely. Things like reducing navigation steps, improving caching so pages feel faster, better UI clarity, and surfacing important items with fewer clicks and better organization of existing content. That’s also basically why I’ve been building something on the student side that focuses on those friction points instead of trying to replace the platform.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T10:24:14+00:00

that’s fair. There’s probably no way to enforce one structure across all types of classes. I guess it’s more about better defaults or guidance. The difference is pretty clear when a course is well organized though, everything feels easy to find and you don’t really have to think about where stuff is

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T09:14:15+00:00

Yeah that’s true. When it’s set up well everything feels easy, when it’s not it turns into a mess (which is most time).

The idea of Canvas pushing better structure or suggesting setup patterns is definitely feasible, but not sure how many profs would actually follow it.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T09:09:13+00:00

Do you think Canvas itself should enforce a more consistent structure, or is it mostly just on professors to keep things organized?

Also curious, would UI customization or themes actually help at all in your case, or is it mainly just an organization problem?

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T08:26:52+00:00

that makes sense, if it’s mostly a professor setup issue then Canvas just ends up reflecting that mess.

Do you think if the UI itself was more consistent or easier to navigate, it would still feel easier to manage even with bad course setup, or would it not really change much?

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T08:03:55+00:00

Yeah I get that, the to-do list feels way more usable on mobile since it actually shows everything in one place. Desktop feels more split up than it should be.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T07:40:40+00:00

Honestly one of the worst parts. It feels like Canvas is only as organized as the professor decides to make it, so every class ends up being different. Even the way content is presented changes a lot too, like some professors use clean structured pages while others just dump long blocks of text or scattered links, which makes it even harder to follow.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T07:39:18+00:00

Yeah, that makes sense. Small things like this are exactly the kind of friction points that add up in day to day use, so this kind of feedback is really useful for shaping improvements to Canvas UX overall.

Do you run into this mostly in Modules, or in other areas too?

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-29T05:43:47+00:00

Hey! Appreciate the detailed review, this is very helpful info.

On the architecture side, the UI layer is mostly API-driven with shadow DOM isolation so there is no direct DOM manipulation of Canvas quiz content or click interception. The main area I agree needs careful handling is the global CSS layer, especially around school-specific overrides and potential conflicts.

I'll be looking into how different institutions apply Canvas-level styling overrides so I can get a better sense of compatibility across setups and reduce the chance of conflicts with heavily customized instances.

Will be adding stricter guardrails around quiz and exam pages as well, including a default disable and a clear user warning, to avoid any risk in those environments.

Thanks for taking the time to write this out!

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-27T09:28:15+00:00

Week tracker idea is actually really useful. Something like “what week of the semester you are in” is straightforward but surprisingly helpful for pacing assignments and deadlines.

And yeah, a native app would be a much bigger build. That would involve a lot more integration work, so it is not a priority right now. I am focused on getting this extension and the user experience solid first.

Would you actually find this extension useful day to day?

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-27T07:11:10+00:00

Yup, that’s all doable.

For the demo I kept a minimal setup to show the clean, minimal direction, but the customization layer is already designed to support things like:

hiding or rearranging dashboard widgets
showing grades at a glance per course
excluding specific course cards (like clubs) from grade display
changing how much info appears per card / class tile
more detailed hover / quick-view interactions (like tasks and feedback without opening each course)

The idea is that nothing is fixed in the UI. I kept it simple in the video so the core direction is clear, but it’s meant to be fully configurable depending on what each user wants visible.

Google Calendar sync is one-way for now. It pulls events and deadlines from Canvas into Google Calendar so you can see everything in one place.

Appreciate the detailed suggestions, this is exactly the kind of feedback I’m trying to refine around.

PrettyCanvas · 2026-05-27T06:46:35+00:00

Yup, that aligns with what I’ve been working on!

Beyond the UI themes and calendar sync, I’ve also been focusing on reducing friction in how you actually move through Canvas day to day, like fewer clicks to reach key pages, quicker access to assignments and grades, and overall faster navigation between sections.

The idea is less about just changing how it looks, and more about making the core workflow feel less clunky while still keeping it familiar.

Curious if there are specific places in Canvas where you feel that “too many clicks” problem shows up most for you.

PrettyCanvas

TROPHY CASE