The home page is the first thing students see after entering your Canvas site.

By clicking Choose Home Page from the course sidebar, you can choose the general layout of your home page. A brand new site with no content copied over will default to the Course Modules option.

home page selection window with options for course activity stream, pages front page, course modules, assignments list, and syllabus

Layout Options

There are five layout options:

  1. Course Activity Stream: Students will see notifications about announcements, discussion boards, assignment due dates, and conversations. 
  2. Pages Front Page: Students will see content on a page you design containing course information. This option offers the most design flexibility. 
  3. Course Modules: Students will see the modules you designed and structured. This option is the default. If you select this option or stay with it as the default choice, you must publish a module before you publish your course.
  4. Assignment List: Students will see all the assignments you created in Canvas for this course. 
  5. Syllabus: Students will see your syllabus followed by a Course Summary area with Canvas calendar events and assignment due dates.

Quick start

Setting your home page to Syllabus is a great option for quick course setup:

  1. Go to the Syllabus tab in your course navigation menu.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Click Insert, then Document, and Upload Document to upload your syllabus.
  4. After the file uploads, click Update Syllabus.
  5. Select Syllabus as your Course Home Page.
  6. Click Publish if you are ready for students to see your site.

To make assignments appear on the Syllabus page, ensure the Show Course Summary box is checked when editing the Syllabus page. Each time you add a course item containing a due date, it will be automatically added to the Course Summary section. To hide the Course Summary, uncheck the box.

Design Tips

For assistance building your home page and other Canvas components, contact your Local Support Provider to connect with an instructional designer, or explore the programs and services provided by the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, & Innovation (CETLI).

General

  • Consider Universal Design for Learning and accessibility.
  • Pick a focal point. The eye usually gravitates to the top left corner of the page, then moves toward the center. 
  • Think about the environment of your course. What kind of atmosphere do you want users to experience in the course site?

Images & color

  • When choosing imagery, quality and consistency are key. Select images from the same family or apply the same filters/effects to make them look more uniform. Start with larger images to prevent pixelation and scale them down as needed.
  • Limit the page’s design to one or two colors, plus black and white. Variations of one color promote harmony. For a harmonious course site, choose a color theme and stick with it throughout all pages.

Headers, fonts, & spacing

  • Create adaptive headers by putting images in a 1×1 table at 100% width, which allows the image to adjust with the screen size. Choose an attention-grabbing header.
  • Maintain uniform spacing, and respect the background and white space of the design.
  • Avoid using more than two fonts on a page.

Free design tools & resources

Additional Resources

Getting Help

Please contact your Local Support Provider or submit a request to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.