[Canvas] Make it easier to add plain text

[alexfrancoeur]

UPDATED: See comments below for more recent considerations. The momentum is more in favor of creating a new element/button/feature for adding plain text to the page.

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I've run into a number of users that aren't necessarily familiar with Markdown and don't understand that is how you add text to Canvas workpads. I'd like to gather the @elastic/kibana-canvas teams thoughts around renaming the Markdown element to something like Text. We would continue to have descriptive text showing that markdown is supported but for initial discovery, I think we can make the naming a bit more generic.

[cqliu1]

++ I'm fine with renaming it if it'll be less confusing to new users.

[shaunmcgough]

Could we squeeze this into 7.1 perhaps? We also want a standard Text icon, like a big T with dots around it.

@ryankeairns

[ryankeairns]

I can probably get to this in time for 7.1. We should be clear in the element description that this is not only a text-based element but that it too can handle dynamic data and markdown.

[shaunmcgough]

Ok, will be a quick win if we can get this, according to our extensive user testing on Tuesday. The description should indicate markdown, yes.

@ryankeairns

[timductive]

I would rather have 2 elements, one that is treated as plain text and one that supports markdown.

[shaunmcgough]

Yeah, I really wouldn't even mind if they are the same exact element, only one is called 'Text' in big bold letters, eight feet high. :)

[ryankeairns]

I just commented on this in another issue, but I concur with the two separate elements approach. I would go so far as to say we should have a regular ol' plain text element which can be edited inline and does not use Markdown (rather uses the style panels in the side bar).

[shaunmcgough]

@timductive I would prefer to act fast on this issue. I agree that we could have a simple text element at some point in the future, however. Could we move this forward by renaming the element "Text (Markdown)"? This makes the element more intuitive for non-technical users, and was noted by almost all of our testers as being a quick win for improvement to getting started with Canvas.

[timductive]

@shaunmcgough sure, let's fast track it, but let's bring it up in our next team sync to make sure we aren't overlooking the debate and can get design icons and such. I'll add it to the team agenda.