As eelik already explained “Canvas” in computer terms is the raw pixel grid on which everything is painted, and it originated from a painters canvas, which is a blank area on which to paint. In KiCad V4 the was used as such in the menu because it started as a difference in graphics libraries which were used to draw stuff on screen. “Canvas” in this meaning is not an end-user term and later the new new functions got added to the “OpenGL Canvas” and it got renamed to “Modern Toolset”, which is a much better name for it. Sorry for using the old termminology.
I’m not sure what point you wanted to make with the “BBCode” remark. It’s from “Bulletin Board Code” and (almost all) links from a simple search point to it:
https://duckduckgo.com/html?q=bbcode
I do not have much trouble with tracks attached to each other or not. Probably because I’ve learned a long time ago (in the DOS age, with ultiboard) to lay the tracks in such a way that the endpoints always match perfectly.
I also did a few simple tests with KiCad V5.1 in this thread:
https://forum.kicad.info/t/cannot-place-trace-on-pad-says-unconnected/16019/7 and was pleasantly surprized that DRC recognized connections to pads if an endpoint of a track was within a pad area, and even allowed 0.1mm misalignment if a track goes through a pad, but has no endpoint in it.
I’m not sure in which version it changed, but in V5.1 it seemed to have changed for the better compared to a few versions ago.
Are you using the Interactive Router to lay your tracks or not? I can’t even rember anymore what it was to lay the tracks without it.
A few versions ago I also liked the simplicity of KiCad, but as I (probably?) grow with it I also apreciate the faster layout that a “more advanced” but also more complicated KiCad is becoming. But it’s a bit fuzzy, I can’t keep the different versions apart in my head.
I also think there is something strange in my head going on. It seems I simply accept a lot of quircks of KiCad on such a level that I find it it difficult to even recognize things I probably would have found annoying several years ago.
I like Open Source software very much and KiCad is a wonderfull example of it. I’ve bought several PCB packages in the past, and used a few hacked ones, but KiCad is the best I’ve ever used, even though it also has it quircks. A very important factor is that the quircks of KiCad are small.
With another program long ago, the netlist did not always got updated if you deleted connections in the schematic, and you were lucky to notice strange connections while drawing the PCB. That was an instant EUR125 into the garbage bin.