Sketching a Chatbot UI That Builds a Canvas
There’s this thing I can’t shake about the UI of this project. Every chatbot we’ve used is a text box and a scroll log. You type, it answers, done. But what if... the question was the thing that stuck around? What if each input shaped the world?
I’ve been thinking about a more spatial UI for this project, basically, a big infinite canvas where each question you ask the AI generate... a tile. A block. A trail. I don’t know yet.
And the thing is still bugging me. So, I'm brainstorming out loud.
My first thought?
Every question becomes a block. You type, it responds, and that goes into the canvas. Like sticky notes, but smarter. Maybe even alive. You can pin, remove, or move. Sounds fun, right?
But here’s where it gets messy...
What if a question changes the environment instead of just responding with a sentence? What if the canvas shifts with each query ... it fades, pulses, reshapes?
Then you lose the sense of “history.” Or at least, the neat version of it. So I tried something like this.
And honestly? That sucks. Because part of what makes a conversation powerful is the trail. The breadcrumb path. But also... trails are linear. And this canvas? It’s not.
Classic but wild
Have you seen Lex.page? It splits doc and chat. Right is the bot, left is your doc. It works. But it’s still... split.
What I want is a mashup. Chat on the right, but each interaction makes something real on the left. The text is the canvas. But not just flat notes... blocks with audio, quotes, links, vibes.
What if you never went back to the chat? What if the canvas became a working, living canvas?
Here’s my messy guess
Every user input should leave a visible trail, and present. You’re sculpting with conversation. Asking is building.
But...
Maybe not every block needs to be permanent. Maybe you prune. Maybe the canvas shifts when you delete a question. What does that even mean? Does the whole view rewrite itself?
I’ve got so many open questions
- How do you keep it conversational if it’s not just messages?
- When does the conversation become clutter?
- Should you fork a block instead of replying?
- Can deletion/addition be part of the narrative?
Why I think this matters
If I understand correctly, I don’t just have a chatbot. I have a semantic landscape. A way to think out loud and see a world you can discover, not only words to read. What I’m thinking, literally.
If I get it wrong, though? It’s just glorified sticky notes.
I’ll keep tinkering.
— Benoît Meunier