Skip to content

No.177 · AI & Chat· New

Ask Bar

A quiet place to start a conversation: a greeting over a deep blue glow and one rounded bar to ask in. It grows as you write, swaps the microphone for send, attaches files from its plus menu and switches model from its own; once you ask, the answer streams in above it.

The prompt

Copy this text

Automatic copying is unavailable. Copy the selected text using your device’s copy command.

Written for the variant you picked above: Dark

Build the opening screen of a chat assistant (a fictional 'Qalam'). Scene: a near-black page (#0e0f14) with a deep navy glow (a wide radial #1b2b6e, centred a little below the middle, with a darker pool top left) that breathes over 14s. The greeting and the bar sit together a little above the centre. The greeting, 'What shall we look into today?', is centred on one line in a 400-weight grotesk at about 44px, #e8eaed; its words fade up out of a slight blur one after another. The bar: 47rem wide at most, 64px tall, #1f1f1f, fully rounded, a hairline ring and a soft shadow. Left, a 44px round '+' button; then the textarea with the placeholder 'Ask Qalam' (17px, #9aa0a6); right, a model button showing the model name ('Swift ⌄', 500 weight) and a microphone button. Hovered and open buttons get a #2a2a2a circle. Behaviour: the textarea grows line by line up to eight lines; past one line (or with attachments) the bar rounds to 28px, the text takes the full width and the controls drop to a row beneath. With text in the field the microphone becomes a round light 'send' button (it pops in); Enter sends, Shift+Enter breaks the line. The '+' menu (Upload files, Add photos, Start from a template) opens upward; files appear as chips above the text with a remove button. The model menu lists three models with a one-line note each and ticks the current one. The microphone uses the Web Speech API when there is one (four live level bars and an accent ring while listening) and says so plainly when there isn't. Sending: the greeting steps aside and a conversation appears above the bar: your message in a #2b2c30 bubble on the right, then a reply that streams in word by word next to a small four-point spark that turns while it writes, with the model's name under it. The send button becomes stop while it streams. Selected variant — Dark (dark): Palette for this theme (Dark): --askb-accent #8ab4f8; --askb-bar #1f1f1f; --askb-bar-hi #2a2a2a; --askb-focus #8ab4f8; --askb-glow #1b2b6e; --askb-glow2 #090b14; --askb-ink #e8eaed; --askb-line rgb(255 255 255 / 0.08); --askb-me #2b2c30; --askb-menu #282a2c; --askb-muted #9aa0a6; --askb-page #0e0f14; --askb-send #e8eaed; --askb-send-ink #131314; --askb-soft #c4c7c5. Treat these as the root colour tokens, one value per role, and name them to suit your code. Select it with the theme option set to "dark". Keep every dimension, spacing value, state and motion from the brief unchanged, and keep text at 4.5:1 contrast or better on these surfaces. This selection takes precedence over references to other themes or options in the general brief. Implement this selected appearance; do not add a variant picker or alternative appearances unless requested. Implementation requirements: Use React and TypeScript. Keep the component self-contained, with uniquely scoped CSS and no animation libraries. Include required imports, styles and font setup in the result. Interaction: Type and press Enter (Shift+Enter for a new line). '+' and the model button open menus: ↑/↓, Home and End move, Enter picks, Escape or Tab closes and returns focus. The microphone dictates into the field. Stop ends a streaming reply. Motion: The glow breathes; the greeting's words fade up once; menus rise 6px; send pops in; replies stream word by word with a turning spark. Reduced motion keeps all of it still. Accessibility: A real form with a labelled textarea; menu buttons carry aria-haspopup and aria-expanded; the model menu uses menuitemradio with aria-checked; the conversation is a polite live log; voice errors are announced. Responsive behavior: The bar fills the width on phones and keeps its controls; the model button tightens below 520px. Touch: Every control is a 44px tap target. Preserve keyboard access, visible focus and reduced-motion behavior. Keep fictional demo data and simulated service calls in a separate usage example; expose callbacks for real actions and recover from rejected requests. Keep usage-example links inside the demo: use local buttons or prevent navigation. Demonstration links must not navigate to Vitrine routes or open other pages; preserve real URL support in the reusable component itself. Verify the result at narrow and wide viewport sizes, with keyboard input and reduced motion enabled.

Notes

Interaction
Type and press Enter (Shift+Enter for a new line). '+' and the model button open menus: ↑/↓, Home and End move, Enter picks, Escape or Tab closes and returns focus. The microphone dictates into the field. Stop ends a streaming reply.
Motion
The glow breathes; the greeting's words fade up once; menus rise 6px; send pops in; replies stream word by word with a turning spark. Reduced motion keeps all of it still.
Accessibility
A real form with a labelled textarea; menu buttons carry aria-haspopup and aria-expanded; the model menu uses menuitemradio with aria-checked; the conversation is a polite live log; voice errors are announced.
Responsive
The bar fills the width on phones and keeps its controls; the model button tightens below 520px.
On touch
Every control is a 44px tap target.

Featured

01Glassbreak ButtonA solid plate that fractures from one impact point, cracks racing outward as the shards drift apart.04Liquid GlassA capsule of glass that bends what's behind it, carries a specular highlight around its rim toward your pointer, and squashes like a drop of liquid when pressed.07Phosphor Glass ButtonA liquid-glass pill that senses you coming: its rim light turns to face the cursor and the pill leans in to meet it.08Iris ShutterAn async button with a camera iris for a status light — blades close and turn while it works, then open onto the result.
87Atmosphere CardSmoked-glass link cards: colour pooled in the corners, slow contour currents underneath, a field that leans toward you.99Eclipse Event CardAn editorial event plate with an oversized date and an orbital eclipse bleeding in from the right, alive with slow drift.100Specimen CardAn object mounted under glass: hover lifts the pane with a sweep of reflection and swings out a paper catalogue tag.
105Silk FieldDomain-warped light that pours like liquid silk, with an optional glass lens that refracts the flow under your cursor.116IsobarA living weather map — contour lines traced over a drifting pressure field, with your cursor as a system of its own.
162Prompt ComposerA chat composer where attached files tuck into its top edge like tabs in a folder — they rise from behind it when added and sink back when removed. Send turns into stop while the reply streams.168Aura FieldA writing field where colour only exists while the AI is touching your text: the edge becomes a turning band of light and the words are rewritten in place, one by one, out of a soft blur.
251Halftone CTAA tall CTA banner where slow gold paint drifts beneath a fixed halftone grid, visible only through the dots.
258Nocturne Sign-inA single quiet column on near-black with a breathing seam of frost light behind it — email, password, magic link, nothing more.268Sigil Sign-inA split sign-in whose left half grows a geometric mark from your email — the same address always draws the same sigil.
343Voices CarouselA testimonial exhibition: one large quote at a time on frosted glass, crossfading between voices without ever resizing.
351Feral TitleA brutal condensed wordmark — heartbeat in the dark, letters slam in, a gash tears through and the word bleeds.
373 components