Skip to content

No.164 · Sidebars

Conversation Sidebar

A chat history sidebar grouped by when, not what — it collapses into a narrow rail where each conversation becomes its initials, and titles can be renamed in place.

The prompt

The design brief behind this component — reuse it to regenerate, remix, or explain it.

Build a chat-history sidebar (warm paper or night). Top: a panel toggle and 'New chat'; a search field; then conversations grouped by recency — Pinned, Today, Yesterday, Previous 7 days, Older — with small mono group labels; the account sits at the bottom. Collapsing animates the width from 16.5rem to a 3.75rem rail (460ms expo-out). Titles don't simply disappear: every row also carries a two-letter initials chip that is zero-width when open and becomes the row's content when collapsed, so the list keeps its rhythm and position; the current chat's chip inverts (ink fill). Group labels, search, 'New chat' and the account text fade out as it collapses and fade in 120–160ms after it opens, so nothing squashes mid-animation. Rows show a pencil on hover; double-click or the pencil turns the title into an inline input (Enter saves, Escape cancels, blur saves). Search filters live with an empty state.

Notes

Interaction
Toggle collapse with the panel button; click a chat to open it; double-click or use the pencil to rename; type to search.
Motion
Width 460ms expo-out; labels fade with 120–160ms delays; initials chips grow/shrink in step with the width.
Accessibility
An <aside> with a nav; the toggle has aria-expanded; the current chat has aria-current; rename is a labelled input; collapsed rows expose the full title via title/tooltip. Reduced motion makes it instant.
Responsive
Fills its container height; the list scrolls independently. On phones (under 480px) the open sidebar is full width and collapses back to the rail.
On touch
Rename via the pencil (no double-click needed); rows are 36px tall.

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.
81Atmosphere CardSmoked-glass link cards: colour pooled in the corners, slow contour currents underneath, a field that leans toward you.93Eclipse Event CardAn editorial event plate with an oversized date and an orbital eclipse bleeding in from the right, alive with slow drift.94Specimen CardAn object mounted under glass: hover lifts the pane with a sweep of reflection and swings out a paper catalogue tag.
95Silk FieldDomain-warped light that pours like liquid silk, with an optional glass lens that refracts the flow under your cursor.106IsobarA living weather map — contour lines traced over a drifting pressure field, with your cursor as a system of its own.
151Prompt 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.157Aura 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.
205Halftone CTAA tall CTA banner where slow gold paint drifts beneath a fixed halftone grid, visible only through the dots.
212Nocturne Sign-inA single quiet column on near-black with a breathing seam of frost light behind it — email, password, magic link, nothing more.222Sigil Sign-inA split sign-in whose left half grows a geometric mark from your email — the same address always draws the same sigil.
275Voices CarouselA testimonial exhibition: one large quote at a time on frosted glass, crossfading between voices without ever resizing.
279Feral TitleA brutal condensed wordmark — heartbeat in the dark, letters slam in, a gash tears through and the word bleeds.
301 components