Provide updated UI for AI Chatbot module

Created on 20 June 2025, 3 months ago

Problem/Motivation

The current chatbot looks a bit old school and we should provide a new modern UI so users don't have the feeling to use an old version of MSN Messenger πŸ˜‡

Proposed resolution

During Drupal Dev Days Leuven we came up with the idea of a sidebar chatbot that slides in. To show or hide the chatbot a new button called "Assistant" will be added to the toolbar.

Remaining tasks

  • Remove current chatbot wrapping template so we can rebuild it
  • Add new style for Deep Chat
  • Provide extra JavaScript to show/hide sidebar
  • Implement JavaScript for making the chatbot resizable
  • Add Expand button which sets chatbot to a specific width so users don't need to resize manually
  • Let site administrators choose a chat assistant they want to add into the toolbar

User interface changes

  • The default chatbot will have a fresh an modern UI πŸ’…
  • Toolbar will get a new Assistant button that has an animated AI icon when hovering it πŸ’…

⚠️ All of the remaining tasks are currently in progress and merge requests will be provided soon

πŸ“Œ Task
Status

Active

Version

1.2

Component

AI Chatbot

Created by

πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺGermany yannickoo Berlin

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Comments & Activities

  • Issue created by @yannickoo
  • πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§United Kingdom yautja_cetanu

    Great! Couple of comments

    - This is not exactly the same as the XB AI design. I think that's fine but maybe we should check with Lauri before we merge (personally I think it's likely to be fine so we should go ahead and get working on it right away
    - there are new features the xb AI adds (Details, list of tasks it needs to complete, suggested prompts, upload of files). But I think this should be a follow up.
    - the biggest issue is the placement of the AI chatbot button and it's icon differs in xb AI. We probably need some user testing or something on that (maybe follow up) to see if people can find it. The current approach to the chatbot is very easy to find although because it's always there it's also a little annoying

    - Do we think the chatbot should go over the page content or push it to one side?
    - How much would that chatbot have its own style and how much would it inherent from the site admin gin theme?
    - we definitely need a setting on each chatbot for different styles as the back end chatbot and front end chat bot will likely want to differ. I think we already have that though but if we go the full height I think we definitely need that.

  • First commit to issue fork.
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    #544072
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    #544137
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    #544194
  • πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§United Kingdom yautja_cetanu

    Summary from the call:

    • Plans to put it in the top right in Gin, had hit roadblocks as the top right is for saving in Gin.
    • Experience builder puts it in the top left do we want it there?
    • However the XB approach has a top bar that goes across the full width. In Gin the top bar stops before the left side bar so its not obvious we can put it in the same place. There are a number of options below to explore.
    • Showed the new full height chatbot.
    • We said that we want to take an AI first approach and make the AI prominent, therefore we are ok with suggesting changes to the approach Gin has rather than assume AI has to fit within existing design approaches.
    • The approach XB took with its designs "What can the AI do? and how can we convey what AI can do?"
    • Renee would share the benchmarking
    • We think the overlay dimming the page is unlikely to be what we want as we think the chatbot will likely be linked to context and information on the page.
    • When it opens, isntead of overlaying, can we make it so it pushes the page accross.

    Options:

    • Do we put it in the top right anyway (next to the sidebar)?
    • Do we go for the left left to the right of the drupal logo? (In the Gin toolbar or the top level toolbar?)
    • Do we make it so its below the drupal logo (Alongisde search, Dashboard)?
    • We also explored the bottom right (Renee, thinks that this meant some users thought it was a support thing not AI).
    • There is some exploration of whether or not its a draggable model that you can move around.
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  • πŸ‡΅πŸ‡ΉPortugal bbruno Poland
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  • πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺGermany yannickoo Berlin
  • πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺGermany yannickoo Berlin

    This looks good from my side! Let's get this forward with another review so setting to RTBC 😎

  • Pipeline finished with Failed
    17 days ago
    Total: 189s
    #575510
  • πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺGermany a.dmitriiev

    a.dmitriiev β†’ made their first commit to this issue’s fork.

  • πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺGermany a.dmitriiev

    I have fixed the hook implementations and rebased the MR. Also phpcs and phpstan issues were fixed. Now tests are failing for some reason, maybe because the chat box is now not appearing in the expected place, because "Bottom right/left" placement is not working anymore.

  • Issue was unassigned.
  • Status changed to Needs work 6 days ago
  • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈUnited States lpeabody

    Will anonymous users without toolbar access be able to use chatbots in this re-work?

  • πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺGermany yannickoo Berlin

    For anonymous users we will other placement options like "Sticky" or "Inline" later.

  • πŸ‡΅πŸ‡ΉPortugal bbruno Poland

    Assigning back to me to add support for the existing Bottom positionings. The current solution was taking into account completely replacing these, but after discussing we will keep the Bottom positions for now, along with the new sidebar option.

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    #588131
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    #588163
  • πŸ‡΅πŸ‡ΉPortugal bbruno Poland

    Existing bottom position options have been re-added along with their styles and functionality. There should now be no breaking change. New blocks will come with the new configuration by default, aka 'Toolbar' position/style.

    Back up for review

  • πŸ‡΅πŸ‡ΉPortugal bbruno Poland
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  • πŸ‡΅πŸ‡ΉPortugal bbruno Poland
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    #589073
  • πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺGermany a.dmitriiev

    Now looks good! RTBC'ed.

    There should be no breaking changes, as the new position is only added with new style, that doesn't break existing functionality.

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