--- title: "Customize a widget" description: "The words, colours, launcher, position, language and behaviour of a widget, designed next to a live preview in the app." canonical: "https://lookio.app/docs/guides/widget/appearance" updated: "2026-11-08" --- # Customize a widget Open the widget's **Appearance** tab, then **Open the designer**. The settings are on the left. On the right is the live widget on a sample page, in each format, on desktop or mobile. Each change saves at once and shows in the preview. The preview is the real widget: questions there get real answers and cost credits. It also shows formats that are off, so you can design them first. ![The Appearance tab of a widget: a preview of the chat and launcher in teal, then Theme, Colour, Corners, Launcher and Suggestions, and Open the designer](/docs/images/app/widget-appearance.webp) _Appearance: a summary of the look, and the button that opens the designer._ ## Words The **Words** group of the designer. | Setting | What it does | | --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Title** | The chat's heading. If empty, the assistant's name. | | **Subtitle** | A line under the title, up to 80 characters, such as "Available 24/7". If empty, the title is alone and centered. | | **Greeting** | The first message a visitor reads. | | **Suggested questions** | Up to four, shown as buttons before the first question. | | **Placeholder** | The text in the empty question box. | | **Notice under the box** | A short note on how answers are made. If empty, nothing shows. | | **Language of the buttons** | The language of the widget's own words. Answers always use the language of the question. | ## Look The **Brand** and **Launcher** groups of the designer. | Setting | Options | | ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Theme** | Light, dark, or auto (follows the visitor's system). | | **Colour** | Any colour. Text on it is black or white, for contrast. | | **Corners** | Square to round. | | **Message bubbles** | Follow the corners, or always round. | | **Launcher** | A round button, a button with a label, or a bar at the bottom centre (chat bubble format). The bar shows the placeholder and opens the chat in the middle of the screen, full screen on a phone. The bar can show an icon, and can be see-through. | | **Launcher size** | Small, medium or large. | | **Icon** | The launcher's icon: chat bubble, message, question, sparkle, assistant or search. On paid plans, your own image (a logo or a face, shown round): PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF, 256 KB at most. | | **Header icon** | The icon in the chat's header, the sparkle by default, or none. On paid plans, your own image, with the same formats. | | **Favicon** | The tab icon of the hosted page. By default, made from your colour and icon. On paid plans, your own image: PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF or ICO, 256 KB at most. | | **Position** | Bottom right or bottom left (round button and button with a label). | You can also set the three images [through the API](/docs/api/widgets/set-widget-image) or with `lookio widgets set-image` (`launcher`, `header` or `favicon`). ## Behaviour These settings are in the **Config** tab: **Sources** under **Answers**, the others under **Visitors**. The footer link is in the designer. **Save preferences** applies the changes. **Reset** cancels the changes not saved. | Setting | What it does | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Sources** | How answers show where they come from. See below. | | **Remember the conversation** | On, a follow-up question uses the previous ones. Off, each question stands alone. The messages stay in Logs. | | **Visitors' chat history** | On (the default), a visitor who comes back in the same browser finds their past chats under **Past chats**. Off, each visit starts a new chat. Turn it on again and the kept chats come back. In the API: `settings.visitor_history`. See [Visitors' conversations](/docs/guides/widget/conversations). | | **Feedback** | On (the default), visitors see a thumbs up and down under each answer, and can add a comment. They can change or remove their thumb. Off, there are no thumbs and Lookio refuses new ones. It keeps the old ones. In the API: `settings.feedback`. | | **Powered by Lookio** | A small link under the chat. Always on the free plan. Paid plans can hide it. | ## Sources Choose how answers show their sources. Lookio applies the choice on its servers: an address that you hide never reaches the visitor's browser. | Mode | What visitors see | | ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Numbered, with links** (default) | Answers cite `[1]`, `[2]`. A click on a number opens the source in a new tab. Hover, or a tap on a touch screen, shows the passage. A source without an address shows the passage on click. | | **Numbered, no links** | The same numbers, titles and passages, without addresses, so visitors stay on your site. Hover shows the passage. A click or a tap keeps it open. | | **Links in the text** | The answer links its own words to the source pages, with no list. Only sources with a web address get a link. To set the style, write it in the assistant's guidelines, for example "link at most once per paragraph". | | **Hidden** | No source at all. | In **Logs**, the widget's conversations always show every source, whatever the mode.