---
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/widget/appearance"
updated: "2026-10-28"
---

# Customize a widget

Open the widget's **Appearance** tab. It shows a summary of the look, and an **Open the designer** button. The designer is a large window. The brand, launcher, words and footer settings are on the left. On the right is the live widget on a mock page, shown as a chat bubble, in the page or as the hosted page, on desktop or on mobile.

Every change saves on its own and shows at once in the preview. The preview is the real widget: questions asked there are real answers and are charged. It also shows a format that is off, so you can design it before you turn it on.

## Words

The **Words** group of the designer.

| Setting                     | What it does                                                                                |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Title**                   | The chat's heading. Empty, it shows the assistant's name.                                   |
| **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 word on how answers are made. Empty, nothing shows.                                 |
| **Language of the buttons** | The language of the widget's own words. Answers always follow 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 switches to black or white for contrast.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| **Corners**  | Square to round.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| **Launcher** | A round button, a button with a label, or a centered bar (chat bubble format). The centered bar sits at the bottom centre of the page, shows the placeholder, and opens the chat in the middle of the screen; on a phone the chat takes the whole screen.                                    |
| **Icon**     | The launcher's icon: chat bubble, message, question, sparkle, assistant or search. On paid plans, your own image instead (a logo or a face, shown round): PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF, 256 KB at most. Also [through the API](/docs/api/widgets/set-widget-image) and `lookio widgets set-image`. |
| **Favicon**  | The hosted page's tab icon. By default it is drawn from your colour and icon. On paid plans, upload your own (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF or ICO, 256 KB at most), in the app, through the [API](/docs/api/widgets/set-widget-image) or with `lookio widgets set-image`.                            |
| **Position** | Bottom right or bottom left (round button and button with a label).                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |

## Behaviour

These settings are in the widget's **Config** tab, under **Visitors**, and **Sources** under **Answers**. The footer link is in the designer. Visitor and limit changes apply together when you select **Save preferences**. **Reset** discards unsaved changes.

| Setting                       | What it does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Sources**                   | How answers show where they come from. See below.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| **Remember the conversation** | Follow-up questions see the previous ones. Off, each question stands alone. Messages stay in Logs and become context again when enabled.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| **Visitors' chat history**    | On (the default), a visitor who comes back on the same browser finds their past chats in a **Past chats** list. Off, past chats are hidden and every visit starts fresh. A widget-specific browser proof remains for visitor limits; re-enabling restores access to retained chats. In the API it is `settings.visitor_history`. See [Visitors' conversations](/docs/widget/conversations).       |
| **Feedback**                  | On (the default), visitors see a thumbs up and a thumbs down under each answer, and can add a few words about what was wrong. Off, no thumbs are shown and new ratings are refused. Existing ratings and comments are kept. A visitor can change their mind or take a thumb back. In the API it is `settings.feedback`. Read the thumbs in [Visitors' conversations](/docs/widget/conversations). |
| **Powered by Lookio**         | A small link under the chat. Shown on the free plan; paid plans can hide it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |

## Sources

Choose how answers show where they come from. Lookio applies the choice on its servers: an address you turned off never reaches the visitor's browser.

| Mode                     | What visitors see                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Numbered, with links** | Answers cite `[1]`, `[2]`. A tap on a number shows the passage; web pages link to their address. The default.                                                                                                                                                           |
| **Numbered, no links**   | The same numbers, titles and passages, without any address, so visitors stay on your site.                                                                                                                                                                              |
| **Links in the text**    | The answer links its own words to the source pages, as a person writing would, with no list. Only sources with a web address can be linked. Describe the style you want in the assistant's context or answer guidelines, for example "link at most once per paragraph". |
| **Hidden**               | No source at all.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |

You can review every source in the widget's conversations in **Logs**, whatever the mode.
