Generative AI models offer many possibilities for text creation and transformation. Current graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for prompting them lack support for iterative exploration, as they do not represent prompts as actionable interface objects. We propose the concept of a composable prompting canvas for text exploration and iteration using dynamic widgets. Users generate widgets through system suggestions, prompting, or manually to capture task-relevant facets that affect the generated text. In a comparative study with a baseline (conversational UI), 18 participants worked on two writing tasks, creating diverse prompting environments with custom widgets and spatial layouts. They reported having more control over the generated text and preferred our system over the baseline. Our design significantly outperformed the baseline on the Creativity Support Index, and participants felt the results were worth the effort. This work highlights the need for GUIs that support user-driven customization and (re-)structuring to increase both the flexibility and efficiency of prompting.

翻译：生成式人工智能模型为文本创作与转换提供了诸多可能性。当前用于提示的图形用户界面（GUI）缺乏对迭代探索的支持，因为它们未能将提示表示为可操作的界面对象。我们提出了一种基于动态小部件的可组合提示画布概念，用于文本探索与迭代。用户可通过系统建议、提示或手动方式生成小部件，以捕捉影响生成文本的任务相关维度。在一项与基线系统（对话式界面）的对比研究中，18名参与者完成了两项写作任务，使用自定义小部件与空间布局构建了多样化的提示环境。参与者反馈对生成文本拥有更强的控制感，并更倾向于使用我们的系统。我们的设计在创造力支持指数上显著优于基线系统，且参与者认为成果值得投入的精力。这项工作凸显了支持用户驱动定制与（重新）结构化的GUI的必要性，以提升提示的灵活性与效率。