Why did they remove Canvas? Add it back

[anthonyloprimo]

I discovered that Canvas was removed., and while I didn’t frequently use it, it was fantastic to work with it when ChatGPT would generate such a thing. I didn’t have to deal with any guesswork, I could view things side by side, and it made a convenient tool (ChatGPT) even more convenient. Editing code? Sure, I wouldn’t use that as much anymore since I use the Codex plugin in VS Code, but when I couldn’t use it, working with it in Canvas was useful.

But normal text documents? The inline Writing Blocks are so much worse presentation-wise, and it’s just terrible. Like at least have the ability to open it to the side?

Anything online I’ve found suggests it was to “keep the experience the same across devices”… I don’t think there’s any way you can convince me it would be an issue. You’re literally developing ChatGPT. Can you not use codex to help maintain a general UI with specific tweaks for each platform you use it on? I don’t want the same experience on different platforms. I want something consistent yeah, but I also want to leverage the full ability of what I’m using. Am I on a desktop with a FHD monitor, or even a 4k-esque display? Let me use the full width if I want to maximize the window, and if I keep it small, I get a more traditional UI. Let me use Canvas. The code literally exists. You literally have (or had) it available for older models before it’s discontinued.

If I’m on a phone, I’m using it to chat and ask questions, not edit a huge document. And having a toggle to flip between the document and the chat should be easy (as someone that generally does front-end stuff I could easily prototype this without AI, and even then leverage it to make it a pretty darn interactive prototype).

If I’m on a desktop or tablet, I’m going to be trying to get more serious work done.

This whole “we need to make everything unified and consistent” has been going on for way too long and the fact that it has been so pervasive in every form of software development has been the worst thing ever. It was great in the beginning, until desktop apps have been getting simplified, mobile-first design slop.

Do better. Let us leverage the full power of whatever platform we’re accessing your stuff on. There’s no reason to not allow Canvas on the web interface and/or desktop app.

[EricGT]

This topic has been raised before.

Below this topic, you’ll find a Related topics section. You may want to check those discussions to see what others have reported and whether any solutions or workarounds have been found.

[anthonyloprimo]

I didn’t really see anything related to Canvas, when I glanced at suggested related topics, my apologies. And I was in a bit of a vent mode. Still, I’ll take a closer look and see what people suggest. Lately it seems when something annoys me this much, there are really no workarounds that could be done :/. Fingers crossed I’ll find a suitable workaround at this point

[EricGT]

@anthonyloprimo

I didn’t really see anything related to Canvas, when I glanced at suggested related topics

This is what I see and why I made the recommendation.

Here are links for the first two in the list.

Canvas Editor Removal is bad for business

I need to understand WHY the Canvas Editor was removed and replaced with these stupid writing blocks? What was wrong about having both of them? Your writing blocks do not do what I need them to do, because I am a writer, not a coder. I have been working inside ChatGPT for 14 months on a project where I was working 12 - 16 hours everyday, and now I can barely get any work done becasue of the inconsistencies of your program. Please bring back the Canvas Editor or allow those of us who really cheri…

Why remove Canvas instead of adding full screen mode to it?

I wanted to leave some feedback on the new edit box experience that seems to have replaced Canvas. For my workflow, it feels like a downgrade. The thing I valued most about Canvas was the side by side layout. I could keep the conversation open while working on the draft. That meant I could brainstorm, ask follow up questions, rewrite a section, compare versions, and keep the wider context in view. That was the whole point for me. It was not just a place to type. It was a writing space connect…

[anthonyloprimo]

I need to figure out how to search better. I tried filtering by tags and I got only two other posts from earlier this year or last year and they weren’t about the end of the Canvas feature. Thank you!

[anthonyloprimo]

Interestingly your screenshot looks different. At the bottom of this page I get a “Suggested” and “Related” tab, and while the list otherwise looks consistent, I see general complaints about the ChatGPT app, the Playground UI update, and just everything but discussion about Canvas. Strange.