Hi everyone,
In case you missed my last post, I’m Lindsay, a PM for the summer here at Bubble. I’m thrilled to share the results of our very first Bubble Boost Day! This event was all about addressing the quality of life improvements you’ve requested and enhancing the overall user experience on the Bubble platform.
We shipped 30 boosts! Here’s a detailed recap of everything we released:
What did we ship?
Property editor
- Move PE flyout: Now, when you move the property editor (PE), the flyout will move along with it, helping you keep your workspace organized and improving your efficiency.
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Color wheel: When you click on the color wheel in the property editor, the color input will be automatically focused, allowing you to change colors with just one click.
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Up/down button on conditional expressions: The up and down buttons for conditional expressions will stay visible but grayed out when unavailable. This way, you know they exist without disrupting your workflow when organizing multiple conditions.
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Clearer “save data” message: When you save data, the message will now read “saved to Bubble storage” instead of “saved to S3,” providing clearer terminology that aligns with our platform.
Data tab
- Hover on data types: When you hover over data types and option sets, they will now gray out, helping you see alignments more clearly.
- Reduced confirmation popups: If you select “hide this message later on,” confirmation popups for modifying, entering, or deleting an entry will no longer appear, reducing unnecessary interruptions.
- Descriptive privacy settings: The default rules checkbox in privacy settings will now say “things are visible to everyone” or “things are only seen by their creators” when unchecked, providing more descriptive text to help you understand its purpose and implications.
- Delete button width: The delete button width will now widen for large numbers, allowing you to see the full text when managing app data.
- Locked scroll position: Your scroll position will now be preserved when editing data fields, preventing automatic jumps to the top after renaming a field.
- Warning for free space: A warning regarding free space / disk size has been added to help you manage storage more effectively.
Elements tree
- Elements tree search: We’ve added a “clear” function to the element tree search, allowing you to reset your search quickly and easily.
- Scrolling search bar: The asset search bar will now stay visible while you scroll through assets, making it easier to find what you need without losing the search bar.
Plugins
- Empty default star rating: The default star rating for plugins is now empty, allowing plugin developers to start with a blank rating and set it as needed.
Debugger
- Debugger list count: When debugging, you’ll now see the count of list items. This will make it easier to understand your data and prevent you from having to count items manually.
Settings
- Editor permissions: The permission settings text now reads “define who can see and modify app editor," clearly indicating that these permissions affect who can modify the editor, not just the app.
- Confirm sub-app deletions: When removing a sub-app, you will now see a confirmation popup to avoid accidental deletions.
Design tab
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Resize search tool: You can now resize the app search tool to view more search results and better organize your screen.
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Vertically stacked state names and field names: Inputs for creating new custom states and data fields are now vertically stacked, allowing you to see larger names.
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Remove create new page option: The “Create new page” option has been removed from the select menu when cloning pages, reducing unnecessary options.
Hotkeys
Please note: hotkeys will not work on legacy responsive pages. Find more information about how to upgrade your pages here.
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Zoom in/out hotkeys: You can now use hotkeys (Cmd Shift + and Cmd Shift -) to zoom in and out on the canvas, making navigation easier without affecting the sidebars.
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Move between elements hotkey: Navigate elements more efficiently with new keyboard shortcuts:
- Tab: Move between elements (Applies to both canvas and elements tree in all layout options)
- Enter: Jump from parent to child in hierarchy
- Shift + Enter: Go back to the parent level from the child
- Change element order hotkey: Organize elements with keyboard shortcuts:
- Arrow keys: Change order of elements in both elements tree and canvas. (Up and down keys in column or left and right in a row layout). On fixed layouts, keyboard arrows nudge position.
- Edit dynamic data hotkey: Jump into dynamic data quickly with a new keyboard shortcut:
- Cmd / (US), Cmd - (France), Cmd ö (Germany)
- Tab to create: Quickly tab through inputs when creating a new field or custom state to insert data more efficiently.
Elements adjustments
- Fit width to content defaults: “Fit width to content” is now auto-checked when adding elements, helping you create responsive designs by default.
- Shorter default widths: We’ve decreased the default widths for groups, repeating groups, links, tables, and alerts.
- Fit width to content popups: Popups in the editor now have “fit width to content,” ensuring a clean and responsive design without the need for manual size adjustments.
- Default to column: Reusable elements, popups, and floating groups will now default to a column format.
- Transparent default background: When converting elements to reusable, the default background will now be transparent instead of white, preserving design consistency.
- Copy/paste below elements: When copying and pasting elements, they will now be placed below the mouse-selected elements, maintaining the structure and layout of your design.
An inside look at how Boost Days work
While the building took place over two days, Boost Day has been in the works for weeks! Here’s a peek at what it took to release these changes in just 48 hours:
- Defining the list: We gathered ideas from our community through the Ideaboard, social media, support cases, and forum posts. We had so much input from so many members of the community, but special shout out to @brenton.strine, @heythere, @sam.morgan, @TipLister, @lois.laput, @oybek.ostanakulov, @rosejrr, @georgecollier
- Scoping: Folks from across Engineering, Design, Product, and Research scoped a full list of over 100 potential boosts. We evaluated the boosts based on the number of users affected as well as the severity of the issue. We also wanted to prioritize items we believed we could complete in the two-day sprint. Finally, we took this list of prioritized boosts to our new Bubble Ambassadors (BAM) for additional help in prioritizing the list.
- Boost Day 1 (Monday): Each engineer selected a focus area such as the elements tree or hotkeys. Throughout the day, engineers took tickets, huddled with design, and did their own QA.
- Boost Day 2 (Tuesday): The team focused entirely on QA to address bugs, pass tests, and to ensure no regressions.
- Boost Day 3 (Wednesday): The buzzer hit Tuesday night before our end-of-day code freeze. Out of an abundance of caution, we waited until this morning to ship the last 10 boosts.
What’s next?
We know how meaningful these updates are, and that’s why we’re committed to doing more Boost Days regularly to address the many additional requests we weren’t able to get to this time around. If you have more suggestions or want to see specific changes, keep sharing your thoughts on our Idea board and forum. Our next Bubble Boost Day is already in the planning stages! Stay tuned for more details.
Your input is invaluable in shaping the future of Bubble. Thank you for being an integral part of our community and for helping us make Bubble better every day!
Lindsay
