Bubble Editor Ideas and Suggestions

Agree! Meanwhile you can always type something quick that is not in the list (I use “dsa”) to filter all entries, leaving only the option to add a new text.

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@julienallard1 The problem doing that you have to type the same two times, after typing something that doesn’t exist and clicking on “define another text” it doesn’t take the last value.
But yes, that’s the best approach for now

Peek%2023-10-2019%2016-53

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Yup I know, that’s why I type something short and quick (“dsa”). It’s just to get to the button faster than scrolling.
But like you said, having the button on top of the list would be even better.

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@robert @yusaney1 @julienallard1 So sorry for the delay! Thank you for the great suggestions! I’ve added them as numbers 30, 31, and 32! :relaxed: :+1:

@fayewatson Along the lines of the suggestion by @yusaney1, there is a similar scrolling problem when adding a new field to a datatype that already has a lot of fields.

The “Create a New Field” button should be at the top as well as the bottom.

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a checkbox that enables add scroll bar to element.

Basically instead of what we have now, which is

17%20PM

only on text elements, there could be a “overflow - auto” checkbox on text and group elements, especially groupfoucs so that users can create search boxes with custom search results that a user can scroll without needing to use code.

Scrollbars seem to be an issue most users contend with at some point. Adding an auto overlow checkbox would be great.

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Great point, @robert! :slight_smile: :+1: I adjusted the list so that #32 is now moving the “Create a new field…” and “Define another app text…” options to the top of their dropdowns.

@boston85719 Totally agree! Would also be very helpful for group focus mobile menus that sometimes get cut off when the user’s phone height is too short. I’ve added your suggested as #33! :slight_smile:

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Make the ‘Description’ input on the ‘Deployment Message’ popup larger or multiline

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Thanks @gf_wolfer! :slight_smile: I added your name to #28!

@fayewatson I think you can now check off point 1 :tada: looks like we can filter through elements on a dynamic expression search when input is in a number format.

12/02/19

Improved the usability of the expression builder (type to filter fields on number fields, better handling of slidable palettes inside slidable palettes).

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It would be really helpful if the list of pages was in alphabetical order down, then across, instead of how it is now: across then down. It makes it unintuitive and therefore significantly slower (you have to scan back and forth instead of just scanning down) to find for the page you want.

Who is with me?

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It can get rather complicated to build pages (especially that are responsive) with groups within groups with the very limited visibility the editor provides.

It would be really handy if when you hover over a group or element in the editor if it told you the name of it.

And to be able to have maybe dotted lines around elements that aren’t selected, optionally, to be able to understand the layout better, as a whole.

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Thank you, @luke2! I just crossed off #1 and quite a few others that Bubble added on their Pebble Day!! :partying_face: :relaxed: :tada: :sparkles: :raised_hands:

@ryan16 I totally agree! I’ve added your suggestion as number 34! :slight_smile:

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Hi @fayewatson

For language lovers. The precious time to translate and change languages every time.

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Great suggestion, @JohnMark! I just added it as number 35! :slight_smile: :+1:

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I look at the other no-code creators as they pop up on my radar. For example I recently looked into Adalo. The other no-code platforms are all universally much easier to use than bubble, however they all seem to be limited in various ways. That’s understandable. However, they are almost all very beautiful because they use templated high quality design and its built in from the beginning.

There are some major things they do have that I really think bubble team should consider. Maybe they can be handled through plugins, I don’t know (as you know, we need to give our plugin makers more power to help build our future ).

Most of these other no code platforms will directly submit native apps. Bubblers have to go through hoops or spend a good deal of money to have someone else do it. It immediately takes us from no-code land to ‘it’d be better if you were a coder and a very patient one at that’. Even though the process is theoretically pretty simple it really requires way more work than it should. Or if you use BK Native, it is yet another thing to learn and is costly. Lacking docs no-coders could understand too. You can argue with me about the ease of doing it, but you would be wrong. :slight_smile:

Publishing an app from bubble to native app you can upload to the store should be push button.

In terms of the plugins, ours are almost all very poorly documented/maintained as compared to what it looks like with Adalo where they have their own Zapier integration (plus dozens more), etc, all built into the interface in a way that doesn’t require a lot of digging around, installing, guessing, hoping, emailing the creator, and praying. They just work. Oh, and they have online live help provided by the company, something we come to the forums for and where our questions don’t get answered with any consistency.

Pricing: They are quite a bit cheaper. You can post a native app that does most of what most bubble apps probably do for $50 a month, unlimited apps! We can’t post even one for that, and we have to use 3rd parties if we don’t do it ourselves, and it costs about $500. I know their apps are simpler, but to assume they’d stay that way is naive.

From my developer perspective, I prefer bubble greatly, but with its learning curve (a curve that most no-code wannabes will not endure), its hard to justify it being more expensive and harder to push an app out than those, who will soon have more features, and will get the lions share of the no-code business. They are truly no-code in a way bubble is kinda not.

In my opinion.

I want to see bubble grow - I’m devoting time and building client work on it for good reason but it has really been way more of a struggle than ‘no-code’ implies, because of the reasons above - which are all fixable with putting effort into empowering the community (plugin makers and developers), documentation (its universally lacking), QA, usability, etc.

Thanks for listening. I hope this doesn’t sound like just a rant, it is meant to be constructive.

The upshot is ‘give us push-button native app creation please’

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I’ve seen a lot of posts like this over the years, and they’re always thoughtful and well framed, but they scare me. I view Bubble as the world’s best tool for building no code web applications, and I’d (personally) prefer to see it continue to get better on that front vs pivoting to becoming a native app builder. There are so many areas of opportunity around speed, design tools, stability, scalability, etc, I can imagine a team the size of Bubble has enough work in those domains to keep them occupied for years. From my own personal perspective, tackling native app functions feels like a distraction, considering there are so many other complementary tools out there (like Adalo, which you mentioned).

I’m a huge fan of Adalo, and truthfully, I see them as two separate tools that do different things, and comparing them feels “unfair.” If you have a limited budget of time and money, and mobile apps are your primary use case, I’ve always personally felt that Bubble should not be where you turn first. Now, I’m only one person, and certainly don’t speak for everyone, but it’s interesting to me to see how often this type of request gets surfaced by members of the community.

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I hear that it scares you, but bubble is promoted as being able to do a lot of things including make apps… and it can. And the functionality is totally great to do it with, while Adalo and some other things seem a bit simplistic right now.

Making it easy to publish an app, when there’s already plugins there and people are clearly attempting to make it easier does not feel like a pivot to me, or threatening in any way. So I’m a little confused by that. But I am newer to bubble than you are.

I find it hard to understand why making that capability less difficult is a drawback!

:slight_smile:

I think your use of the word “native” is what I’m reacting to. If you want to use Bubble to build apps that are wrapped in some sort of tech, that’s fine. Pivoting to generate native code, that’s the bit that I worry about.

Some are easier, some aren’t. Almost all have severe limitations.

You should see some of the real world apps I have on Knack & Zoho Creator with 1,000s of lines of CSS and copy/pasted javascript just to try to get them to do basic things that are no brainers in Bubble.

Cost? You can’t find much cheaper than Bubble.

Even Adalo (great company but not comparable) is $50 for 5gb of storage for mobile app only. Need more than that and they say buy the $200 plan to get up to 20gb. Need more? Call them for pricing.

Zoho Creator is $10 per user per month per app.

Knack has no per user fee but I can tell you from experience it gets to the $200 range very quickly if the app is being used.

Betty Blocks starts at $1200 per month.

Wappler is probably a bit cheaper than Bubble but absolutely not a no-code product.

People mistake no code for easy and cheap.

I really hope Bubble doesn’t become easy and cheap.

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