@fede.bubble feedback for team
Here’s a cleaned-up, forum-ready version based on your pasted feedback.
Feedback on the New Plugin Editor Redesign
First, I want to say that the redesigned plugin editor looks much more modern visually. It is nice to see the plugin editor getting attention, and the updated interface does feel cleaner in several areas.
That said, there are several usability issues that are making the new editor much harder to work with in practice, especially for plugin developers who spend a lot of time creating fields, actions, exposed states, events, and large code blocks.
1. Drag-and-drop on fields is too distracting during normal editing
The new drag-and-drop functionality for fields is useful in theory, but in practice it is constantly interfering with normal field editing.
When editing a field’s label, caption, type, documentation, checkbox settings, optional status, or other properties, my mouse naturally moves across the field border. Because of the new drag-and-drop UI, the border highlight keeps activating while I am simply trying to edit the field.
This is visually distracting and disorienting. It also sometimes feels like there may be a z-index issue, where the drag-and-drop layer appears to interfere with clicking into the actual controls I need to edit.
Suggested fix: Add a simple toggle for Enable drag-and-drop.
Most plugin developers probably do not need drag-and-drop enabled constantly. A better workflow would be:
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Keep drag-and-drop off while creating or editing fields.
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Turn it on only when fields need to be reordered.
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Move the fields.
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Turn it back off.
The drag-and-drop UI should not constantly activate while we are trying to make normal edits.
2. Drag-and-drop should also exist for exposed states
It is great that fields now have drag-and-drop, but exposed states still cannot be reordered.
This is a major missing piece.
As plugins grow, developers often need to add exposed states later. Right now, if a new exposed state should appear higher in the list, there is no clean way to move it. The only practical workaround is deleting and recreating states, which is not ideal.
This also affects the user experience in the Bubble editor and debugger. Exposed states can become long and difficult to scan, especially when some states are lists of things.
Suggested fix: Add drag-and-drop reordering for exposed states as well.
Plugin developers should be able to organize exposed states in a logical order without deleting and recreating them.
3. List exposed states should be collapsible in the debugger
When inspecting a plugin in the Bubble debugger, exposed states that are lists of things appear to expand automatically.
This becomes very difficult to work with when the exposed state contains many items. For example, if an exposed state is a list of 100 things, the debugger may show all 100 items and their fields before the next exposed state is visible.
That makes it unnecessarily hard to inspect the plugin.
Suggested fix: List-based exposed states should be collapsed by default in the debugger, with a simple way to expand and collapse them.
This would make the debugger much easier to navigate when working with plugins that expose lists.
4. Add a “Select All” button to code sections
The updated code section looks cleaner, and the new icons at the top of the code box are a nice improvement.
However, one simple feature would be a huge quality-of-life improvement: a Select All button for each code box.
The plugin editor code section is not a full code editor. Many plugin developers write and edit their code in an external code editor, then copy it back into Bubble.
The current workflow is tedious:
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Edit code in an external editor.
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Select all and copy from the external editor.
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Return to Bubble’s plugin editor.
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Manually highlight all existing code in the Bubble code box.
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Paste over it.
For large code blocks, manually selecting all code inside the Bubble editor is frustrating.
Suggested fix: Add a simple Select All icon/button to each code box so all code in that function can immediately be highlighted, copied, deleted, or replaced.
This would be a small change with a very large usability benefit.
5. Autosave should be optional
The new editor feels significantly slower, especially when creating or editing fields.
Every time I create a field, enter a name, change the caption, select a type, or adjust other settings, there is a delay. It feels like autosave is interrupting the workflow constantly.
Suggested fix: Add a toggle for Autosave On/Off.
When autosave is off, show a clear Save button.
For many plugin developers, it would be much faster to create or edit a group of fields first, then manually save once after those changes are complete.
Autosave is helpful in some cases, but it should not be mandatory when it slows down repetitive plugin-building workflows.
6. Field captions should default to the field name again
Previously, when entering a field name, the caption would automatically match the name. That was very useful.
In the new editor, the caption starts blank. This creates extra work because the developer still has to enter something manually.
Suggested fix: When a field name is entered, automatically set the caption to match the name by default.
A more advanced improvement would be allowing plugin developers to define a caption formatting rule, such as converting snake_case or camelCase field names into readable captions.
But at minimum, the old behavior should return: the caption should automatically match the field name.
7. Documentation should not be placed so prominently in the field row
The documentation field now appears too prominently within the main row of field settings.
Documentation can contain longer text, so placing it near the main field controls makes the interface feel more cluttered and distracting.
Suggested fix: Move documentation back toward the end or underneath the main field settings, similar to how it worked before.
This made the field editor easier to scan and kept the primary field settings more focused.
8. Field documentation should support clickable links
Plugin developers often need to provide more detailed documentation than what fits cleanly inside a field description.
Right now, documentation in the plugin editor does not provide a good way to surface clickable links to users inside the Bubble app editor.
Suggested fix: Allow clickable links in field documentation.
This would let plugin developers provide a short explanation directly in the Bubble editor, plus a link to expanded documentation when needed.
9. Documentation for events, exposed states, and actions should be surfaced to plugin users
There are documentation areas for things like events, exposed states, and possibly actions, but much of that documentation does not seem to be surfaced clearly to the end user inside the Bubble app editor.
For events, this is especially important. When a user selects a plugin event in the workflow editor, they should be able to see documentation explaining what the event is for and how it works.
Actions have a similar issue. Right now, plugin developers often create an “info” field at the top of an action just to provide documentation. That feels outdated and unnecessary.
Suggested fix: Add proper documentation support for actions and events, and surface that documentation directly in the Bubble workflow editor.
For example:
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Event documentation should appear when selecting a plugin event.
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Action documentation should appear when selecting a plugin action.
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Exposed state documentation should have a useful place where plugin users can access it.
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Field documentation should remain visible where users configure plugin properties.
This would let plugin developers provide much better guidance without relying on workarounds.
10. The new editor is extremely slow and memory-heavy
The biggest practical issue with the redesign is performance.
The new editor is extremely slow compared to the previous version. It becomes slow enough that it interrupts normal work.
Examples:
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Creating fields has noticeable delays.
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Changing field settings is delayed.
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Copying an element can take 15–20 seconds.
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Pasting can also take a long time.
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Deleting items causes long waits.
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Browser “page is unresponsive” warnings appear.
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Switching tabs inside the plugin editor can become slow.
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The editor starts around hundreds of MB of memory usage and gets worse over time.
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I have to close and reopen the editor every 15–30 minutes just to keep working efficiently.
This is a major regression for plugin developers who spend long sessions inside the plugin editor.
Suggested fix: Prioritize performance optimization for the new editor.
The visual redesign is appreciated, but the editor needs to remain fast and responsive. Right now, the slowdown is significant enough that it affects how often I save versions and how efficiently I can build.
11. Allow custom icons for plugin elements
For plugin elements, we currently have to choose from existing icons that often do not accurately represent what the element does.
With AI tools now making it very easy to generate simple custom icons, plugin developers would likely be willing to create icons that better match their elements.
Suggested fix: Allow plugin developers to upload or define custom icons for plugin elements.
This would make plugins feel more polished and help users better understand what each element is for.
Closing thoughts
Overall, the new plugin editor looks nicer and more modern, and I appreciate that Bubble is investing in improving it.
However, the redesign currently introduces several workflow and performance issues that make plugin development harder than before.
The biggest priorities from my perspective are:
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Improve editor performance.
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Make drag-and-drop optional.
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Add drag-and-drop for exposed states.
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Make list exposed states collapsible in the debugger.
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Add a Select All button to code sections.
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Restore automatic captions from field names.
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Improve how documentation is handled and surfaced to plugin users.
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Allow custom icons for plugin elements.
These changes would make the new editor much more practical for plugin developers who are building and maintaining complex plugins.
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- disable the lines hover when any dropdown is expanded.