I support the idea of continuous improvement and appreciate all the efforts Bubble has made in recent months. However, it seems that we still have some problems with prior testing not being performed internally before launching some new things and, most importantly, without the option to activate/deactivate these changes as “beta features”.
This possibility was given in the updates to the new workflows tab and it was commendable. Those who wanted to opt to use it knew that it was something new and it was being improved (so there would be possible bugs), while those who didn’t want to, remained without any headaches. I think that was interesting and allowed users to choose whether to test it or not. Maybe this should be a model to be followed for most future updates.
Well, I think my role here is not only to say how powerful Bubble is, the possible opportunities it offers to people around the world and how it can change the lives of many, but also to help improve the tool with a view to benefiting the community as a whole, after all, I am part of it.
So here is my view on this new update, the view of someone who uses Bubble daily, every single day. Maybe I am not seeing many comments here or even in previous updates because most people here maybe use Bubble infrequently? Maybe because they are too lazy to report these issues while waiting for others to report them? Maybe because they are course sellers or content creators who don’t really need these small “Quality of Life” improvements (few more QoL reported here) that positively affect the productivity of those who spend their days developing in Bubble? Maybe because they use Bubble just for “fun” or personal projects that they never took forward? Maybe because they manage an agency and don’t care about the working conditions of their employees, as long as they deliver things on time? Well, I don’t know which is the case… anyway, here’s my contribution.
Issues and possible improvements that I noticed in this new version.
1 – Everything is slower: Everything seems slower in the editor when we open this section of pages and Reusable Elements (REs), including a huge delay to open this section.
2 – Absence of category separators: There is no longer a separation between pages and REs. Although both have specific icons for this purpose, the lack of a more obvious separation makes it a little bit difficult to immediately visually distinguish between these two categories.
3 – Extremely tedious folder management: Just like in the previous version, inserting/removing pages and REs in folders is a nightmare. As already mentioned, it would be much more productive if it were possible to drag pages/REs or even have a multi-select ability to move these elements to folders.
4 – “Cut” names/labels: Now REs that have longer names are visually “cut” and you need to hover over them to see the full name (remember that the native Bubble tooltip used here when hovering has a delay, which does not improve the situation).
I know they added the ellipsis and nowrap properties here, but this whole problem could be fixed if we could have the ability to define a minimum/maximum size for this element window in a way that is best for each one, just like we have some canvas configuration options in “Grids & Guides” section, why not have some inputs in the “View” section that would allow this? Maybe even include a custom width for the elements tree and even other sections.
This is currently controlled by the classapp-interface-manager-side-panel with a current width fixed at 508px (I don’t know why this value is set). I believe that if each user could control this, adjusting the value to their work environment, monitor, etc., it would be the best option. Who knows, maybe even having the elements arranged in more columns if they wanted, for wider monitors.
I know, maybe someone will include this possibility in some browser extension, great. However, considering that many here, including myself, are not big fans of third-party extensions, it would be much better for Bubble to have this by default.
In addition to the above suggestion, with the change in width, another thing that would help fix these “cut” names would be to change the class app-interface-list-item width to 100% instead of being fixed at 234px.
5 – Loading thumbnails in REs returns to the top of the list: If we have the Element thumbnails option enabled, every time we hover over a RE, a load is performed and we are taken to the top of the list again. This may not be perceptible in apps with few REs, but in more complex and modular apps with a large number of REs this happens all the time, it is practically impossible to select an RE from the list without having to search for it.
