Bubble is a great tool to build apps rapidly and without the need to code. This also allows you to save big on developer or agency costs. Though building with the Bubble application builder is fairly straightforward and intuitive, it is easy to see why new users might get baffled by the variety of components, functionality, tools, and elements available to be used.
In this guide, we will answer the question of how to build a mobile app with Bubble – for beginners. This is the first part of a 3-part guide.
Understanding web apps and how they work
The term “web app” is used to refer to a variety of different types of applications, but most people think about them as programs that run in a web browser. These apps are usually accessed on the Internet, but they do not need to be — you could also install them on your home computer or phone.
Web apps are often designed for easy use by people with little or no technical knowledge. The most popular web apps include Gmail, Google Docs, and Facebook.
In order to understand how a web app works, it’s important to know how the Internet works in general. The Internet is made up of many different computers connected together through cables and wireless connections. When you visit any website online (such as www.google.com), that website’s server sends data back to your computer through these connections.
This means that when you visit a website or open an email attachment, your browser or email program sends data back and forth between the server where that website is hosted and your computer — it is much like sending letters between two people who live far away from each other.
Web apps can sometimes work both online and offline, and can always be used from anywhere with an internet connection.
The most common example of a web app is Google Docs. You can type in a text, save it as a file, and then open it later on when you need to make changes or retrieve the info you saved.
Web apps are usually free to use (with some exceptions). They are also easy to use because they do not require any installation process. You simply open up your browser and go to the website where the app is located.
They perform many of the same functions as desktop programs, but they are often more limited and simpler to use.
Web apps differ from traditional client-server applications in some important ways:
- The application logic is always running on the server side, with only a small amount of client-side code needed to display and interact with the data.
- Web apps can be accessed from any device with a web browser, which means they’re accessible from smartphones, tablets, and other devices without needing to install anything on them.
- Most web apps work in a “single-page” mode, where clicking on links or buttons navigates to a new page without reloading all the content from scratch.
Bubble no code app development is a great way to build scalable web apps.
Designing and customizing app layouts in the Bubble application builder
Bubble no code development is a mobile app development platform that lets you create mobile apps for Android and iOS using the same codebase for both platforms. It has a simple drag-and-drop interface that lets you create apps in minutes.
The usual bits and pieces of building your first Bubble no code app will most likely include these:
- Creating your project from scratch or using an existing one.
- Adding a screen and set its background color, text color, etc. You can also add images to each screen by clicking on the “Image” icon.
- Adding different elements such as text fields, buttons, etc., and customizing their properties as needed.
- Setting up navigation between screens (screen transitions) by dragging elements onto the “Navigation” bar at the bottom of each screen, or using links between screens in code if necessary (for example, when creating separate tabs).
The Bubble application builder’s editor is the place where you will design and customize your app layouts. You can use the editor to change the look and feel of your app, add content, and customize navigation.
The Bubble no code editor is made up of three key areas:
- The canvas displays the layout of your app. It is where you drag and drop widgets from the left-hand side panel onto individual screens.
- The left-hand side panel contains all the widgets available for use in your app. You can search for specific widgets by typing part of their name into the search box at the top of this panel.
- The right-hand side panel contains additional information about each widget you select, including its properties and configuration options.
It is best to start with the default layout for your first project – which might just be a sandbox to learn things or experiment around. The Bubble layout builder is designed to be intuitive and easy to use. You can quickly get started just by:
- Selecting a template from the Template Gallery
- Customizing your template by adding app screens, text fields, buttons, and more
- Previewing your changes in real time
How to create user input forms in the Bubble application builder
Bubble is a platform for creating mobile apps without writing code.
Bubble’s visual interface lets you build apps quickly and easily, with no coding required. It has over 200 built-in components that allow you to create anything from a single-page website to an entire app.
The Bubble application builder enables you to create user input forms in three simple steps:
- Create a Bubble project.
- Create the form.
- Add fields to it: Add questions to your project by dragging them into the question list panel.
- Customize the fields: Adjust the properties of each question by clicking on its title bar, then editing its attributes in the inspector panel on the right side of your screen.
- Add validation rules: Add validation rules to each question by dragging them into the validation rules panel (or creating them manually).
Bubble application builder is a web-based editor that makes it easy to create user input forms.
A Bubble form is a series of questions that users answer in order to submit their data. For example, if you were building a signup page for your product, you might want to ask for an email address and phone number.
Bubble is a React UI component library that makes it easy to create user input forms.
Bubble’s declarative approach to building forms makes it easy to keep your state synchronized with your form data. It also supports creating complex form layouts, so you can build rich and interactive experiences.
Wish to do it the HTML way? Indeed, writing plain HTML is sometimes more flexible and even easier (depending on your knowledge of form elements in HTML) while creating forms. Creating form fields in the Bubble application builder is the same as doing it on a text editor while coding a webpage.
Bubble is built around forms that let you create user input with text fields, buttons, checkboxes and more. The basic syntax for creating a form looks like this:
{% form user_input %}
<form>
<textarea name=”userInput” rows=”10″ cols=”30″>Write something here</textarea>
<input type=”submit” value=”Submit”>
</form>
The first line creates the <form> element, which then contains all of the other elements in your form. The second line creates an <textarea> element that lets users enter text into your form. Finally, we use another <input> element to create a button that lets users submit their data back to you when they click it.
Structuring an application
Structuring your application’s layout is critical to success. It does not just require you to understand modern aesthetics but to also keep responsiveness in mind. Thankfully, Bubble makes things a lot easier so you can focus on the key areas of your layout.
When you first create a new project, Bubble will automatically generate a skeleton layout for you. This includes all the boilerplate code needed to get your application working.
The default layout is made up of three distinct components:
- The App component is where your app’s root component lives. All other components in your application will be nested inside this component.
- The Nav component is what you see when you launch Bubble for the first time. It is where you will find links to other parts of the app (e.g., settings) as well as a link back to the homepage.
- The Toolbar component provides access to common actions like logout and signup buttons.
The Bubble application builder has a layout library for React that helps you build applications faster and more easily.
Bubble no code application development is like a layer on top of React, so it is easy to learn, understand and debug. It also works with existing CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Material-UI.
Bubble no code development is largely a UI framework that helps you build your application’s layout in a few lines of code. You can think about it as a set of building blocks that you can combine to create the layout of your application.
Bubble’s philosophy is to provide high-level abstractions that make it easier for developers to get started with building their applications in a declarative way. It gives you the power of defining how your app looks in just one place and lets you change it all at once.
In this section, we will cover the basics of how Bubble works and how to use it to structure your application’s layout.
The Bubble application builder extends the concept of layouts to an entire application by creating separate layouts for different parts of an application (e.g., header, footer, sidebar). These layouts are then rendered on top of each other so that every element on screen has its own layout defined with Bubble no code app development.
You can create your application’s layout in Bubble no code app builder by creating a project, then adding the following components:
- App: the root of your application. It can contain other components and views.
- View: a screen that displays content (text, images, video, etc.)
- Component: an element on a view that responds to user actions (such as clicking)
Bubble application builder works by creating an application layout for you. It does this by providing a collection of widgets, which are small pieces of UI that can be added to the screen. The Bubble no code development library uses a layout manager to arrange these widgets on your screen.
This is different from other libraries because it allows you to create layouts without worrying about the specifics of the layout manager. This makes it easy to rearrange your app’s UI without having to worry about changing code or breaking things.
The Library in Bubble application builder has three main components:
Layouts: These define how your application looks on screen, as well as where each widget should go and how big it should be. Layouts can also be used as containers for other layouts, allowing you to create complex layouts using only a few lines of code
Widgets: These are individual items that can be placed inside a layout. A button, for example, is a widget that can be placed inside a layout
Events: Events are triggered when users interact with your app (eg; tapping on an element). Events include things like touches (when someone touches the screen), clicks (when someone clicks on something), and keypresses (when someone presses down on a key).
Building a user interface
You can build your application’s user interface in the Bubble application builder using the UI designer.
In this section, we are going to use the UI designer to create an application with a simple user interface that shows a single message.
This section assumes you have already created an app with a basic layout and some content.
On the left side of the screen, click on “Layout” and choose “New”. This creates a new layout that will be used for all of your pages. If you want to change this later, you can always do so from within the context menu at any time.
Now, drag and drop some widgets from “Components” onto your page to build your interface.
The look and feel will be decided completely by you. It helps to have first created a wireframe or sketched a layout before you start designing the app UI in the Bubble application builder’s editor.
Test out all the different elements, tools, and components and see which ones give the best results for which types of appearance.
Having references from the internet or other apps is also quite helpful while you design your own app.
Once you have mastered the basics of creating basic user interfaces, what more can Bubble do?
Bubble application builder provides a high-level API for building your application’s user interface, providing components that abstract away the complexity of NativeScript UI elements and animations. The main idea behind Bubble is to make it easier to create beautiful, responsive, animated UIs that are easy to maintain.
Adding interactivity to your application usually follows creating a basic user interface in most cases.
Building workflows in your app
Workflows represent the logic or flow from point A to point B. Much like a literal journey, completing an action on an app is also like a journey. This journey includes inputs, outputs, decisions, conditions, and so on.
Designing your app’s workflow is something that borders on the “advanced” section. Still, creating these workflows is pretty intuitive when you get the hang of it and so we have placed it in the basics section instead.
Here is an example of how it works in the Bubble application builder:
In this example, we have two actors — a customer and a merchant. The customer wants to order something from the merchant and pay for it using their credit card (a credit card payment). The merchant receives the payment from the customer and sends it to their payment processor (an ACH payment).
To do this, we first need to define these actors as actors in our application. Then we need to create an action for each one — an order placed by the customer and an ACH payment from the merchant. We will also need relationships between these two actors so that they can communicate with each other through their respective actions (they cannot talk directly).
Next, we need to define what happens when someone uses each action — how does the system know what steps should be taken next? That is where actions’ dependencies come in handy — they tell us which actions must be completed before another can start processing its data.
Once all the actions in this process or journey are defined, we test the workflow and try to find any problems such as exceptional cases that might lead to glitches or unusual results. Once the workflow is error-free, it is ready to be packaged in the app and used by the people!
Bubble application builder’s visual editor allows you to create interactive diagrams of your ideas, which can be shared with others in real-time as you work.
You can easily add states, steps, events, and transitions to your workflow diagram, so you can see how people move through your application. The diagram editor is built into the main Bubble application builder interface, and all of your diagrams are saved in the cloud so that you can access them wherever you are.
