Use icon to identify element type

It would be helpful to be able to be able to determine “at a glance” the “type” of element currently selected. Each element already has an associated icon in the element list. Why not display that same icon at the top of the properties editor when an element is selected on the page?

So instead of resorting to naming conventions like “RepeatingGroup User” or “rgUser” - which seems needlessly verbose and unnecessary - a concise visual representation could be used instead.

It would be extra cool if the icon also appeared throughout the UI wherever that element’s name was displayed or available to choose - such as in the dynamic data source builder, thereby making better use of screen real estate and making Bubble even more “visual”.

8 Likes

Makes sense.

Additionally, this would have the added benefit of auto-updating the icon when an element is changed from, say, a group to a floating group.

2 Likes

Second this, would be quite a welcome new feature. (I would prefer it be separate from the element name - but nested in the same place). I’ve found labeling elements as their type of thing to be pretty helpful when using Bubble’s editor search functions.

1 Like

+1 on this.

I thought I’d mention though, that you can kind of do this already with apps such as Mojibar and placing different icons in the Element or Data Type names. Bubble accepts emojis in text fields.

Here’s an example from the database of one of my apps, where I’m illustrating data types with different icons to distinguish them from each other categorically:

24%20AM

Not 100% the same, but maybe a tip that can be of value to some reading this thread. Shoutout to @hikaru who taught me this a few months back.

1 Like

I agree…I often struggle to find out what element is used in another persons project who has a habit of changing the name and not maintaining the first portions as the element type…it makes it difficult to follow tutorials or editors

Not sure if this might be relevant https://bubble.io/page?type=page&name=message&id=hikari&tab=tabs-1

Thanks, @Bubbleboy. Yeah, @petter also pointed out that emoji’s can be used. However, it’s far too much effort for routine Bubble use (for me at least). Not only that, but it wouldn’t be consistent across users.