Sobi Forms 1.3.0 — A New Improved Builder

alesas

When you’re in indie hacker mode, the temptation is always to ship more features, faster. Add this integration, build that complex logic, check another box.

But for Sobi Forms, I wanted to take a different path. Before piling on more options, I wanted to slow down and focus entirely on the user experience. I want to build a product that feels truly crafted—where every pixel, every transition, and every setting serves a purpose, without bloating the public-facing bundle.

With Sobi Forms 1.3.0, I’m introducing a major UX redesign that completely changes how you interact with the builder.

A New Premium Form Builder

Our old form editor felt trapped in a rigid tabbed layout, and it forced a full page reload every single time you hit save. It felt “wordpressy-messy.”

I threw that old interface out and rebuilt the editing experience into a unified Split-Screen Builder:

  • The Canvas: Your form is now a breathing, document-first canvas. It feels less like an admin panel and more like a clean text editor.
  • The Always-Visible Header: Rename, embed, or save instantly. No scrolling down past the fold to find a clunky layout button.
  • The Right Sidebar: I condensed all settings into a single panel with collapsible sections. Using progressive disclosure, advanced options (like scheduling an auto-close date) only show up when you actually toggle them on.

I also spent sometime rewriting every single help hint and label. I cut out the text bloat so you can understand exactly what an option does in a single glance.

🔗 One Practical Addition: The URL Field

While the focus was 100% on polish, I tucked one practical feature into this UX release: a native Link / URL field with strict http/https validation. Whether you’re collecting client websites or candidate portfolios, it’s ready to go.

And despite adding this new field, the public-facing bundle remains incredibly tight, sitting at a razor-thin ~2.5 KB gzipped (JS + CSS combined) exclusively on pages where a form is rendered.

The update is live on your dashboard. Pop it open, test the toggles, and let me know how the new layout feels!

Submit your ideas below!

Update me whenever there are cool updates!