Five Lesser-Known Bubbles Features
Due to awesome bloggers writing about Bubbles, it gained some traffic yesterday.
So I wanted to highlight some features you might have missed.
1. @bubbles2
You probably know about @bubbles, which posts every new entry to the Fediverse. But there's a second bot: @bubbles2. It only boosts posts that have received 2 or more votes. Follow it if you want a curated stream of what readers actually liked, right in your Fediverse timeline. (German speakers: @bubbles2_de does the same for German posts.)
2. The Bookmarklet and PWA
You're reading a great blog post somewhere on the web and wonder: is this on Bubbles? Two ways to find out.
On desktop, drag the "Open on Bubbles" bookmarklet from the FAQ to your bookmarks bar. One click on any blog post, and it'll look it up on Bubbles for you.
On mobile, install Bubbles as a PWA (your browser should offer "Add to Home Screen"). Once installed, you can use your phone's native Share button on any page and pick Bubbles from the list. It'll open the entry if it exists.
3. Random Post
Click the Bubbles logo. That's it. Every click takes you to a random post from the archive. Good for when you don't know what you want to read but you want to read something. (There's also a Konami code easter egg, but I'll let you discover that one yourself.)
4. Keyboard Shortcuts
Press ? on any list page to see the full shortcut overlay. The essentials: j/k to move through entries, v to vote, o to open the article, and t/n/h to jump between Top, New, and Hot. There's also / to jump straight to the search bar. Once you get used to them, clicking feels slow.
5. Public Analytics Dashboard
Bubbles uses self-hosted plausible.io for analytics. No cookies, no tracking, no Google anything. And the dashboard is completely public. You can see exactly how much traffic the site gets, where visitors come from, and which pages are popular. Full transparency, no login required.