Fab Apps

Join the campaign to launch a new Small Cities Crowdsourcing Platform

Christian MacAuley — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:06:45 +0000

Help us launch an open source small cities crowdsourcing platform! We began planning the the Bubbly Crowdsourcing Platform in 2009 — since then, we’ve seen several successful, Bubbly-powered campaigns roll out to revitalize downtowns in visionary small cities like Bristol, Connecticut and Roanoke, Virginia.

Now the Bubbly team, in collaboration with the Small Cities Movement, wants to take small town crowdsourcing to the next level by launching a platform designed specifically for use by small cities’ downtown revitalization projects. Supporters get access to set up hosted and professionally maintained crowdsourcing websites using the new platform and can join the Small Cities Movement Hall of Fame for leaders in the small cities movement.

Please help us make small cities better everywhere with open collaboration. Visit the IndieGoGo page to find out more.

Free WordPress plugin: Clean Admin Bar Removal

Christian MacAuley — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:50:31 +0000

Fab Apps has posted a free new WordPress plugin that offers a simple solution to a small problem in WordPress 3.2 and 3.3. In these new versions, the top “admin bar” is shown on the public site by default for all users. This has been inconvenient on some of the sites we manage, where the WordPress admin area is otherwise “behind the scenes” for some logged in users, or where the top admin bar is incompatible with the site’s layout.

To solve this problem, I created a new plugin that disables the toolbar in existing users’ preferences and changes the default setting for new users. Once a site administrator installs the plugin, they can choose which behavior to use on their site by user role. Users can restore the admin bar in their individual preferences by choosing “Show Toolbar when viewing site” if needed.

I hope some of you find this plugin helpful. It is offered for free under the GPL-2 license with no support or warranty, but has already been put into production on several of our sites and is working well. Please feel free to leave a comment here with any questions or problems.

Screenshot:

Download: clean-admin-bar-removal-1.0.zip (also available in the WordPress Plugin Directory)

This is free software is released under the GPL-2 License with no warranty.

A Crowdsourcing Site for Roanoke, Virginia

Christian MacAuley — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:38:38 +0000

Envision Roanoke is a new Bubbly-powered crowdsourcing website that was launched this weekend at the CityWorks (X)po for Big Ideas for Small Cities. The site will be used to collect and build support for new triple-bottom-line businesses in Roanoke. Check out Envision Roanoke!

Bristol Piazza Project is a “Go”

Christian MacAuley — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:26:27 +0000

Bubbly-powered community placemaking project, Bristol Rising, has had its most “liked” idea — an Italian-style downtown piazza — approved by Bristol’s city council. We are thrilled to help Bristol revitalize its downtown with a bold, homegrown idea for which — through their Bubbly site — hundreds of community members have already signed on to show their support. Congratulations, Bristol Rising!

Artists’ conception of Bristol’s downtown piazza

Announcing the redesigned Fab Apps website

Christian MacAuley — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:45:03 +0000

2011 has been a busy year for Fab Apps. In spring, we wrapped up all our web consulting contracts to focus exclusively on internal apps projects. In summer, we launched the first title in our new mobile quiz platform, FonQuiz. In late summer and early fall, we have been steadily — and busily — making Bubbly a more powerful platform than ever.

Our newly redesigned website reflects our completed transition from a company that offers custom services to being a self-driven apps creator. It’s a simple design that puts our apps front-and-center, explaining a bit about our company along the way. We hope you like it.

Hilo to crowdsource their community vision with Bubbly

Christian MacAuley — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:20:28 +0000

Hilo, Hawaii has signed on to use Bubbly Crowdsourcing Platform to gather ideas from their residents that will make downtown Hilo a better place to live, work, and visit. Watch OurDowntownHilo.com to see what great ideas “bubble up” from their community to become a reality.