Basically,,, What do you think about the recent improvements in Rule and Dashboard creation? Are you using them? Are you intending to use them?
No
A valid answer....
We are a group of largely technical folk trying to accommodate people that
rail against our natural inclinations.... How dare they... ![]()
If we accept that as the norm... we need to find a way to accommodate their peculiarities and "ways of doing things"....
Personally I think the inclusions of the Rule builder and other additions are a good inclusion. Others may offer different opinions...
No. The visual rule builder might be easier, but I can do anything I want to do in RM, so don't feel like I need to "learn" something new to make something easier that I can already do, albeit clumsily.
The new dashboards are missing so many important features that I literally couldn't convert any of my dashboards to the new app. Not a single one. Been awhile since I've tried it, but the lack of support for device attributes and hub variables were dealbreakers for me. Again, I appreciate the effort and it might be useful for new Hubitat users, but not for me. Not yet anyway.
Thankful that the HE developers allow us to keep using the original built-in apps.
I'm a Simple guy.
My thoughts exactly.
Then all power to you... KISS in your setup and reduce the impacts on your setup that may impact its stability... Hopefully.... ![]()
All options are valid,,, no-one is wrong... Let's not get too hung up on the nuance of what constitutes a situation that warrants concern....
Yep, agree.
VRB is a nice effort for new-to-smarthome folks and EZ Dash is nice for new-to-HE folks, but neither is useful to me as someone comfortable with RM and who is (for better or worse) already entrenched in the old dash style.
I think ez is fine for a couple of my dash's, I still have a legacy dash for certain things. Visual RB replaced simple rules for me. Works as advertised.
Since I’ve been hearing so much praise for NodeRed and Homey Pro I really wanted to try to see if it was easier to set up some of my automations with the VRB. However, as the VRB totally lacks any IF THEN abilities it isn’t something that I find any reason to use. I found the basic control apps work just fine for that.
I’m sure many have read, and agree, that Hubitat’s UI could use some improvements, and they have taken steps in that direction, which I appreciate. However, instead of just making another way to do simple automations I was hoping they were making a way to do complex automations much simpler. My hope is that they rolled out the VRB as is because it is so radically different they wanted to just do simple things to make sure it is working properly and will someday (in the hopefully not too distant future) then add logic IF THEN, etc., type abilities.
As to the EZ dashboards I like the speed they load at, but navigation remains a problem and I don’t like that I have to go in 1 level deeper for dimmers, especially as I’m finding it very difficult to properly touch the tiny “hamburger” to go into the dimmer area.
If you make them 1 size bigger than default, you don't have to do that.
I would likely have used Visual Rules had it been available when I started with Hubitat.
It took me a while to really understand RM, but now that I do, I use it almost exclusively (other than for very straight forward rules).
I WANT to like and use them, EZ Dash is ok for a backup dashboard if I need one. But really, both are too limited in scope. Especially Visual Rule Builder. That is one I was really excited to try out, but I am finding the option too limited, and it just doesn't go far enough. I'm really hoping that is just because it's new, and as it matures the rest will come along.
EDIT: I will add that I am not entirely comfortable with RM yet (But getting there), so I am open to other options. But VRB just doesn't do enough.
I to have been trying to find a way to use VRB but so far i haven't because of its limitations. That said it should also be considered that VRB was never expected to replace RM, but be an alternative to Basic Rules.
Since i never used Basic Rules I can't speak to how well it replaces that app. I think understanding that perspective is important for this discussion.
I actually reallly like Easy Dashboards. I came from Action tiles with Smartthings. I tried the legacy dashboards before and frankly quit because it was simply to much to get it working okay for something i would only occasionally use. That is just my use case though. It really comes down to, to take the best advantage of the legacy dashboarda takes time and some css custom coding. I guess some are cool with that, but i just need it to work on the rare occasion i need it to.
No. Everything is how I want it. My needs are simple.
There are some elements of EZ dash I like but I prefer more control vs less. Until it supports attributes and at least some level of customization its a non starter for me.
Classic dashboard is still the king.
In short - NO.
I think you hit the nail on the head here. A lot of the new UI enhancements seem geared toward those just starting out with Hubitat, and hopefully that will encourage greater adoption of Hubitat.
But that makes them way too big. Instead of being 1x1 they have to be at least 2x2, so 4 square units vs 1.