I'd also add (again) that my preference in data warehousing has often lead me back to more text-based techniques than those limited by a GUI. Can't say that has been a driving force in my HE journey, as much as I have developed groovy code, but for automations in general, the existing apps like rule machine and others have been sufficient for my use cases.
I intentionally didn't include that.
If you are commenting about RM then i would say the interface is perfect. The thing is RM is a conplex tool that can handle pretty much any level of rule complexity. That is why it can be confusing. They have Smartapps to simplify less complex rule based tasks if you dont want it to be as confusing.
I have also dabbled in Node-Red myself and to put it simply i don't have any issue with it and see it's appeal, but it is far from simple anf not confusing with its interface as well.
Basically, HE does have a GUI that represents the complexity of what we are trying to accomplish.... if you want something simpler, there are simpler HE apps, but the more complex aspects like RM or webcore are going to be what they are.
It is also worth considering we, as users, have also requested various changes to apps like RM but the power(s) that be have railed against requests that would make the UI more confusing for users. So we have developer(s) with our UX in mind, whether or not you like the visual representation.
Does that mean while you're using groovy then a friendlier front end won't appear?
No, just means that Groovy makes it more difficult, requires more effort, and takes longer to build a friendlier interface.
Ah ok, I guess the other challenge is what one user finds users friendly another users dislikes. It's a fine balance.