I totally agree with every one of your points. The market for home automation is much bigger than us geeks. A singular hardware offering is a great idea along with the short version release videos.
Having an "advanced mode" in HA is something I've been pondering as well. Kodi has a toggle for Basic -> Standard -> Advanced -> Expert in their menus. HA really should consider something similar. Also, more setup guides so you don't have to deep dive into a rabbit hole just because you've heard good things about mqtt or nodered.
Totally agree, just removing options for basic users could really help! I wonder how many of these suggestions are going to be taken up! Feel free to share the video out so it reaches the developers!
Interesting and thought provoking video Geo. I recently installed HomeAssistant (yellow) in my son-in-laws house. He is fairly computer savve but I found the experience of setting up and explaining how it all works tricky even although I would say I'm a fairly advanced HA user with over 4 years of use. I think a basic/intermediate/advanced option with regards the UI would be helpful. The biggest improvement to the UI that I would recommend is a drag-and-drop dashboard configuration. For it to not already have this in this day and age is one of HA's biggest weaknesses and a barrier for a new user setting up a dashboard. The second issue is the rate of developement. I like all the new features each month but users have no choice but to keep up with this or things will break. I think there should be stable releases that individual can stick on for a long period of time without fear that they will break. If you want to target HA to less savve users (rather than nerds) then they will not put up with monthly updates.
I think they need to get ZHA device compatibility especially entity exposure on a comparable level with zigbee2MQTT. I think ZHA is the starting point for newbies and it's a little lacking e.g my smart plugs are recognised as bulbs and my zy-m100 mm wave sensors only give presence detection with ZHA but under zigbee2MQTT they have multiple settings for distance, fade, lux levels etc.
Home Assistant is where it is today because of frequent release cycles and continued development... It is open source, so artificially trying to prevent UI updates will just cause developers and users to lose interest and go elsewhere. While Home Assistant is currently not ready for the average non-tech user, one day it may get there, and the current way is the best way. The beauty of Home Assistant is that you can install on an older PC for around $50-$100 or even get for free! You compare Amazon products and Google products being cheaper, but they are cloud based systems that do not require a controller like what Home Assistant is... and the whole ideology of Home Assistant is the focus on local control and privacy, not cloud control!
True but the branding these to explain why cloud is bad to the average Joe, me and you know it quite well. The messaging needs to come across to the average user
I agree 4.5/5 with your points. Only doubt or partially disagree is to hide yaml totally and make all from UI. That could be an option for basic use, but for advanced users yaml should be parallel option to manage system. I don’t like current trend to move configs to explicitly to UI without yaml option. Hiding yaml totally prevents custom sensor creation like mqtt / rest etc
HA should not even try to take the number one position. It's nearly impossible to displace Amazon, Google and Apple. HA's strength is doing what those companies don't - and that's with the ability to modifiy modify modify. HA definitely needs to create/fix the UI consistencies and work on stability. And if they can do that, HA can seize without any resistance, the commercial automation market. There is nothing reliable out there that can do what HA does. Fix the backup issues. Create a backwards compatible system even AFTER an update and the geeky people of today would be comfortable installing solutions as a business. I for one can not and would not even recommend HA to a friend simply because it just about ALWAYS breaks on almost every update - especially if you have a lot of automations/devices being managed. If HA did those things behind the scenes and then hired a decent marketing company that would target the markets Amazon, Google and Apple have neglected, it would obtain the number one slot in it's own market. Good Luck!
I agree to almost all of your ideas. I think Home Assistant has outsourced the creation of short release videos to the content creators network around Home Assistant. There are already a bunch of short feature videos out just before every release. Like „What’s new in HA 2023.x?“ And the release party itself is cult… it’s like going to church! You can’t say to your priest: „Hey, next time the short version of the service, please!“ 😉
There would be not gain for the HA team to advertising given that the product is free. They would only get funds back by those that sign up to Nabu Casa, but that is not guaranteed.
@@SmartHomeMakers that would mean HA charging for features that are currently free. The Nabu Casa cloud is a separate entity and not required, just a nice to have for easy remote connectivity.
Need to keep HA free. Let's not go overboard and lower quality or flexibility. I have been on home assistant since near the beginning and would hate to see it degrade at all. It has been excellent!!!!
There is no way it will become number one as it stands, its still too complicated for the average user to set up compared to platforms such as Amazon Alexa. A lot of what I wanted to do with HASS required yaml and no average user wants or should need to mess around with code. I do love HASS but simple things such as choosing a background card colour or having different icons for different states required hacs and custom cards, that's too complicated for many people.
Once a user understands how all of the system concerns (devices, entities, addons, integrations...) work together, then HA could easily function as UI-only software appliance more and more as thread becomes more ubiquitous, BUT... * education on the platform is historically not good at guiding new users through best practices on organizing and on boarding a whole set of devices into your home - your videos have been great at talking about concepts * this is always going to be a hobbyist tool for the top 5% of people that buy automation devices at best buy * the UI should have some wizards that enforce "normal-case" usage rules to avoid users from being to create automations or onboard devices * security & remote access should just offer a default solution and configure it for SSL, HTTPS, DDNS,... * logs and lovelace cards should distinguish between an error and a device that is offline - I hate seeing error logs with tons of errors just because somebody unplugged a device
I totally agree with every one of your points. The market for home automation is much bigger than us geeks. A singular hardware offering is a great idea along with the short version release videos.
Appreciate your thoughts!
We promote Home Assistant Yeahhh✊🎉🤩🥰
Nice one!
Having an "advanced mode" in HA is something I've been pondering as well. Kodi has a toggle for Basic -> Standard -> Advanced -> Expert in their menus. HA really should consider something similar. Also, more setup guides so you don't have to deep dive into a rabbit hole just because you've heard good things about mqtt or nodered.
Totally agree, just removing options for basic users could really help! I wonder how many of these suggestions are going to be taken up! Feel free to share the video out so it reaches the developers!
Interesting and thought provoking video Geo. I recently installed HomeAssistant (yellow) in my son-in-laws house. He is fairly computer savve but I found the experience of setting up and explaining how it all works tricky even although I would say I'm a fairly advanced HA user with over 4 years of use. I think a basic/intermediate/advanced option with regards the UI would be helpful. The biggest improvement to the UI that I would recommend is a drag-and-drop dashboard configuration. For it to not already have this in this day and age is one of HA's biggest weaknesses and a barrier for a new user setting up a dashboard. The second issue is the rate of developement. I like all the new features each month but users have no choice but to keep up with this or things will break. I think there should be stable releases that individual can stick on for a long period of time without fear that they will break. If you want to target HA to less savve users (rather than nerds) then they will not put up with monthly updates.
100% agree with this!
I think they need to get ZHA device compatibility especially entity exposure on a comparable level with zigbee2MQTT. I think ZHA is the starting point for newbies and it's a little lacking e.g my smart plugs are recognised as bulbs and my zy-m100 mm wave sensors only give presence detection with ZHA but under zigbee2MQTT they have multiple settings for distance, fade, lux levels etc.
I really like the short release idea. Then after seeing the short release offer further release feature drill down videos.
I agree as an in between user. These are wonderful suggestions
Thanks!
I think Home Assistant has been in the number 5 spot for a few years now with a big margin to number 6 (Domoticz i would Guess?)
agree that there are no local control competitors that come close
this is the best youtube i agree with all you mentioned i hope this video reach to home assistant developer
Thanks a lot! Feel free to share this video on social
@@SmartHomeMakers Done
@@badrhabib5963 appreciate it!
I like the idea of HA to be more general accessible to a broader public, but am a bit afraid it will affect development.
Hopefully with larger reach and more investment better features for the consumer ?
Home Assistant is where it is today because of frequent release cycles and continued development... It is open source, so artificially trying to prevent UI updates will just cause developers and users to lose interest and go elsewhere. While Home Assistant is currently not ready for the average non-tech user, one day it may get there, and the current way is the best way. The beauty of Home Assistant is that you can install on an older PC for around $50-$100 or even get for free! You compare Amazon products and Google products being cheaper, but they are cloud based systems that do not require a controller like what Home Assistant is... and the whole ideology of Home Assistant is the focus on local control and privacy, not cloud control!
True but the branding these to explain why cloud is bad to the average Joe, me and you know it quite well. The messaging needs to come across to the average user
I agree 4.5/5 with your points. Only doubt or partially disagree is to hide yaml totally and make all from UI. That could be an option for basic use, but for advanced users yaml should be parallel option to manage system.
I don’t like current trend to move configs to explicitly to UI without yaml option. Hiding yaml totally prevents custom sensor creation like mqtt / rest etc
Agree there needs to be an advanced mode for yaml users, non yaml users should not even need to know what it is
HA should not even try to take the number one position. It's nearly impossible to displace Amazon, Google and Apple. HA's strength is doing what those companies don't - and that's with the ability to modifiy modify modify. HA definitely needs to create/fix the UI consistencies and work on stability. And if they can do that, HA can seize without any resistance, the commercial automation market. There is nothing reliable out there that can do what HA does. Fix the backup issues. Create a backwards compatible system even AFTER an update and the geeky people of today would be comfortable installing solutions as a business. I for one can not and would not even recommend HA to a friend simply because it just about ALWAYS breaks on almost every update - especially if you have a lot of automations/devices being managed. If HA did those things behind the scenes and then hired a decent marketing company that would target the markets Amazon, Google and Apple have neglected, it would obtain the number one slot in it's own market. Good Luck!
Agree I see HA becoming similar to UniFi a pro consumer that can be installed in small business too
I agree to almost all of your ideas.
I think Home Assistant has outsourced the creation of short release videos to the content creators network around Home Assistant. There are already a bunch of short feature videos out just before every release. Like „What’s new in HA 2023.x?“
And the release party itself is cult… it’s like going to church! You can’t say to your priest: „Hey, next time the short version of the service, please!“ 😉
Love the cult factor!
There would be not gain for the HA team to advertising given that the product is free. They would only get funds back by those that sign up to Nabu Casa, but that is not guaranteed.
True, but many software house have this model where the "premium" users pay for all of the "free" users
@@SmartHomeMakers that would mean HA charging for features that are currently free. The Nabu Casa cloud is a separate entity and not required, just a nice to have for easy remote connectivity.
Need to keep HA free. Let's not go overboard and lower quality or flexibility.
I have been on home assistant since near the beginning and would hate to see it degrade at all. It has been excellent!!!!
agree quality is going to be key for any future success
There is no way it will become number one as it stands, its still too complicated for the average user to set up compared to platforms such as Amazon Alexa. A lot of what I wanted to do with HASS required yaml and no average user wants or should need to mess around with code. I do love HASS but simple things such as choosing a background card colour or having different icons for different states required hacs and custom cards, that's too complicated for many people.
Agree if you the are still years away then or will never get there?
Once a user understands how all of the system concerns (devices, entities, addons, integrations...) work together, then HA could easily function as UI-only software appliance more and more as thread becomes more ubiquitous, BUT...
* education on the platform is historically not good at guiding new users through best practices on organizing and on boarding a whole set of devices into your home - your videos have been great at talking about concepts
* this is always going to be a hobbyist tool for the top 5% of people that buy automation devices at best buy
* the UI should have some wizards that enforce "normal-case" usage rules to avoid users from being to create automations or onboard devices
* security & remote access should just offer a default solution and configure it for SSL, HTTPS, DDNS,...
* logs and lovelace cards should distinguish between an error and a device that is offline - I hate seeing error logs with tons of errors just because somebody unplugged a device
all good points which I share!