I’m not sure if Feature Requests is the right place for this but it was either this or the Community Discussion for the release so I chose this. (PLease let me know if I chose wrong)
The newest update continues HA’s effort of Streamlining Experiences but despite best intentions, I think in some instances the update over-streamlined. In those situations the new streamlining seems to have done the opposite and actually added more steps or complicated a task… but I’m sure that someone has a reason.
The first is in the creation of a new Script. The new streamlined version automatically adds Device
as the default Action and I think that’s actually counterproductive for a lot of people. If there were only a couple of possible Actions to choose from or one specific Action that was used more than others then it would make sense to have a default but that’s not the case. There are 14 possible Actions to choose from and I think everyone starts their Script with something different.
I decided to check my own Scripts and I went through more than half of them without finding one Script that started with Device
as the first Action. I can’t help to think that it’s probably the same for a lot of other users.
Now in comparison to the new streamlined Scripts, the new streamlined Automations does not have a default so I don’t really understand why Scripts has one… but I’m sure someone has a reason. I think removing the default action of Device
and keeping it empty like Automations works best.
My other gripe is after choosing an Action the user can no longer go back and click on it and get a drop-down to choose a different Action. Instead, the user must click the three dots on the right, click Delete, confirm it, and then click Action to choose the new one. What was once one click now turned into multiple clicks which again feels counterproductive to me and opposite of the new Streamlined Experience… but again I’m sure that someone has a reason.
I might as well keep on going so my other gripe is the Reorder function. I can’t recall this ever being an option but I wish I had the ability to “Reorder” the Options
within the Choose
Action. Sometimes I change them for logical reasons and other times just so they visually make more sense but in order to reorder them, I have to do it in the Yaml view.
Also related to the Reorder function, I’m curious if users like the new drag-and-drop function or prefer the previous arrows. I think I prefer the arrows but I wish the reordered section would have centered or stayed in place on the screen while the other sections moved around it. That would have made changing the order more fluid because in the old version the reordered section would jump to the new location. That was a pain when moving more than one spot because instead of click-click-click it was click-find-click-find-click. The new drag-and-drop eliminates that but past the view of the screen means finding that sweet spot and hoping the screen doesn’t scroll too fast. I also find myself searching for a place to “drop” the section the same way I search for a place to drop the little yellow guy for Google Street View prior to the green lines. Maybe the same way the drag anchor turns red it could turn green instead of staying grey while trying to drop it.
Since I’m on a roll, a streamlined feature for users who use the “Always hide the sidebar” feature is to always keep the top left “hamburger” button visible. On some HA pages, the “hamburger” button gets replaced with a “back-arrow” button. If the sidebar is hidden and this happens then with each page the user navigates to the further they get from the main menu. The user then has to click the “back-arrow” and go back through all the last pages that they were just on until they reach the main settings page. Yes, they could un-hide the sidebar and just minimize it but for the people that hide it (like me) if HA kept the “hamburger” button at the top (just like when the sidebar is minimized) it would really help.
(Sorry but I guess I had too much time on my hands. )