Thank you for this outstanding application for vera control. I have just made the switch from iVera/Vera Mobile and must say the level of customization available in this app is unparalleled. I find myself using this more and more although occasionally I do have to switch back to the “other” automation apps for some issues. Having said that, I am proposing some suggestions/options etc. that you could care to look at if you like. Apologies in advance for the long wish-list below, but here goes:
Text/Font- option to move the text to the bottom of each device on the control screen (this option exists on the home screen but not on the control screen) - see fig 1 for example where text is overlaid across the icon even after manipulation (hard enters to move the text down)
- automatic font reduction so the text fits in the specified area. If not possible then a choice of few font sizes so the font can be reduced to accommodate some larger descriptions (see fig 2: Upstairs Hallway is truncated to Upstairs Hall due to lack of space)
GUI- choice of a slider bar instead of the circle, especially for dimmers. The circle is not very visible when “reducing” the dim level anticlockwise since the thumb completely covers the circle while dimming and can stray from the circle since visibility is limited (this is not a problem when moving your finger/thumb clockwise). In case a slider is not possible, then a suggestion for the circle dimming would be a “lasso” so that even if your finger moves away from the circle, you would still continue to dim as long as you do not lift your finger off the screen.
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option to change the icon depending on the state - example: door locks would show a different icon when unlocked vs. locked (see fig 3 where the middle lock is unlocked but the icon is the same as the other locked ones). Also notice on this figure how the text is overlaid on top of the icon -would prefer for the text to move under the icon for a “clean” interface.
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a bit of a stretch here but is there a way an icon (for ex a bulb) could show varying intensity levels that change with changing levels - see fig 1: would love for the bulb icons on this screen to change their brightness as I change the brightness levels - so an “off” or 0 dimmed bulb would show the icon on the bottom right and then would change in brightness as I move the slider up. If not possible, then maybe a colored wifi-bar style indicator would work too (but a changing intensity icon would be wayy cooler though).
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Scrollable control screen: would be nice if the control screen could scroll down for additional control items. On my home screen (fig 0) I have control for all lights which takes me to a control screen that displays “all” my lights on one pages. I have approx. 35 lights that I am trying to display on one page; as you can see from fig 4 , the page can get quite busy. Also, trying to operate the dimmers from this screen can be quite an intricate task (notice how small the blue circles get on that screen) - good luck trying to move your finger in a precise circular pattern. I invariably have to go the individual control screens to operate these devices. A screen that could scroll vertically would help immensely.
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Status change indicators: currently as soon as I press the control for a device (for ex “Lock a Door”) the status on the control screen updates to the action performed - in this example, as soon as I press the unlock door icon, I get the red “Unlocked” text overlaid as the status. But in reality, Vera is still trying to perform this action (and in the case of a door lock takes extra long) and in some cases is not able to perform that action i.e. even though the status says unlocked, the door could still be locked. In my example fig 3 , the actual status of the middle lock is “locked” even though the display reads “unlocked”. My suggestion - instead of an instantaneous status change indicator as soon as a button is pressed, show the progress of the command - a message saying that the command has been transmitted and once action completed come back with another message saying that the transmit was ok. You could even have a small icon appear in one corner that could turn yellow/green/red based on whether the transmit completed or failed (fig 5). As of now I have to switch back to iVera after issuing a command in HomeWave to check whether the command was successful or not.
P.S. the following post has the remaining screenshots due to size restrictions…
It kind of breaks the design philosophy but I too still find the occasional need to have a screen with all devices on it. I’ll have a think about this one.