Re: RFXCOM to HomeSeer and other HA apps via xAP - and other GUI's ..

["Mal Lansell" <mal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, Kevin Hawkins <lists@...> wrote:
>
> I think there are places for GUI's and places where they shouldn't
be .
> I agree getting the infrastructure of the system all working
> transparently and resiliently with no UI interaction is a great
goal -
> and is also why I love xAP and xPL - well I add those last two
words
> with a bit of an arm twist ;-) . They both offer true distributed
> architectures and in an embedded world don't require a PC at all
for
> your home to just work 24/7 - which is as it should be.
>

I have always believed very strongly that a successful HA system will
be an addition to - rather than a replacement for - standard, manual
controls.

The simple reason is that visitors to the house may not be familiar
with your system - blinding people with science isn't impressive,
it's just being an ass, IMHO.

That means having normal, intuitive "push to turn on"
lightswitches -
not touchscreens that require the user to decypher the icons before
they can do anything.

My main beef with GUIs is the idea that there should be a snazzy PC
based app showing all your devices and their current state.  Apart
from the pure geekiness of it all, why?  The PC-based interface
should really only be needed for setup and configuration, but these
areas are often neglected.  Yes you can see if the hall light is on,
(although poking your head out of your study might achieve the same)
and the graphics are wonderful, but adding new devices still usually
requires a bunch of dull scripting and general faffiness.  This is an
area I want to address in xPL - I don't want to do a floorplan or
similar, but I do want to make the connecting of events to actions
(the heart of HA) a hell of a lot more intuitive for the average user.

Mal