Control Panel Store - ability to easily share control panels

Control panels are some of the coolest parts of Indigo.

With many old phones and super cheap tablets available, these control panels are super ready to be on every floor.

This is my proposal:

Lets have a 'Store' for control panels so that people that have made sweet panels can share their work with guys like me that can't even pick a font effectively. now i get it that there are many different screen sizes, equipment options, etc.. and there might need to be some code to make this better fit.

I see things like actiontiles.com and its brilliant. I think some of these ideas could flow more freely if there was a sharing pool for such control panels. The thing that made me want to get Indigo was initially the sweet control panels. The things i show off the most to the buddies is my fabricobbled-craptacular control panel that I painstakingly sucked at.

This definately needs to hit the top of the priorities list.

Kyle

We could accomplish this by simply having a forum/sub forum for "Control Page Showcase" or something like that. The existing control page thread is WAY too long and disorganized. But if each person would make a thread in a showcase type forum, then that entire thread could be comments/questions/etc. about the single user's design set. Users who wanted to could even provide links to images and such.

Just a thought...

+1

I like RP’s idea.. the old thread is quite long now and full of broken links so it’d be best if the images and files on a new one could be hosted on here instead.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sub-headings for “Show us your control pages” AND a hosted, sharing page for control pages.

I have been researching exactly this lately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jay (support)]

Control pages can be shared via the File Library. You can drag a control page from the control page list out to the Finder and it will create a clipping file with the definition of the control page. You can drag that clipping file back to the control page list and Indigo will import it. Of course, all the things that the control page links to will be wrong (devices, action groups, scripts, and the objects that those things link to, etc). Those will have to be "fixed" by the user.

Another issue is that the graphics that may be associated with a control page reside in a different place, so whoever is sharing the control page would need to bundle those images up with the control page clipping file. Not impossible but it requires some work.

Once all the parts are assembled (clipping file, images, etc) then the sharer could just zip those up and put them in the File Library (there are, in fact, already images/icons, etc in there under the Web Related category). The consumer of the control page would then need to unzip, place the images in the right spot, then drag the clipping file into their control page list. Then edit the control page to change all of the object links to point to their "things".

We understand that this is a cumbersome process, and we do have a bunch of feature requests around Control Pages some of which are related to making them more easily shared. However, the priority for this has never overtaken other priorities and, quite honestly, seem to be on the decline as users move towards voice control as their primary interface to home automation.

Don't get me wrong - control pages are still an important part of Indigo. However, as we've said many times, we have to focus our meager resources on the things that most customers want.

We could accomplish this by simply having a forum/sub forum for "Control Page Showcase" or something like that.

Good idea. We had a forum already titled Images under User Contributions, which I've now renamed Control Page Designs and Images. It wasn't used much though one user did in fact share his control page design there. I've also moved that super long control page thread to that forum and locked it down.

How about a button tread with uploaded buttons?

We understand that this is a cumbersome process, and we do have a bunch of feature requests around Control Pages some of which are related to making them more easily shared. However, the priority for this has never overtaken other priorities and, quite honestly, seem to be on the decline as users move towards voice control as their primary interface to home automation.

If someone were to get really motivated, this process could be improved slightly by allowing a bundle of some sort, similar to the plugin bundle, that includes snippet, graphics, etc. Would have to allow the user to easily "package" it and a consumer to "restore" it. Maybe a few challenges in there, but nothing likely show-stopping. But would require those sharing to use the plugin to share...

What do you guys sharing control pages think - worth the effort?

If someone were to get really motivated, this process could be improved slightly by allowing a bundle of some sort

Excellent idea. That wouldn't be a difficult plugin to write for the most part. Glad you volunteered .

We understand that this is a cumbersome process, and we do have a bunch of feature requests around Control Pages some of which are related to making them more easily shared. However, the priority for this has never overtaken other priorities and, quite honestly, seem to be on the decline as users move towards voice control as their primary interface to home automation.

I think that the voice parts are simply easier for people to set up than control panels..



I think the idea of a 'store' like the plug in store where even manually modified data sets could be shared would be the best way to share the data. something where a thumbnail and description would be available with comment and support section.

Lastly, i wonder how hard it would be to make a "native" control panel that was "buttons" based like action tiles or window's 10's start button where you have small, medium, and large tiles that could spill and be dragged around like icons. its cool if this is all completed in a server side editor.

my troubles in making a page is all the Photoshop, font, icon theme, screen sizes, etc.. the function part is fine.. if indigo's control panel editor allowed an "icon" or "square" editor" where the user chose a square size, color, function, placement, and feedback.. this might make it easier to manage multiple pages, screen sizes, layouts, and orientations. i know i can manually make something like this..

Kyle

[jay (support)]

I think that the voice parts are simply easier for people to set up than control panels..

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one. Announcing "[WAKEWORD], turn on the kitchen sink lights" from anywhere in a room is significantly easier than picking up/walking over to a tablet/phone, waking it up, launching the app if it's not already running, finding the thing you want to do and tapping the element.

There are other 3rd party control apps that may suit your needs: Simple Control and Home Remote both have built-in Indigo connectivity and are products specifically designed for that purpose.

If the community can come up with some kind of sharable format and tools/instructions on how to create and use them, then we're definitely on board with that. The File Library is one place where the downloads of those can be hosted. Previews can be posted on a topic that describes the pages and link to the File Library entry for download.

Announcing "[WAKEWORD], turn on the kitchen sink lights" from anywhere in a room is significantly easier than picking up/walking over to a tablet/phone, waking it up, launching the app if it's not already running, finding the thing you want to do and tapping the element.

And why I stopped developing control pages and develop voice friendly app instead .

Announcing "[WAKEWORD], turn on the kitchen sink lights" from anywhere in a room is significantly easier than picking up/walking over to a tablet/phone, waking it up, launching the app if it's not already running, finding the thing you want to do and tapping the element.

[yodaVoice]One wakes the spouse, the other does not.[/yodaVoice]

Announcing "[WAKEWORD], turn on the kitchen sink lights" from anywhere in a room is significantly easier than picking up/walking over to a tablet/phone, waking it up, launching the app if it's not already running, finding the thing you want to do and tapping the element.

[yodaVoice]One wakes the spouse, the other does not.[/yodaVoice]

[DaveL17's avatar]One wakes the spouse, the other does not.[/DaveL17's avatar]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I absolutely treasure the ability to have control panels and use them much more often than voice (though I have and use HomeKit Bridge). The issue I see is that control pages are so unique to an individual. If I export my control page to someone else, how do they easily link THEIR kitchen light, or their motion sensor, or their temperature monitor, etc. to each of the controls. I tweak my control pages at least once a month... so they stay individualized.