Let's have an honest conversation about the dashboard and history interfaces

[areefer01]

Reality is that vendors in this space and most niche IoT spaces do not have the resources or expertise or budget to offer support at that level, let alone define, build and monitor SLA based metrics and service delivery.

Maybe. I personally believe it is just a matter of the level of importance. Any decent developer or customer support personal will know how to obtain basic page level response time from logs. If it is hosted in someone's cloud then they have their own analytics or work books. Worse case scenario you extract the logs and use Excel. But as you noted budget and/or priority.

I always loved getting those sorts of requests from our account team(s) but alas I guess I'm preaching to the choir.

 

[Mellotang]

Unfortunately It always seems to be the same with GHL

“Oh you have a problem, it’s your fault on user end, sorry”

 

[BeanAnimal]

Unfortunately It always seems to be the same with GHL

“Oh you have a problem, it’s your fault on user end, sorry”

Given my investment, there are some aspects of the relationship that I am not happy with but overall think that the product is higher quality than anything else available. Support has been mostly very good for the tickets I have raised and Matthias was extremely responsive in diagnosing and building a full firmware update for the Mitras ramp smoothness bug that I found.

In all fairness - i do think the dashboard works pretty much as they expect it to from a speed standpoint vs expense to keep live.

As for the UI layout, IMHO it is a relic of a different development era that is well past its due date for a complete overhaul.

I suspect that the ION-D mess and general cost/supply issues and inflation based demand sags are not helping to move large projects like a dashboard remake, API, touch replacement, etc along.

 

[Mellotang]

I agree, GHL makes some of the best aquarium equipment available

The spotty reliability and the lack of listening to users and working with them is extremely frustrating

If they put in a little more effort they would blow away the competition

 

[Pod_01]

I can easily read all and also wear glasses and I like the layout of the dashboard.

I will play along, this is my screen when for example I load pH history:

You can read this perfectly? For you the scale is clear, all available space is used. This is pinnacle of user interface. No improvements needed?

On the other hand I cannot read this even with my glasses, this is a joke!!!

But wait usually when I load this in the evening like right now I get following:

So what is my pH exactly For the day?
Yes I can make the suggested changes but it is 2023 and I should not be fighting with the app. interface. The user experience with GHL app is brutal. Also I should mention that if I try to zoom in etc…. there is 50% chance it locks up.

My takeaway at this point is that GHL releases app and waits for the users to identify issues so we are free/unpaid QA.
I generally do not support companies that do that, I tend to walk. But, I do like GHL hardware, dosing pumps are great, KH director is great. The app is disaster, sorry.

From the comments you made I am curios to know what device you are using?

 

[DJF]

+1 API. Let us build a better mouse trap and leverage crowd sourcing. Respectfully, I agree with the described lag; it is better when on local network.

 

[ingchr1]

I can see how the numbers in the values scale could be difficult for some to read. I agree, that aspect could be improved.

I see no issue with the rest of the page.

This is on Android.

 

[Pod_01]

I can see how the numbers in the values scale could be difficult for some to read. I agree, that aspect could be improved.

I see no issue with the rest of the page.

This is on Android.

My screen shot is from iOS and based on what I see I suspect GHL is using some Android /iOS developer tool so the iOS is not native.
Hence on iOS we get stuck with wonky screens and odd responses.
If I got what you show on your screen when I go to pH I would be ok with that (not perfect but lot better). Also when you zoom in etc.. does it freeze?
Regardless the light green for the scale on white background is odd choice.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I can see how the numbers in the values scale could be difficult for some to read. I agree, that aspect could be improved.

I see no issue with the rest of the page.

This is on Android.

In general, it is just not an optimal use of space. So different but related issues.

- poor use of space - this relates to font size. There is plenty of room for larger labels and text.

- poor contrast - this makes the font issue even worse.

- fonts far too small AND not scalable with OS accessibility features. - Yes, accessibility can break good design, but that even strengthens the case for large universal fonts and dedicated mobile layouts.

I have used a graph or two as an example, but font size , contrast and readability are an application wide issue for me. This does not really get better on desktop due to the fixed font sizes and color palette.

The "zoom" and other chart issues are a different topic to an extent and related to the components used to build the dashboard. Again, much of this feels like tools from a bygone tech era. There are much better toolsets available now for building dashboards and interfaces.

Maybe one day this will all get a rework. Until then pray for the API to be finished or the self-hosted page option to return.

 

[Dave-T]

Regardless the light green for the scale on white background is odd choice.

this has always bothered me as well.

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA]

I will play along, this is my screen when for example I load pH history:

You can read this perfectly? For you the scale is clear, all available space is used. This is pinnacle of user interface. No improvements needed?

On the other hand I cannot read this even with my glasses, this is a joke!!!

But wait usually when I load this in the evening like right now I get following:

So what is my pH exactly For the day?
Yes I can make the suggested changes but it is 2023 and I should not be fighting with the app. interface. The user experience with GHL app is brutal. Also I should mention that if I try to zoom in etc…. there is 50% chance it locks up.

My takeaway at this point is that GHL releases app and waits for the users to identify issues so we are free/unpaid QA.
I generally do not support companies that do that, I tend to walk. But, I do like GHL hardware, dosing pumps are great, KH director is great. The app is disaster, sorry.

From the comments you made I am curios to know what device you are using?

Hi,

Please open a support ticket to report the "shrunken" chart view for your iOS device. When doing so, attach the same screenshot and app version number.

As for your second photo, did you notice the slider bar is all the way to the right?
The app says there's nothing to show because data for that specific view hasn't been logged yet. Moving the slider to the left will show the most recent numbers for the day.

 

[Dave-T]

Hello,

I have personally assigned your ticket to the developer in charge of this part of GHL Connect since you created it.
Recent events have meant that his workload is quite high, sorry.
I've just seen that you've added a comment to the ticket, so the developer has been notified.

Gaël

Thanks Gael, I got a response. And regarding the same issue with the ticketing system - I submitted a ticket back in July which you forwarded to an engineer, who asked me to try deleting and reinstalling the app. I did that, which didn't help, and no response since. It's things like this that makes me prefer to try and see if I can get help here on R2R, rather than use the ticketing system.

 

[Pod_01]

Hi,

Please open a support ticket to report the "shrunken" chart view for your iOS device. When doing so, attach the same screenshot and app version number.

As for your second photo, did you notice the slider bar is all the way to the right?
The app says there's nothing to show because data for that specific view hasn't been logged yet. Moving the slider to the left will show the most recent numbers for the day.

Ticket 7874 created.


For the second suggestion, yup I know I need to move the slider to see the data. But that is just so silly, when I press to see history the application should show me the latest pH trend?
Perhaps I am the only person that would expect the app to center on the most recent set of data, not a time that has no data!!!
But, I get the feeling this is “working as designed “….

 

[R-balljunkie]

As a prior user, have to echo comments on this thread. Very frustrating to use, outdated interface. Changed over to brand H and didn't skip a beat with regards to controls strategies and redundancies. Bottom line, UI feels like it straight out of the late 90s.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I want to make a distinction here regarding a few things.

1 - my complaint is primarily with the he "app" and "web" dashboard (MyGHL) - not the underlying functionality.

2 - For the most part, I have no issue with the speed or layout of the various other sections of the MyGHL or Mobile application. That is the utility part and speed is not really a huge factor. There are a lot of options and no clean way of presenting all of them. Nobody wants things nested 8 screens deep either, so the rest of the app is what it is.

2a - aside from the actual terrible dashboard and sub-history/chart ergonomics and accessibility, if I had to complain it would be about unfriendly names for switches, logic, etc. being used in the various setup areas. If Switch Channel 1 is "Dosing pump 1" and Timer 3 is "Dosing timer" and programmable ogic 1 is "dosing logic" then that is what should appear the the selection menus. This is terrible and easily fixed in an App or other interface where the mappings can be easily parsed.

3 - GCC - no mac version and this is a big problem. The windows version is also a horrid and very dated UI it were for daily use (endless child windows insanity) and ugly 1980s, 1990s form components. BUT from a functional standpoint for programming, works fine.


SO TLDR - I am not in the "this software sucks to the core" camp. I think the dashboard is pretty bad and has not aged well. The rest of the app is mostly fine except for friendly naming in menus... GCC, as ugly as it is, serves its purpose, so no real complaints there either.

 

[Pod_01]

3 - GCC - no mac version and this is a big problem.

Yup, I have no windows machine in the house. Last one I had was 20 years ago. It is real fun trying to configure the dosers and P4 with iPhone only, I am talking 5+ years when there was limited support for mac by GHL and zero instructions. If I recall step 1 was get windows machine.

I hope they release something that I can use to update the devices or I suspect soon the app will not support them.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Yup, I have no windows machine in the house. Last one I had was 20 years ago. It is real fun trying to configure the dosers and P4 with iPhone only, I am talking 5+ years when there was limited support for mac by GHL and zero instructions. If I recall step 1 was get windows machine.

I hope they release something that I can use to update the devices or I suspect soon the app will not support them.

I think the goal is moving toward all functionality in the web app. I think some of the firmware updates can be done from there now...

Oddly, I can't login directly to my devices right now using the local IP address, the credentials are rejected. I am going to reboot when I get a chance and see if that fixes it.


Side note: I tried GCC in parallels, and while tcp/ip often works for connection (it is wonky), USB is a nightmare and firmware updates are insanely problematic.

Firmware updates of these devices are never smooth and I hope that is something that gets better in the future as well.

 

[Pod_01]

Oddly, I can't login directly to my devices right now using the local IP address, the credentials are rejected. I am going to reboot when I get a chance and see if that fixes it.

Are you getting this?

I been getting that connection issue for past month or so. This is if I skip the credentials. The credentials have not been working as well.
But I can connect to it with the app most of the time lol.

I figured reckoning is coming because I have not updated the devices….
Honestly I looked up the update process and I was “no thanks”, I been hoping for years they make it transparent like other devices that need updates…

 

[ingchr1]

...Also when you zoom in etc.. does it freeze?...

It seams that the zoom button isn't available, no matter how I try to adjust the graph. The button is just grayed out. I thought in past versions I could just pinch the graph to zoom it. I rarely log into my controllers, so there's that.

Also, when I select the list of readings then go back to the graph it comes back shrunken.

 

[Pod_01]

It seams that the zoom button isn't available, no matter how I try to adjust the graph. The button is just grayed out. I thought in past versions I could just pinch the graph to zoom it. I rarely log into my controllers, so there's that.

Also, when I select the list of readings then go back to the graph it comes back shrunken.

In the full screen mode I get slider bar at the bottom. It allows you to select more or less (zoom in/out) but every time I make adjustment there is 50% chance it freezes.

This is just after moving it a bit. Freeze right after.