reef-pi User Interface (UI) development thread

[Des Westcott]

After a discussion with @Ranjib, we have decided to open a separate thread for the discussion around the reef-pi User Interface (UI).

This thread is for suggesting UI features / upgrades reef-pi users would like to see in reef-pi.

Requesting / suggesting a feature here is not going to be a guarantee that it gets introduced into reef-pi, but it's an opportunity to make a case for something you think would benefit other reef-pi users out there.

From the discussions here, the Development Team aka "The Clever Guys That Do The Actual Coding" will prioritise and decide what can be accomplished and implemented.

 

[Des Westcott]

So a couple of things I'd like to see - in no particular order.

- The dashboard. I'd like more customisation options. Graph's aren't always necessary. The ability option to just show a temp or pH value is sometimes good enough. Can always go to the Temp or pH module to look at the graph in detail.
- Equipment tab could possibly be integrated with the Equipment on/off status on the dashboard.
- Vertical range on pH graph.
- Decimal points on pH value on graph.
- Individual / customisable size of panels / widgets on the Dashboard

 

[brandon clow]

-A way to incorporate the various pwm profiles besides a manual load. Composite, sine, random, lunar. Currently auto and manual are the only two exposed in the gui

 

[burningbaal]

Can I make a suggestion that ideas entered here be one idea per post? that way the 'likes' on the post can be used as an approximate proxy for popularity

 

[burningbaal]

'seconds' dropdown in timers and macros should become a real dropdown and allow decimal entry (0.5 minutes or 1.5 hours or 90 minutes should all be valid choices). (recently discussed in the main thread, just getting it moved here)

 

[burningbaal]

- Equipment tab could possibly be integrated with the Equipment on/off status on the dashboard.

absolutely. The 'chart' on the dashboard should be clickable to turn the equipment on/off

 

[burningbaal]

- Vertical range on pH graph.

All graphs should have values and units posted. Even the system health graphs don't show a label on the y axis, so it's hard to know what the number represents (% memory used? MB memory used?)

 

[Des Westcott]

Can I make a suggestion that ideas entered here be one idea per post? that way the 'likes' on the post can be used as an approximate proxy for popularity

Good idea. I'll edit first post.

 

[Des Westcott]

Good idea. I'll edit first post.

Fun fact. It would seem that you can't edit a post after someone has "liked" it. Makes sense I suppose.

 

[burningbaal]

Fun fact. It would seem that you can't edit a post after someone has "liked" it. Makes sense I suppose.

@Shep or another mod, can we get any help with this?
@Des Westcott wants to clarify the first post to ask people to post their ideas one-per-reply in this thread.

 

[Ranjib]

I'd like to see some holistic design improvements. i.e. apply the universal design principles of proximity, repetition, contrast and alignment across all the reef-pi UI. every screen to reflect the most useful features of reef keeping distilled in an intuitive and elegant fashion.
In concrete terms, it means rethinking our color, icons, ui elements and their composition (alignments) in any given screen. Like iphone , the most common things should be easy, while the complicated things should be possible. Above all every feature should be accessible in 3 clicks.
I dont know when and how we;'ll get to that or if its at possible to make everything adhere to this , given we experiment with many features, and design is easier for the feature where we have user experience very well understood (like ATO), but overall i think its a very good UI north star for reef-pi project

 

[burningbaal]

Ooh! A dark theme so I can change something before going to sleep without blinding myself

 

[brandon clow]

I have used this if my eyes are straining from the blast of white. It's a high contrast plugin for chrome that turns the white to black and the greens end up being a lavenderish color. It works for now. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/high-contrast/djcfdncoelnlbldjfhinnjlhdjlikmph?hl=en

 

[robottaway]

This might be way off base, but I'd been dreaming of support for homekit having played with some other projects out there particularly HomeAssistant. Having tiles for probes, on/off info and switches directly on the homescreen of my phone would be pretty steller and 80%+ of what I need day in and day out. Keep the UI open in a tab mostly for just this purpose, as rarely have I needed to reconfigure anything.

 

[robottaway]

Oh and also through HomeKit that should have support via my Apple Watch as tank controller

 

[Ranjib]

This might be way off base, but I'd been dreaming of support for homekit having played with some other projects out there particularly HomeAssistant. Having tiles for probes, on/off info and switches directly on the homescreen of my phone would be pretty steller and 80%+ of what I need day in and day out. Keep the UI open in a tab mostly for just this purpose, as rarely have I needed to reconfigure anything.

Rob, i am working on mqtt integration which will be useful in homeassistant integration (details on github tickets). I am not sure about the homekit integration, any docs?

 

[robottaway]

Rob, i am working on mqtt integration which will be useful in homeassistant integration (details on github tickets). I am not sure about the homekit integration, any docs?

Looks like there is this Golang integration layer which could be employed. There are some implementations listed on main README. Could homekit be easy as creating a bridge process to translate between reefpi daemon and my homekit hub?

I think your described approach would solve my request as I can mqqt->home assistant->homekit->homehub. One downside is requiring setting up home assistant with homekit integration much more DIY/Hacker so maybe not as easy sell to adoption.

Having this integration makes it possible to get readings anywhere/anytime via Homepod/AppleTv/iPad being used as homehub

 

[Des Westcott]

I'm having to set up all my Macros again after I cleared the database yesterday.

One feature I'd love to see is to be able to insert a line into a Macro when editing. My Feed Macro is about 20 steps long and after I re-wrote it, I realised there is an additional step I would like to add into the sequence at step no 2. Now I have to change the existing step no 2 and re-write all the subsequent steps through to the end.

 

[burningbaal]

I'm having to set up all my Macros again after I cleared the database yesterday.

One feature I'd love to see is to be able to insert a line into a Macro when editing. My Feed Macro is about 20 steps long and after I re-wrote it, I realised there is an additional step I would like to add into the sequence at step no 2. Now I have to change the existing step no 2 and re-write all the subsequent steps through to the end.

X100!

 

[Des Westcott]

It would be nice to see usage data for ATO's that are disabled.

I use ATO's for my Auto Water Change (AWC) and then I have one for normal running conditions.

While normally running the system, the AWC's are off and as such, the usage stats don't show up under the specific ATO's on the ATO tab.

Maybe have them show in a different color to show that the ATO is off?