I switched from Wink to HS

[andrew@pcsolutions.cc]

the HS3Touch default layout basically sucks.
1. it is extremely slow. can it be setup to not use the HS cloud and connect directly? this is what i was expecting.
2. if i turn on a device from the wall it does not update on the phone for a very long time.
3. to turn on or off a light requires a long process of finding where it is and eventually turning it off/or
4. it takes a long time to learn the designer
5. To end up with beautiful screens like the ones on the example page of HS website would require me to also learn and become good at photoshop etc.

It is my hope that a customised version will work better. I switched from Wink to HS because Wink is totally cloud based and at times can take like 30 seconds or more.

I like the Star Trek look layout but i doubt i will not have time until i retire to design that.

My hope is someone has a nice layout i could download and use?

[mterry63]

Your frustration lies in a poorly executed vision and life cycle for HSTouch, later HS3Touch. Here's my take on the history, which is relevant.

It was initially created as a designer of custom in-home touchscreens on Windows tablets for committed DIYers and Commercial installers with a Designer application that created the screen layouts, and a client application that executed the design. Homeseer initially sold a branded touchscreen for this purpose. DIYers rolled their own.

Later as apple and android tablets become popular, the client portion was released on those platforms. This was before mobile devices were prolific. Locally connected usage expanded.

As phones became more connected, Homeseer developed myhomeseer, the remote connection option and integrated it into HS3Touch client, then designer. Now things started to fragment.

Initially you had to design everything from scratch. The application wasn't created with an option to export the graphic designs and share them between users. The configuration file was/is painfully linked to the devices and configuration unique to the system it was designed for. That hasn't changed over the life-cycle of the application, with the exception noted next.

The default template was created to target phone users with a "universal" layout that prevent the user from needing the designer portion of the application. When this rolled out, HS3, the designer, and the client were modified to support specific device type "templates" like lights, thermostats, locks, cameras. This allowed the default template to generically reference "locks" for example, and if your locks followed the object template they would be iterated as a list of locks in the default screen. Note that this template system was poorly documented, and never had a full degree of success, especially for 3rd party plug-in and DIY users. The details of how the devices needed to support the object template were slow to appear, if they were ever clearly documented.

After this update you could load the client on a phone without purchasing the designer and have some control from your phone. Custom needs required a purchase of the Designer software.

Consistent execution across all client platforms also became a problem. There was no extensive test harness implemented to ensure all functions built into the designer/client worked bug-free the same way across all platforms. As new features rolled out, bugs appeared in different parts of different client versions. Again, no comprehensive list was kept of all issues or their work-arounds across all client types were compiled. Because there are thousands of unique combinations of devices these bugs were generally not noted until wide release of the clients. Those committed individuals who wanted a complex system gleaned their knowledge from this forum and traded work-arounds with others.

Most recently Homeseer developed a separate mobile client and publicly stated the default template for HS3Touch would be deprecated. The state of HS3Touch is a love/hate relationship with many customers. Many bug reports lay untouched for years. Occasionally new features are added, and occasionally old bugs are fixed. The overall life-cycle of features and fixes are pretty opaque to us.

That's my 2 cents.

To address your specific questions - yes there is a local connect option in the client and designer. RTFM and you'll be able to set it up easily. That should address 1,2, and 3. Only time and effort will address #4. Read the forum and watch HSTouch videos on youtube. Some screen layout can be shared, but since the application doesn't support export and import of layouts independent of devices, you still have a lot of manual effort.

Good luck. Many people are very happy with the product, in spite of the issues above.

[drparker151]

With great flexibility and power comes great complexity
Partly joking, partly true

Have you looked at HS Mobile or HSbuddy? Both much easier to use, however less flexible. There is also ImperialHome as a dashboard option.

You don't need to be a graphics pro for HStouch to look good. Take a look at these videos on how to get some great results with PowerPoint.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6...wgogsBy7zyejzA

[macromark]

the HS3Touch default layout basically sucks.
1. it is extremely slow. can it be setup to not use the HS cloud and connect directly? this is what i was expecting.
2. if i turn on a device from the wall it does not update on the phone for a very long time.
3. to turn on or off a light requires a long process of finding where it is and eventually turning it off/or
4. it takes a long time to learn the designer
5. To end up with beautiful screens like the ones on the example page of HS website would require me to also learn and become good at photoshop etc.

It is my hope that a customised version will work better. I switched from Wink to HS because Wink is totally cloud based and at times can take like 30 seconds or more.

I like the Star Trek look layout but i doubt i will not have time until i retire to design that.

My hope is someone has a nice layout i could download and use?

Welcome to the fold and thanks for posting. A few points...

Our new default mobile app is HomeSeer Mobile. It went into beta some months ago and was officially released last week. If you haven't already seen it, be sure to check it out: https://homeseer.com/homeseer-mobile/

That said, HS3Touch is designed for custom projects. We do provide a 'default' project but the intention is that folks use that as a template for starting their own projects. The best looking projects usually include custom graphics. If you're comfortable with Photoshop (Gimp, Inkscape, Paint.net, etc), the process of bringing those into a project is pretty straightforward. If you're graphically-challenged, a quick Google search can usually uncover a lot of gems that could be used. Commercial graphics are also available from sites like Shutterstock.

There's a very long-running thread that was started 11 years ago. If you haven't seen it, check out "Screens created with HSTouch": https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/le...d-with-hstouch

[logbuilder]

macromark, glad to see you on this thread.
mterry63, thanks for the background. It often helps us to understand today by looking at how we got here.

From a historical standpoint, was HSTouch Designer built by HS or was it adapted from another product?

[macromark]

macromarkFrom a historical standpoint, was HSTouch Designer built by HS or was it adapted from another product?

100% built by HomeSeer using Microsoft tools.

[S-F]

The HSTouch learning curve isn't as bad as it seems at first. I'm so inept with high tech that I'm usually amazed when I find the power button on my PC and I managed to make screens that I'm happy with. Here's a good source for finding icons: https://findicons.com/