Since version 2.x.x (don’t remember exactly which one) you can now ‘save to Homey’ with the ‘enter’ on you keyboard. Might be usefull if the “saved sucessfully” message afterwards could also be accepted with a ‘enter’
I was moving a lot (+/-20) of widgets together, a few pixels to the right. The start & stop points of the (shaped) arrow widgets suddenly moved some 2000 (!!) pixels to the right. The rest of the shape moved correctly.
(Feature request)
Would it be possible/a lot of work (= then don’t considder) to filter layers in the editor? I have a small smartphone-dashboard which makes containers+widgets visible (f.i. a container with all the light when the light-bulb is pressed) Each container+widgets is residing on 2 layers. Works verry smoothly but editing the thing is a pain in the ***. If I could filter just the layer i want to edit… would be great
If there already is an option for this, or another solution for this kind of use… please slap it in my face
edit: with ‘layers’ i mean the Z-index…
edit2: An extra ‘issue’ I noticed: If your canvas is exactly the size of the tablet-screen, but you keep the scrollbars enabled, the scrollbars start flickering causing the dashboard to constantly move back & forth a few pixels. anybody else noticed that?
I’ve been using your Dashboard for several months now, and I’m delighted that you created such a useful tool. I especially appreciate the passion and dedication you continue to put into maintaining it. I’m a Homey developer myself, so I know how much work that takes.
I follow the development of Dashboard Studio closely and regularly update my Dashboard on my iPad thanks to your work. I’m actually on v2.0.9 and I’ve encountered an issue til initial V2: on a chart with a Baseline Value, the color consistently disappears. This doesn’t happen on otherwise identical charts without a Baseline Value (see screenshot).
I also wanted to ask whether it’s possible to make text blink in a text widget. The idea is to draw attention to something, such as a birthday displayed for the current day.
I also tested it on an iPad running iOS 26. As I understand it, this worked fine in V1? Does the gauge on the demopage in the top left with the custom baseline value work as expected?
Could you share a snippet of the problematic widget in the chat using a code block? You can create a snippet by selecting the widget and then using the export snippet button from the editor tools:
I have not tested this on V2.0.9 though. I just did a quick check on my current V2.0.10 work in progress build, so I might have already resolved it while fixing a related bug.
Not currently possible. But sounds like a great feature, I shall add this to the list
Ah, yes. I appreciate these little feature improvements. I should make the whole UI more keyboard friendly. I am just such a lazy user, I love sitting comfy in my chair laying back and just control everything with the mouse.
Thanks, I shall do more testing with the arrows. That widget has given me headaches before. It is also one of the widgets still not compatible with the new responsive mode. (but until now nobody has commented on that )
So as I understand correctly: These “Layers” are actually diverend Z-indexes of widgets on the same page. And you are dynamically change the Z-index to put the widget on the foreground to show? That would be indeed a pain to edit. But why are you not create a multi page dashboard and dynamically jump to the page that is needed to show? It is easy to edit pages right? You can have one main page, with main widgets and set those widgets to show over multiple pages (so do not copy widgets on other pages, if the same widget needs to show on the other pages as well. Just set a range in the page(s) setting. On the other pages design the dialogs on top of it.
OR…
you can “teleport” groups to the current main page. Just design your dialog or overlay etc. On a free seperate page. Group everyting and make the “override pages(s)” dynamic.
Lets say page 1 is the main page, you can send 1 to that topic and the whole group wil show on top of that page (you can even make it modal and blur the background if you wish). When you do not want to show the group anymore just send the pagenumber it came from to it.
You can see it in the demo on the main page: Press the “Core Telemetry” button. This will show a dialog. This dialog is actually a group on page 3 that teleports to the main page.
@Hiep_Hoang Thanks for the feedback. I understand the sentiment. I also totally get the contradiction of dashboard software that claims you can create whatever you want while lacking a web snippet feature. I am not entirely against it but for now it is just one of the last things on the list due to the reasons I mentioned earlier. Dashboard Studio is still in heavy development. I think it is better to focus on producing base widgets that can show and manipulate data. If a user wants to show something specific, I prefer trying to create base widgets that allow that data to be displayed rather than creating a widget that just cuts out a piece of a website and pastes it onto the dashboard. I try to encourage users to create a uniform looking dashboard with only the data they actually need.
I certainly agree that a Homey dashboard is much easier to set up. I even mentioned this clearly in my very first post:
All widgets have a massive amount of things you can adjust regarding their appearance and behavior. You can open a dashboard page, run a Homey flow or device, send a custom on or off value, open a website in the same tab or a new one, and even do several of those things at the very same time. It can be a push button or a pill switch that stays on. You can show a confirmation dialog before it runs or require a press and hold so a quick tap does nothing. You can set your own text, font, size, and colors for both on and off states. You can put the label inside or outside the button and use a built in icon, your own image, or a website favicon. Each of those can be different for the on and off states. It can play a sound when you press it, release it, or when it turns on or off. It can follow the real device state and change its text, color, or icon based on live data. You can also group “radio” buttons so only one stays on or hide a button as an invisible tap area over a picture. Well yeah, all these settings and options come at the cost of being complex. But in the past seven months since I released the first version, most users seem to request even more configurability rather than less. (Also removing functionality breaks existing dashboards)
But I agree it is harder to set up and understand. Although I think once you grasp the methods, Dashboard Studio becomes quite easy to use. Compared to the first version, a lot of changes were already implemented to make it less overwhelming. For example I hid all the settings that are unused in certain configurations. I also made a massive change in V2 to make things simpler for users. The Basic Mode essentially strips all the fluff and leaves it really bare bones with only the settings you actually need. You can style the widgets purely with presets and hide all the styling and advanced configuration options. I do not think it is a very popular mode though since I have not seen any questions about it during this V2 test period.
Anyhow, adding a button to the canvas and styling it the way you like really should not take a whole day. Just add a switch or button widget and choose one of the presets along with a sub preset:
If you want it to switch a light on or off, you just need to set it to a toggle switch and fill in the output topic for the light. That is a total of four steps, assuming you have already enabled the of/off light topic in your Homey configuration.
Yes, if you want to change the look of the switch further, then you will definitely need the advanced options. You only have to do it once though. You can easily duplicate the styled switch using CTRL + D or create a custom preset of your own switch style. Alternatively you can change the master default settings of the switch so every new one you place adopts that default styling automatically.
There is actually one higher level widget, which is the light grid. With this widget you can easily change individual lights or groups of lights. You can control their power state, color, dim mode, temperature, and more. I included it because most users want to control all their lights right away with their first dashboard. Personally I think it is a bit useless and bad for dashboard UX design. I am not criticizing anyone who does this of course. With my very first dashboard way before Dashboard Studio, I could also control all my lights. That is totally fine if you only have four lights to manage. In my own usage experience though (more than 25 hue lights ), I just never used it. It is so much more convenient to create themes and activate those directly from a dashboard button instead.
So what would a high level speaker or climate widget contribute to the dashboard? The whole point is to create whatever you want (as long as you do not add ugly pieces of web snippets ). I have seen users create a full Sonos music player with volume control, radio stations, and even displayed lyrics using just the basic widgets. It would be overwhelming and limiting at the same time if I created a widget just to do that. And what would you actually want in a climate widget? Isn’t connecting a couple of basic sliders, switches, and gauges more than enough to display and control all your climate needs?
Yes, this is a recurring request from multiple users. The problem is that showing an RTSP or ONVIF stream in a web browser is incredibly difficult without specialized plugins. Interestingly, Homey recently developed a solution that transcodes camera streams in real time to WebRTC, which would make streaming this to a web page like Dashboard Studio a lot easier. Sadly, as far as I know, this is not yet opened up to third party developers. If I add a widget to stream WebRTC streams, users should actually be able to use it by easily connecting it to a Homey WebRTC stream. So in the meantime, users have to rely on streaming snapshots from the camera.
That is really not a lot of work at all and already built-in. Just add an image widget:
I think there may be a slight misunderstanding of my point. What I’m trying to highlight, as a new user of the dashboard, is the steep learning curve.
I had to spend four whole days learning how to do relatively basic things, whereas with the standard Homey dashboard, I can usually set up the same kind of thing in five minutes. That difference in the initial experience is what I’m trying to point out.
Coming from Homey, I already have a pretty good idea of the widgets I would expect to use: switches, media, climate, sensors, etc. So I naturally expected to find similar building blocks readily available in this app. Instead, I found myself working with texts, arrows, icons, and other more fundamental elements.
As I mentioned, my first goal was simply to recreate a basic “Homey-style” button as a starting point. Even that turned out to be quite challenging.
Once you move beyond that, the learning curve becomes even steeper: live charts (thank you for adding those!), web frames, media, and so on all require quite a bit of figuring out.
In many cases, it feels like you have to start from scratch. I understand that this flexibility is probably one of the strengths of the dashboard, but it also means that not everyone will be willing to invest the time needed to learn it.
The analogy I would use is knowing English and then suddenly having to express yourself in Chinese: even though you already know what you want to say, you first have to learn both the vocabulary and the grammar needed to express it.
What I would really like to see is a better introduction that helps bridge the gap between the standard Homey dashboard and this much more flexible dashboard. The demo you already have could be a great starting point for this.
For example, it would be very helpful to have simple, ready-to-use examples showing how to create:
a standard Homey-style button
a media, climate widget (as shown in Homey) etc.
From there, users could gradually modify and learn from those examples—or simply copy them and build on them.
Even the fact that parts of the demo can be copied wasn’t obvious to me. I spent about half an hour trying to copy the parameters before realizing that I could simply copy and paste the snippets into my own dashboard.
So my suggestion isn’t necessarily to introduce more widgets (website and RTSP yes). Rather, I think the initial experience could be made much easier by providing a clearer bridge from the familiar Homey dashboard functionalities to the more powerful and flexible system you have built.
That would allow new users to get something useful working within minutes, while still giving them the opportunity to explore the more advanced possibilities as they become comfortable with the system.
I hear you, and I completely understand the learning curve. While it might look steep at first, it is actually not that high once you grasp the basics and get a feel for what the widgets can do. In fact, you can work with it quite quickly. For example, I just recreated that standard Homey button (without changing the colors yet):
I made this in under a minute by simply setting Visual Style to Button Rect, Button Radius to 150 to make it round, and the Overall Scale Multiplier to 2 to make it bigger. I know that was not necessarily the point you were trying to make, but I was curious to see how much work it would actually take.
I could definitely add something like that as a preset.
Just an honest question though, did you follow the Homey starting tutorial to get up to speed with the basics? This is not an accusation at all, as I am just genuinely curious. I suspect not many users actually follow it, since I rarely see any questions about it here on the forum.
A lot of answers are right there in the documentation (There is a “?” button on top of the editor). All the main buttons are explained, and there is also a shortcut page covering shortcuts like copy and paste. I really try to keep everything updated, and there is even a search bar at the top in V2. I completely get that most people skip the manual. I am definitely not blaming you for not reading the documentation, because I always dive in without reading manuals myself. But sometimes software is just too extensive to grasp every feature at first glance.
To be honest, I think that with the new basic mode, users should be able to set up a dashboard in roughly thirty minutes. That said, I have never done a proper field test with new users. I actually wrote a basic mode starter tutorial, but ended up scrapping it. I think it is ultimately better for users to follow the tutorial in advanced mode so they gain a deeper understanding of how the software works.
The thing is, the software is massively extensive. There are so many possibilities you probably have not even come across yet. For instance, did you know there is a color correction dialog for dynamic colors, or a complete formula engine that can apply logic to incoming values, which is practically its own scripting language? I simply cannot make all those advanced tools plug and play while keeping them instantly obvious to everyone. If you want simplicity, using basic mode with presets is really the best approach I can offer. If you want a button with a very specific look rather than a preset, then yes, you do have to tweak it yourself. You might think a Homey style button should be included by default, but you are actually the first person to mention this in the group. Someone else might feel another feature is just as “basic” and should be included too. If I started adding all those extra defaults, the preset list would quickly get overloaded and end up just as complex eliminating the “basic mode” purpose.
I do not mind at all if some people find it too complex. That is totally fine. If someone wants a quick five minute setup, the official Homey dashboard is definitely the way to go. Aside from voluntary donations ( ), I am not selling this software. I also try to make it crystal clear right in the first post that there is a steeper learning curve. Regarding widgets in particular, I wrote this in the original post:
Edit: Reading this back, I realize this and previous message might sound a little defensive or critical. That was genuinely not my intention, and I truly appreciate the constructive feedback.
I used a combination of reading the tutorials, search function (Ctrl F), this forum, the ? button, the demos, my own hands-on as well as the different AI tools.
As I asked before, a(nother) demo dashboard showing the basic/vanilla, familiar Homey widgets I think would have helped me. I don’t need presets.
At last, I would like to quote a well-known adage "“A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not that good.”
Anyway, as I mentioned this in earlier posts, I appreciate your efforts and time to make this software for the community.
Sorry, I have to disagree. I find it difficult too and have a lot to learn. I guess I know about 5%, but its already useful for me. And for my next dashboards I will have questions too.
In my humble opinion, you compare a bike with a rocket. A rocket is hard to learn, a bike is way easier.
Dashboard Studio gives you endless possibilities. So a steep learning curve is not surprising.
And it includes two of the Homey style buttons you mentioned, round with just an icon in the center. Did you browse the demo dashboard? (if you have not seen this page, maybe I should make the demo page more clear. Although “Showcase Widgets” should be clear enough?
I personally do not think I should mimic the Homey dashboard per se, I am not trying to compete with it, I just want to show what Dashboard Studio is capable of. Users even surprise me with their own designs. Some look completely different, like this one:
I would like to create a new and better demo page. The current one is something I made quickly with the first version and just added more widgets to it. For now this is good enough I hope.
Anyway, hope you can find your way using the software, I am happy to help with any questions. A lot of things that I added to the documents and tips section are based on questions from users.
I am still experiencing an issue where the inner bar of the gauge remains black instead of reflecting the configured color. Interestingly, when I open the editor and inspect the Data Configuration, the correct color is shown. The problem only affects the displayed gauge itself. I am currently using version 2.0.9.
It also seems to occur only with gauges that do not start from the minimum value. Gauges that start above the initial value appear to have this issue, where the inner bar remains black instead of being colored correctly.
New: Editor Theme - The editor theme button cycles Auto, Light, and Dark. Auto matches the editor to dashboard background Color 1.
Improved: Dialogs - You can select and confirm dialog buttons with the keyboard.
Improved: Home Screen Icon - Adding Dashboard Studio to the home screen uses a proper app icon on iPhone, Android, and desktop.
Fixed: App Stability - Dashboard Studio no longer crashes when a Homey device changes before the app has finished loading that device.
Fixed: Gauge Colors - Start, middle, end, and baseline colors show correctly as soon as the dashboard opens.
Fixed: Responsive Columns - Switching dashboards or resetting the canvas no longer leaves old group frames on the page.
Fixed: Arrow Widget - Dragging an arrow with corner points moves the whole shape together.
Fixed: Arrow Colors - Main, flow, reverse, and glow colors use the Arrow defaults again.
Fixed: Arrow in Responsive Columns - The arrow - line sits in its grid cell.
Fixed: Tall Dashboards on iPad - A fixed dashboard taller than the window no longer jumps to the bottom while you scroll, and the page starts at the top so you can reach the whole canvas.
Fixed: Responsive Background - Background Color 1 and 2 cover the viewable dashboard, including when Width is unlimited.
Fixed: Several memory related improvements.
This is now the default icon in iOS and Android when used as web app (Right one):
Could you take a look at the y-axis scaling on the line graphs? The intervals are sometimes irregular, which is unusual and creates a misleading impression of the graph values.
The y-axis rounding is currently set to “Smart Intervals.” Sometimes I switch the rounding to a different option that seems appropriate at the time, but when the dynamic values in the graph change, the result is unwanted (read: irregular) intervals again.
Yes, works fine !
Together with ctrl+S (don’t know how long that already works) saving a dashboard is now a lot smoother (for me).
(about the arrow widget)
Works fine now ! Thanks a lot!
Also, thanks for making me think about the layers/pages stuff. To be honest I completely forgot about the ‘visible on pages 1,2,3,…’ I’m gonna upgrade that dashboard in the upcoming weeks.
In response to @Hiep_Hoang , I agree with @Victor_Bicknese .
I also know about (& understand) maybe 5% of the possibilities of Dashboard Studio & Yes, it does take some time to comprehend…
But… you can create the dashboard that YOU want. Even in my one-page Dashboards i can do stuff that no other dashboard can do the way I want it to. It runs fine on a 5years + old mediocre tablet. Both of these were not possible/way to slow with the Homey Integrated Dashboard.
On top of that there’s a ton of widgets showcased, there’s a huge help file & @Satoer (& some other die-hard-users) always responds and helps if you ask a question on the forum…Often integrates feature-request in a few days time…
All for free
I think we should be verry grateful for all the effort & work he is putting in making DS available for us.
I tested with version 2.0.10, but I am still getting the old default Apple icon. I first deleted the old shortcuts and then created new ones. Even with the new shortcuts, the Dashboard Studio icon does not appear for the web app. I tested this on an iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 27.0.1 and an iPad Pro running iPadOS 27.0.1. The icon does appear in the Safari tab, however. Am I perhaps making a mistake creating the shortcut?
Hmmm, it is hard for me to solve a problem if I cannot recreate it. Here is what I did. On iOS 27 with an iPhone (17 Pro Max, though I doubt the model makes any difference), I opened the dashboard in Safari, tapped the three stripes, and chose “Share”. Then I scrolled down on the next screen and selected “Put on start screen” (the phrasing might differ since I just translated it from Dutch). That shows the icon in the screenshot. If I just make a simple bookmark instead, it uses the default favicon (similar icon). Both cases does not show an old default Apple icon
Another thing i noticed, when moving widgets to other pages (Why would I do that? )
When selecting underlaying widgets with the middle mouse button, I can not select widgets that are hidden behind a ‘group’. I have to select them in the menu, or ungroup the group to be able to select the widgets that are behind it…
I have followed the steps you described. If I press the three stripes, there is no “Share” in the menu (fig. 1). If I press the square with the arrow to the right of the address bar, I see “Put on start screen” (Zet op beginscherm) (fig. 2). If I choose that, a screen with the default Apple icon appears (fig. 3). I have also tried on an old iPad with iPadOS 18.7.10; the same exactly happens there as well. I don’t know if this can also be caused by a setting on an iPhone or iPad.
Good morning! Probably a noob question as I just discovered Dashboard Studio: I use an Android 10inch tablet and I selected that from DashBoard Studio as a canvas (portrait 800x1280). Now, I’ve built a raw setup with gauges and sliders and it looks good on my PC Chrome browser but when I load it in my tablet, the canvas is way bigger than the actual screen (looks like it’s zoomed in) and I have to scroll through it to see all widgets. Any idea what I do wrong or how to fix it? TIA!
)
). I have seen users create a full Sonos music player with volume control, radio stations, and even displayed lyrics using just the basic widgets. It would be overwhelming and limiting at the same time if I created a widget just to do that. And what would you actually want in a climate widget? Isn’t connecting a couple of basic sliders, switches, and gauges more than enough to display and control all your climate needs?
), I am not selling this software. I also try to make it crystal clear right in the first post that there is a steeper learning curve. Regarding widgets in particular, I wrote this in the original post:
