Posted by Cyborg Automation AU | Melbourne, Australia
You've spent weeks, maybe months, getting Home Assistant running. The automations work. The lights respond. The sensors report. But every time you open that dashboard, something feels... off.
Maybe it's the wall of identical buttons. Maybe it's the fact that you need six taps to check if you left the garage door open. Or maybe it's that your partner refuses to touch it because "it looks like a spaceship control panel."
You're not alone. Most Home Assistant dashboards are built by people who understand YAML better than they understand design. That's not an insult, it's just the reality of a platform built by engineers for engineers.
The good news? A well-designed dashboard transforms Home Assistant from a hobby project into something your whole household actually uses.
The Three Dashboard Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes
1. Showing Everything at Once
The default instinct is to put every entity on the dashboard. Every light. Every sensor. Every switch. The result is a wall of cards that requires scrolling, squinting, and remembering where you put things.
A good dashboard shows you what matters right now. The garage door status when you're leaving. The thermostat when it's hot. The security cameras when motion is detected. Everything else can live behind a tap or two.
2. Ignoring Who Actually Uses It
Engineers build dashboards for engineers. That means technical labels, cryptic icons, and layouts that make perfect sense if you set everything up yourself.
But what about the person who just wants to turn on the kitchen lights? Or check if the front door is locked before bed? Or see if the kids left the TV on?
The best dashboards are built around tasks, not entities. "Leaving home" is a task. "Bedtime" is a task. "Is the house secure?" is a task. Design for those, and suddenly everyone in the house starts using the system.
3. Forgetting About Context
A dashboard that works brilliantly on your desktop looks terrible on a wall-mounted tablet. A layout perfect for your phone becomes unusable on a 10-inch screen.
And then there's the context of when you're looking. The information you need at 7am (weather, commute, calendar) is completely different from what you need at 11pm (doors locked, lights off, alarm armed).
What Actually Makes a Dashboard Work
Visual Hierarchy
Not everything deserves equal attention. Your security status is more important than your humidity sensor. Your "Away Mode" button matters more than individual light switches.
Good dashboards use size, colour, and position to guide the eye. The most critical information sits at the top. Warnings and alerts stand out. Routine controls fade into the background until you need them.
Logical Grouping
Group controls by purpose, not by device type. "Living Room" is more useful than "All Zigbee Lights." "Morning Routine" beats a list of individual automations.
And don't be afraid of multiple dashboards. One for daily use. One for detailed control. One for the wall tablet in the hallway. Each designed for its specific purpose.
Responsive Design
Your dashboard needs to work on:
- Your phone (portrait mode, one-handed)
- Your tablet (landscape, wall-mounted)
- Your laptop (when you're tinkering)
- That old iPad you repurposed as a control panel
This isn't optional. It's the difference between a dashboard that gets used and one that gets ignored.
The Wall Tablet Question
At some point, every Home Assistant user considers mounting a tablet on the wall. It's a great idea—when done right.
The key is understanding that a wall tablet isn't a phone. You're not interacting with it for extended periods. You're glancing at it. Tapping once or twice. Moving on.
That means:
- Larger touch targets (fingers aren't precise)
- Higher contrast (hallway lighting is inconsistent)
- Fewer options visible at once (you're not stopping to browse)
- Status-focused design (show what matters, hide what doesn't)
A dedicated wall dashboard, designed specifically for that purpose, will always beat a generic dashboard displayed on a mounted tablet.
When DIY Stops Making Sense
Here's the truth about Home Assistant dashboards: anyone can build one. The documentation exists. The community shares examples. Custom cards are mostly free.
But "can" and "should" are different questions.
Building a genuinely good dashboard requires understanding:
- YAML syntax (or the visual editor's limitations)
- CSS for custom styling
- Jinja2 templating for dynamic content
- Card-mod for advanced customisation
- Responsive design principles
- UX fundamentals that make interfaces intuitive
That's a lot of learning for something that should just work.
Some people enjoy that process. They'll happily spend weekends tweaking card configurations and debugging template errors. Home Assistant is their hobby, and the dashboard is part of the fun.
Others just want a smart home that their family will actually use. They've got better things to do than learn CSS grid layouts or figure out why their conditional card isn't showing up on mobile.
Neither approach is wrong. But if you're in the second group, you might be wasting time fighting with YAML when you could have a professional dashboard running in a fraction of the time.
What Professional Dashboard Design Actually Looks Like
When we design dashboards for clients, we start with questions, not configuration:
- Who lives in the house?
- What devices do they carry?
- What tasks happen daily?
- What information matters most?
- Where will dashboards be accessed from?
- What's the household's technical comfort level?
The YAML comes later. First, we understand what the dashboard needs to do.
Then we build something that:
- Works on every device in the household
- Prioritises the controls people actually use
- Handles edge cases (guests, babysitters, elderly relatives)
- Looks good enough that people want to use it
- Scales as you add more devices
We handle the custom cards, the styling, the responsive breakpoints, and the template logic. You get a dashboard that works from day one.
Getting Started
If you're ready to stop fighting with your dashboard and start actually using it, we offer a few different approaches:
Remote Dashboard Design — We work with your existing Home Assistant installation, designing and implementing dashboards remotely. You share access, we build something that works, you get a system your family actually uses.
Full Smart Home Installation — For Melbourne homes, we handle everything: hardware, software, configuration, and yes, beautiful dashboards that tie it all together.
Consultation — Not sure what you need? We can review your current setup, identify the quick wins, and help you prioritise what's worth improving.
Your smart home should make life easier, not harder. A good dashboard is the difference between a system that delivers on that promise and one that sits unused.
Cyborg Automation specialises in Home Assistant installation and configuration for Melbourne homes and businesses. We build smart homes that respect your privacy, work without cloud subscriptions, and actually get used by everyone in the household.
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