Not clear if you should use a Device or an Entity as a target [new user observation 6 of 7]

[davidbbs]

I observed a new user creating simple light automations for three hours this weekend.
Observation 6 of 7:

Problem 6: Not clear if you should use a Device or an Entity as a target
Proposal 6: Hide one or the other
(Low-priority: the new user just always used entity, but did not know why.)

It is not clear why you should choose a device or an entity when applying a service call. Both are available and most things are listed in both. If one is preferred, it should be shown and the other hidden.

[MatzeG1t]

i can confirm the uncertainty as quite a new user of HA. I got this comment here in a thread

"never use devices to automate off of, always the entities instead"
So there seems to be a difference which could for example be mentioned here
/config/entities
/config/devices/dashboard

With mention I mean a little "info" mark or a deep link to doc (which i didnt find right away right now)

For devices:
"A device is a model representing a physical or logical unit that contains entities." from this page.

For entities I didnt really found a explaination but how I understand it, they are concepts/properties/attributes from devices that can be read/written.

This would help to improve the learnability.

WHen it comes to automations and using on or the other: most dialogues allow one or the other and not both at the same time right?