Compact automation editor layout for improved readability

[bartbutenaers]

Describe the enhancement

Hi everybody,

First of all I have to admit that the current automation editor is really fancy. It looks very nice! But for some reason it doesn't work for me. When I open it, I simply don't see my automation logic. And then I switch to the yaml editor. Which is a shame after all the hard work you people have spent on the visual editor.

I have been thinking last night, why it doesn't work for me. So I took a very simple one, containing very simple logic:

Sunset -> Turn on light
Sunrise -> Turn off light

I would expect that I could explain to my wife and kids how this works in Home Assistant, in case I wouldn't be around here anymore...
When I open this in my visual automation editor, I see this:

The entire page on my desktop pc is filled. Perhaps my very simple logic is a very bad example, because it looks quite understandable. But as soon as I add a bit of more logic, fancy widgets are being added to my screen and I need to start scrolling. As a result of that, my brain completely looses all kind of logic overview. So I continue with my simple automation below, because an entire screen is required to show only two short lines of automation logic...

I think it doesn't work for me for a simple reason: my brain sees a fancy automation editor, but it doesn't see the automation logic. I see buttons, informational texts, and so on... But as a result of all that visual information, I don't see the automation logic anymore unfortunately.

So I was wondering if it would be possible to make the automation editor a bit more compact and minimalistic, to show the automation logic itself more. I tried to create an example mockup:

In this example I have moved the widgets to the right, so I now see a bit more my automation logic on the left. Without too much visual noise... I am by far an UX guy, so this is probable a horrible mockup from UX point of view (e.g. on a small mobile screen). But I really hope you get my point...

Thanks for reading!!
Bart

Use cases

Hopefully one day I can explain my familly how HA runs our house.

Visual examples

See above

Anything else?

No response

[KingT]

I totally agree, I also miss some easy overview and editing of my automations.
It has improved in HA over time, but for me there is still even more room for improvement to make it even more user friendly.
Falling back to YAML should not be the default to get things done because the GUI does not meet expectations...