note 6: WEB user interface

For custom WEB user interfaces to various IOT applications (photovoltaic, weather, irrigation, smart home, etc..) by using TuyaDEAMON there are many solutions.

Advanced environments

Advanced Web UI Environments for IoT are pre-configured solutions that offer a broad range of features and tools for data visualization and analysis. Among the most popular we find:

• Grafana: is an open source application for data visualization and analysis. It is highly customizable and offers a wide range of pre-configured panels and widgets.
• Kibana: is an open source application for data analysis. It is integrated with Elasticsearch and offers a wide range of features for search, visualization and data analysis.
• Datadog: is a cloud platform for data observation and analysis. It offers a wide range of capabilities for collecting, visualizing, and analyzing data from IoT applications, infrastructure, and devices.

Benefits of advanced environments include:

• Ease of use: They are pre-configured solutions that can be used without the need for programming or software development knowledge.
• Wide range of features: They offer a wide range of capabilities for visualizing and analyzing data, both from applications and IoT devices.
• Customization: They are highly customizable to fit the user's specific needs.

Disadvantages of advanced environments include:

• Cost: These can be expensive, especially if you require advanced features.
• Scalability: They can be difficult to scale to meet the needs of small and large IoT systems.

Web admin framework with widgets

Web admin frameworks with widgets are solutions that provide a flexible foundation for building web user interfaces for IoT. Among the most popular we find:

• GenteJS: is an open-source framework for building web user interfaces. It offers a wide range of widgets and features for creating intuitive and responsive user interfaces.
• Bootstrap: is an open-source framework for building web user interfaces. It offers a set of basic components and functionality for building simple and functional user interfaces.
• Material Design Lite: is an open-source framework for building web user interfaces based on Google's Material Design design language. It offers a set of components and features for creating modern and engaging user interfaces.

The benefits of web admin frameworks with widgets include:

• Flexibility: Offer a flexible foundation for creating custom user interfaces.
• Scalability: They are easily scalable to meet the needs of small and large IoT systems.
• Cost: They are generally free or low-cost.

Disadvantages of web admin frameworks with widgets include:

• Difficulty of use: They can be more difficult to use than advanced environments, especially if you have no knowledge of programming or software development.
• Lack of features: May not offer all the features needed for viewing and analyzing data from IoT devices and applications.

Conclusions

The choice between an advanced environment and a Web admin framework with widgets depends on the specific needs of the user. Advanced environments are a good choice for users who need a pre-configured solution with a wide range of features. Web admin frameworks with widgets are a good choice for users who need a flexible and customizable solution.

In line with the previous ruling, I prefer the second solution, as it is much more flexible and customizable. Web admin frameworks with widgets offer a wide range of possibilities for creating customized user interfaces that adapt to specific user needs (see here for some examples). TuyaDAEMON offers high functionalities and simple interfaces (REST and MySQL) so customizing widgets (or even creating new widgets) is standard and relatively simple. Additionally, they are generally free or low-cost, making them an accessible solution for a wide range of users.

I chose Gentelella, a Bootstrap admin template (free to use) which guarantees me a professional appearance, pages adaptable to various media, and a really very rich library of widgets with a homogeneous look and feel see examples: for an excellent result in a short time.