Hey guys, I’ve been playing around with home automation and have backed some kickstarter projects and have smart things now, I created a domain name thereisarobotforthat.com and wanted to make a site that highlighted my experience maybe post videos etc, lists of products and things available to help people thru the process because I know at times it can be overwhelming with everything out there. any ideas would be appreciated, and any website design help also!
Check out this site, it’s quite useful to me.
Smarthomedb can be helpful, it’s just important to remember that they list anything that has an IFTTT channel as fully compatible with others with an IFTTT channel, even if the channel is only one way.
So it will look like SmartThings has full integration with Lutron Caseta, even though it’s just a partial IFTTT integration.
So it’s certainly good place to start, just be aware that it rarely gives details on integration limitations, it pretty much just puts integrations into a yes or no column.
Good luck!
There are a lot of great blogs out there about personal home automation experiences. As a friend of mine says, “home security is a package. Home automation is a process.”
I especially enjoy reading the ones that really detail the decision-making process for the personalized aspects of a home automation project.
There are a number of excellent sites for critical reviews of devices, in particular CNET, but also Engadget, TechGuide, CEPro and some very good Flipboard home automation magazines. Those sites generally keep up with the latest and greatest details for comparing newer model releases.
The personal blogs can take a specific aspect of home automation, whether it’s a renter on a budget, someone with four dogs, a family with a teenager and school-age child, a group of housemates, The family with an aging parent, etc. and share how they found things that work for their specific set of use cases.
They don’t have to compare every possible smart bulb out there the way CNET does. They can stop when they get to their own “good enough” solution and delve into the experience of actually living in a smart home. I find those really helpful even when I don’t share those particular use cases.
I myself am quadriparetic, use a wheelchair with limited hand function. I follow a blog called “quadomated” by a guy who was building a whole new house. It’s a little dated now, and some problems would probably be solved differently, but it turns out it’s still one of the best discussions of what kind of prewiring to put in a new home if you want to support full automation. Most of his solutions are way out of my budget, but I still learned a lot from following the process. And it help me think about which features I might actually use.
So I guess my advice at the beginning would be to start a personal blog with your own practical needs and highlight the process you went through to to solve them.
You can certainly have a section for a look at the latest and greatest stuff that’s coming out, but I think the biggest contribution can be made in showing the stuff you’re actually using and why. I’m not saying don’t give details, but explain why specific details were important to your own use case.
At least that’s what I enjoy reading from individual bloggers. Then I can jump over to CNET and start digging deeper into technical details.
And you’ll save yourself the headache of having to continually update everything whenever a new model comes out.
Yes, You can try out smarthomedb for reference as there are lot of product , Compatibilities and How to’s are available . One of my friend took help from professional team members for designing his website. More designs are available here for reference .