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    Monday, June 22, 2009

    Updated User Interface

    Well it's been a while since I posted my UI, so I thought I would take the time to write up some of the changes I've made and a quick overview of what I have built my ui the way I have.


    As you can see my objective for my ui is to create a minimalist view that presents the most important information from the inside (where my toon is) out. I of course am a raider so as much as possible is either hidden or set with a mouseover opacity change (like Dominos).


    The above is a breakdown of my ui, the blue frame highlights my focus and contains the following essential, important modules highlighted in red.
    • Grid - I use grid although HealBot is supposed to be good as well. I added a couple of Grid addons to place corner warnings for stacks etc too and invert the colors! Makes it so much easier to see who needs heals I think (see my config guide).
    • Decursive - great for single click (left or right) decursing/cure poison, I use this for dispell intensive fights like Yogg. When I don't need it gets hidden :) I know some of you would say "Why do you need a second unit frames?". I have found that decursive allows me to dispell much quicker than Grid + Macros.
    • HotCandy - I think this is a real essential for a HoT based class like druids, will track your LB stacks etc, I've tried many different things but keep coming back to HotCandy, one day i'll just stop trying and stick with this gem.
    • Dominos with ButtonFacade - I use this small dominos bar to highlight my primary spells that have cooldowns, namely; Wild Growth, Nature's Swiftness, Swiftmend, Innervate, Tranq and Rebirth. It's used as a reference and I do not use it to click etc.
    • Quartz - Cast bar filled with win, I have grown to really appreciate this cast bar addon, it is especially useful for us Aussies who have latency issues, a nice presentation of when you can start casting your next cast makes it really great for those 'heads down healing' occasions.
    • SatrinaBuffFrame - I have SBF split into 2 frames, this central frame is used for debuffs. The reason I have it in the centre is to ensure I dont miss anything important, this is especially great for fights like General where you need to be watching your stacks :)
    The next 'ring' of addons are about presenting information that is not 'critical' to my raiding.
    • oUF Nivaya - I have dropped Pitbull, I feel that PB was overkill for what I wanted, ouF really works well and it is light. Nivaya has the advantage of a ui to modify the appearance and move things around. Reality is that I use Grid to know even my own health which is why my unit frames are not in the top list :)
    • Doom Cooldown Pulse - this is a cool mod that will prompt you as key abilities come off of cool down. This is a great trigger to hit spells like Wild Growth :)
    • Prat - Chat customisation, I have prat setup to also announce important messages in our healer channel to the centre of my screen, calls about people being down etc.
    • CowTip - I turned this on the other day, so far I like but not sure if it's too much info for my everyday need.
    • Recount - Damage/Healing Meters, some guilds ban these because people tend to try to top the lists so use this with smarts, fact it's a great tool for breaking down your performance and comparing it to others but nobody cares too much about being up the top of the list as long as your assigns don't die!!
    • Minimap Button Frame - MBF is cool, it grabs all the icons around your map and puts them into a frame that you can move around, the idea again is to remove the stuff you don't need to see all the time.
    • Chinchilla - Map movement/customisation
    • RangeDisplay - displays the range of your target and focus etc.
    • Autobar - is a great dynamic bar mod that will give you all you need. Very neat!
    Other modules that arent visible but still very useful.
    • Deadly Boss Mods - must have for raiding, timers and notices etc
    • oRA2 - A CT_RaidAssist alternative, another requirement for raiding in most guilds
    • Minimalist - does a few things like hiding chat rubbish and buttons etc but also automates a few painful things like repairs and selling grey items.
    • Postal - replaces and enhances the wow mail system, much better
    • WIM - adds a nice chat interface for whispers similar to MSN
    • ArkInventory - consolidates bags and also allows viewing all yours toons at the same time.
    • Cartographer - world map replacement
    • QuestHelper / Better Quest /QBar - are my quest addons of choice, QuestHelper is used for levelling, Better Quest is used for replacing the quest log.
    Would really love to hear what people think of my ui and the approach I have taken.

    2 comments:

    1. Wow, I love your UI! I've been working on some tweaks with mine but now I want to start all over and download your addons :) Do you dual spec? If so, do your bars auto switch to those abilities? I'm resto but Balance for questing and Bartender4 gets a little screwy with my bars when I was trying to make the tweaks. Thanks for posting what you use!

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    2. Yes i dual spec moonkin, although only really for dailies etc.

      My bars switch no problemo (all of them) and I dont make any major changes except perhaps making sure omen is more prominant

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