Reader UI of the Week: Daedhir's UI 2.0
by Mathew McCurley 
Feb 23rd 2010 at 4:00PM
This week on Reader UI of the Week, I want to showcase a UI that does something that I, stylistically, don't enjoy, but done in such a manner that makes me change my tune. Daedhir's UI is a compact and neat interface that strives to make use of the game's user interface art in order to give the UI a little classic with the total revamp. Suffice to say, I like it. Let's take a look inside.
Daedhir's UI has actually been featured here before during the early days after the launch of Wrath of the Lich King as one of five user interfaces spotlighted for WoW.com readers. Daedhir was kind enough to send me a quick message telling us all about the new changes to his addon package in a 2.0 release:
Hi. An earlier version of my UI was featured back at launch of Wrath along with a few other reader UIs, and the exposure led to me putting my UI up for download. I've been providing it ever since.
I very recently put up a complete revamp of the UI. I've tried to make it fit in very well with the default Blizzard UI elements, using a lot of the original Blizzard UI artwork to make things look good. It's a pretty big departure from what most UI developers do these days -- most go for something very minimalistic. I've tried to make the major elements in my UI get out of the way as much as possible, while still providing tons of information and lots of room for action bar buttons. I also put into practice many of the accepted techniques for power users -- for instance, putting the unit frames below the player's character model, to minimize the distance that they player's eye has to travel on screen when fighting. But I really tried to make the aesthetic fit in well with Blizzard's overall look. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
You can find lots more info at http://daedhirui.blogspot.com and this page contains a link to where the UI is available on WoWinterface.
Thanks, and I hope you find my submission useful.
-Daedhir
I very much like Daedhir's interface. The layout is confined mostly to the bottom portion of the screen, leaving a nice, big viewing area that the user interface itself does not interfere with. I am also a sucker for good UI art, and Daedhir's UI does not disappoint. While I don't think Daedhir's total UI package is for the beginner who wants a collection of some of the best addons out there, I do think it is a great starting point for those in the intermediate to high level of skill and finesse with the WoW user interface tools in order to form a great base of addons to begin with.
In addition, his Grid placing is nice. Personally, on healer user interfaces I like having Grid front and center, and any other class UI Grid can be wherever it is out of the way. Daedhir's UI allows Grid to be moved in many places and still stay clean and clutter free, which is definitely a plus. In the five man instance shot above, Grid is in an awesome place, placed perfectly above the unit frames and sized correctly. Very solid.
The mod package comes with an installation text file that should be followed precisely. Surprisingly, this process has gotten a lot smoother over time, and Daedhir makes this process fairly easy. The only issue for some players might be the UI's focus on widescreen resolutions. If you do not have a widescreen monitor, you might have some tweaking ahead in the future.
Daedhirs UI is available at his website or [WoWInterface].
Everyone loves sending me email questions about addons! I have never had more email in my life. You guys are awesome, and I am extremely sorry if I haven't gotten to your questions yet. I will do my best to get to them all, but in the meantime, I wanted to use some space after the main gist of the article to answer some reader questions that might be popular on a larger scale and be able to help the community at large.
First up is an agitated moonkin!
I'm looking for a macro to cause my treants to spawn automatically
when I cast force of nature. I don't care if they lose dps running from me to the boss & I use my mouse for movement, so I'm rarely aware of where my pointer is. I dropped the talent from my spec, because it would cause me to go into a flurry of inactivity every time the cd was up.
Zuktaw (irritated treant-less Moonkin)
Thanks for the question, Zuktav. Sadly, the ability for macros to 'click' on the interface for you died in the salad days of Decursive. The only way to have the game click on a spot for you would be to use a program that goes against the terms of service and is illegal in WoW. These programs get around the game's source code in nefarious ways. You can make a simple macro like the one I have put below to have the treants attack your target after they are summoned, but you are still required to click on the area in which you want to summon your treants. And, please, do not go looking for a program that will click for you -- it can only end in tears. Probably yours.
Sample Treant Macro
#showtooltip Force of Nature
/cast [nopet] Force of Nature
/click [pet] PetActionButton8
/click [pet] PetActionButton1
Dear Addon Dood,
Hellos, my question is simple: Do addons in general affect the performance of my machine (specifically frame rates) and internet connection speed when I'm playing me some WoWcrack? My machine and internet aren't the "hottest" kids on the block and so I'm barely playing with 20fps at most. Curious to see if my frame rates would improve when removing all addons, I saw the results were barely noticeable. Whats your take? :)
Thanks again :P
-Jacob
Good question, Jacob. Addons mostly can affect CPU performance, and only if there is a lot of information being shuttled back and forth between the channels that addons use to communicate with the game and with each other. A lot of addons active at one time can hit CPUs with a bit of a performance problem. Usually, though, this isn't the case. Addons in general will probably not have the sweeping effect on your system that it seems is your bottleneck. Some addons working in concert may potentially have memory ramifications or weird crashes, but in general, turning off all addons will not give you a magic huge increase in system performance.
Thank you all for the questions! See you guys later in the week for AddOn Spotlight, and please keep mailing those questions in to mat@wow.com!
Interested in getting the most out of your user interface? Come back once a week for more examples of reader UIs. For more details on individual addons, check out Addon Spotlight, your source for everything addon-related.
Filed under: Add-Ons, Reader UI of the Week
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Feb 23rd 2010 4:06PM
That last one is my situation as well. I find the initial UI load seems to go faster with fewer addons but beyond that there's not really an increase.
Eyhk Feb 23rd 2010 4:31PM
Some of the chatter heavy addons (like awful GearScore) will seriously tax your internet connection sending large amounts of data over the addon channels. Most internet services can handle that much download but those with slower connections should be wary and avoid certain addons if possible. I forgot what it's called but there are addons that show you how much data other addons are sending out and receiving, and who those perps are.
uncaringbear Feb 23rd 2010 4:06PM
I would love to see a great UI that someone has put together for a non-widescreen display. Yes, I need a new monitor :(
Lightsource Feb 23rd 2010 4:30PM
My Screen is quite outdated at the moment, i could show you mine if you would like.
Anti Feb 23rd 2010 7:57PM
You know, I have to thank you for this comment. For years, I have looked at these beautiful UI screens and wondered why it was so impossible for me to get my screen to match. I just now realized that apparently all these folks play on widescreen monitors, not regular like me where the chance of me getting all that at the bottom of my screen is darn near impossible. I would love some views of regular size setups but I guess its all based on who submits. Thanks.
Darky Feb 24th 2010 8:32AM
try spatan ui (the one i personally prefer) it has a non widescreen function, use it along with sexymap and bartender imo
Ametrine Feb 23rd 2010 4:18PM
Here's an addon question for you.
Is there a way, other than going bit-by-bit through one's addon folder, to determine exactly which addons you have are outdated enough that they can be removed with no ill effects? Pre-Wrath, I was an avid fan of the MazzleUI compilation, which broke spectacularly and irreparably when 3.0 hit. While I have recovered since then, the various addons that were part of the MazzleUI set still linger in my folder, albeit disabled. But I can't remember exactly which addons were a part of the set, which ones are newly-added, and which are simply turned off, so I can't just go delete willy-nilly until I'm sure which is which... Help!
Toren Feb 23rd 2010 4:29PM
I don't know if you can do that through the Addon Folder, but you can probably figure it out through looking at your Addon menu in your character selection screen.
Play around with the "Load Out-of-date Addons" button and turn each one on and off to figure out which ones are old. Sadly you can't delete them from there, so you'll have to delete them manually from the folder.
I can't promise it'll be an easy way to do it, and there may be a better way, in which case I'm sure someone will call me out on it.
Beldoro Feb 23rd 2010 6:10PM
I had a similar problem a month or two back. What I did was install the Curse client, run it to update all my addons and then went down the list looking at each one individually using the 'decription' button and deleting the ones I didn't need. If it was an important addon, the Curse client told me before and asked me to confirm before deleting.
Worked really well and, for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I have zero errors when booting up and during gameplay.
Lankey Feb 23rd 2010 4:39PM
I always thought the [mouseover] command would work for casting area spells whereover the cursor is currently located.
It works well enough for targeted spells which should be the same as clicking on the interface?
bean Feb 23rd 2010 4:45PM
Please please please make the screenshots links to the FULL SIZE images. Discussions about how awesome his UI is doesn't do much good if I can only see it as a tiny pixelated 1/4 size blur.
ducss750 Feb 23rd 2010 4:56PM
To the top!!! (Well, if this was in a different forum format)
I agree. It's good to sing praises of a great u.i., but when all we get to see is the thumbnail...
Daedhir Feb 23rd 2010 5:00PM
There's a set of screenshots on my WoWInterface page:
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11225-DaedhirUI.html
Daedhir Feb 23rd 2010 5:02PM
There's a set of screenshots on my WoWInterface page:
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11225-DaedhirUI.html
I hope this helps.
Daedhir Feb 23rd 2010 5:05PM
I hate this comment system. Sorry for the double post.
Newbie McNewb Feb 23rd 2010 5:18PM
*adds a please here*
I know that we can go look at your screenies on wowinterface, but not just for today, for all the articles about user interface, PLEASE make them link to full sized screenies!
shadowhowl1900 Feb 23rd 2010 4:50PM
it looks pretty but where one addon compile does better than another is in a raid. I mean hanging out in dalaran looks so clear but in an intensive raid boss, my screen gets all cluttered with combat texts, raid alerts...etc
Not showing a screenshot during a raid boss doesnt show much about the addons
Daedhir Feb 23rd 2010 4:53PM
I totally agree. I can tell you that my UI doesn't clutter the screen with crap in a raid. I should put up some raid screenshots to prove this, but for now you'll just have to take my word for it. :)
Daedhir
Daedhir Feb 23rd 2010 4:56PM
Actually, if you look at the screenshots on my WoWInterface page, you can see the 5-man group shot, which is basically the same as the raid shot, but the raid interface doesn't have the party unit frames up. I have tweaked the scrolling combat text only to show important things like ability procs.
Ghostroo Feb 23rd 2010 5:01PM
Not to be rude, but when I go to use UI's like this, I expect that when I go to use it that it looks "exactly" like what's in the screenshot. Instead all I saw when I tested the UI was a jumbled mess everywhere on my screen. I personally do not like this approach to UI's that are not pre-configured with a tidy "default" setting.
Also to note, this UI when extracted is over 130 megs, which is way to large let alone there are to many addons to note that send large packets of "thrash and trash" data to other clients addons (which will cripple peoples connections with lag). There was also a noticeable increase in "loading time" when you enter WoW as there are to many addons being loaded at once.