Reader UI of the Week: Mar's UI
by Mathew McCurley 
Mar 16th 2010 at 8:00PM
Each week WoW.com brings you a fresh look at reader submitted UIs. Have a screenshot of your UI you want to submit? Send your screenshots, along with info on what mods you're using, to readerui@wow.com.
First, we let Mar do the talking:
Ok, I am constantly tweaking my UI, I'm never truly happy w/ how it looks, how an addon works so i'm constantly playing w/ it. I'm fairly content now w/ all of my addon's i use, but getting it to look to where i'm happy w/ it doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon lol, so any ideas i'd welcome, but please be nice :-) Most of these addon's aren't being used during a raid and some of them just make my life a little bit easier.
As a side note, i did move my player, target and target of target frames from where they are. My player frame is now up in the upper left corner, while my target and target of target frames go above my raid frames rather than below it. But that is about the only changes i've made since last night :-)
Addon's I use:
AtlasLoot Enchanced
Vuhdo
Quartz
VisualHeal
Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
Bartender
Button Facade
DBM
Omen
Recount(along w/ recount absorption)
WIM (to keep my whispers separated and allow me to respond to ppl after a boss fight rather than during it)
PowerAura's Classic
Ag_Units
Titanpanel
Compofeeder
Addon Control Panel
Mounty
SexyMap
-Mar
Thanks for the e-mail, Mar! Let's start off by examining a few details about Mar's UI and build off it to some key concepts and general tips for working with smaller screen real estate.
Top and Bottom
Mar has the right idea when it comes to placement of the top and bottom portions of the user interface. Since we're dealing with a raid screenshot, things will be a little messy, but not unmanageable. Mar has placed most of the important information into the TitanPanel (I prefer FuBar) at the top, only using the top panel portion instead of both the top and bottom. I like to recommend only using one or the other -- otherwise the screen feels too boxed in for me, and reminds me of Everquest's user interface (I am still haunted to this day.) By relegating yourself to one panel, you get to make the important calls on what information is pertinent. Culling the chuff addons and information is a key skill in pruning your UI.
As for the bottom, Mar's UI has everything necessary, including a nice setup of action bars aligned with unit frames and targets. I very much like the setup that Mar discussed in the e-mail as well as the current setup in the picture. Everything needed is in the middle of the screen. This is especially good for healing, allowing your eyes to be focused on one area of the screen for maximum information gathering. As I am just getting into healing on my shaman, and have had little experience with Grid in the middle of my screen, I've slowly started moving Grid from its old position to the middle of the screen, a few nudges at a time. It'll get there eventually...
Another excellent part of Mar's UI, and in user interfaces that have to occupy smaller screen real estate, is that the art from most of the bars is removed. Bar and buff skinners such as ButtonFacade work wonders for getting rid of the extraneous art that might clog up the window. Using ButtonFacade helps immensely, and is an invaluable tip.
Tips and Tricks for a Standard Resolution UI
Now, on to the meat of the matter. Configuring for a standard resolution in Mar's case (800x600 from the screenshot I was sent) requires nothing more than a change in perspective. Let me show you a piece of paper -- one of my original basic blueprints for the UI I am currently using:
Oops. Wait. Wrong paper. Here we go:
Now, that's the space I will be using for a wide-screen monitor. For the standard resolution screen, we will fold the paper in half and see what we can work with.
Here is a quick mock-up of something that puts all of the necessary addons and information at a convenient place and accommodates the main four addons I have listed in the middle. The goal is to fit all of the pieces seamlessly across the bottom of the screen to give the most viewable area possible above. Take a piece of paper and plan out your user interface before hand -- doing this allows you much more flexibility in designing before you hit the proverbial bricks and jump right in. A blueprint is always nice. Here are some key tips when dealing with smaller spaces:
ChocolateBar and FuBar
These addons are excellent for removing a good deal of information off of your screen proper, including the repair man to see your item's durability and bag space/gold. In addition, you can use them to display ammo on your hunter and other resource management systems like latency, ping, and frame rate. Again, as stated above, relegate yourself to only the top or the bottom panel, culling the least important information. You'll thank me when you have less to keep track of.
Fading Bars
A great way to clear up your screen is to have your bars fade out when they are not moused-over. Dominos and Bartender both have options to fade out your bars depending on if they are moused-over. Bartender has great options for hiding your bars out of combat, and then popping them back in upon entering battle. Play around with the opacity of your bars and your "at rest" UI will give you plenty of room to see the world. You can even have the parts of your user interface that are specifically for being in town/out of combat fade out when raiding or in combat.
A Sexy SexyMap
SexyMap is much more than the default setting. I love the default because it looks great, but there is a much more boring and space conscious setting called "Simple Square" in the presets. Using this setting allows you to position the map snugly into a corner, reducing the addon's footprint. If you like the fun borders, or just do not want the minimap in a neat corner, use the scaling function to shrink the map down a bit. If you're going for minimum footprint, a simple square is key.
Popout Your Chat Input
Using an addon like Chatter or Prat allows you to have a free-floating chat input bar that can live anywhere on your screen. I do this on my user interface to shrink down the amount of space the chat box takes up. By having the input bar off the chat box I can fit the addon snugly at the bottom of the screen and perfectly against the action bars. Otherwise, you'll have to adjust the size of the chat box and, in the case of having the input box on the bottom of the chat addon, having unused space under your nice and tidy UI.
There are just a few tips for dealing with less screen space. Remember, most addons can be hidden out of combat, and set up in such a way that they all lock together during combat. Also remember that most addons have a scale feature, allowing you to change the entire size of the addon with one variable. Take your time to treat each portion of your screen with lots of love and care, and see how much space you can save by getting rid of dead space. Play your UI like Tetris!
One Last Thing
Finally, and I'll be quick, remember to download your addons from trusted sources like WoWInterace, Curse, or WoWAce. I've been getting some e-mails that have asked me to remind people of this. In the future, I will be putting up a little something about addon safety. Just remember to be smart, only trust addons from sites you know are legit, and never run an installer .exe file. Addons only require you to move the contents of the folder into your interface directory -- don't fall for hacking scams! Just be careful!
Addons Discussed
- Chatter - Download at [Curse] or [WoWInterface]
- Prat - Download at [Curse] or [WoWInterface]
- Dominos - Download at [Curse] or [WoWInterface]
- Bartender4 - Download at [Curse] or [WoWInterface]
- ButtonFacade - Download at [Curse] or [WoWInterface]
- Omen - Download at [Curse] or [WoWInterface]
- Recount - Download at [Curse]
- ChocolateBar - Download at [WoWInterface]
- FuBar - Download at [Curse] or [WoWInterface]
- Sexymap - Download at [Curse]
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)
Lissanna Mar 16th 2010 8:07PM
I like playing on wide screen monitors so much better than normal-sized screens. My first monitor that I played WOW on (many years ago) was a standard non-wide screen, and it was tiny, and I can't even imagine how I raided with it back in the MC/BWL days.
Wellsee Mar 16th 2010 8:28PM
Since Fubar is supposedly 'dead', what are the alternatives to migrate toward?
Wellsee Mar 16th 2010 8:30PM
Oh, durrr. Reading comprehension would be nice.... ChocolateBar is the recommendation it appears on a reread.
Jamie Mar 16th 2010 8:59PM
You're too hard on yourself, Wellsee. You should allow others that pleasure! :P
Jack Kelly Mar 16th 2010 8:30PM
Border textures don't match. Alignment is all over the place. Fonts also. Omen overlaps buttons. Party frames overlap unit frames.
I could go on and on.
Reader UI of the week is a mess. A total mess.
Lissanna Mar 16th 2010 8:32PM
I think "matching" is less problematic compared to just being crowded & hard to track everything. I would want less spam on the middle of my screen if my screen was smaller.
AltairAntares Mar 16th 2010 8:45PM
The guy's designing a usable ui for a tiny cramped space, not making a luxury sedan, give him some slack.
Koskun Mar 16th 2010 11:32PM
@ AltairAntares - There is making a nice UI for a small screen, and then there is making a UI that has a clean layout that doesn't look like everything was slapped together.
There is plenty of space on that monitor to actually scale things like Omen (as mentioned with the overlap), move raid notifications out of bottom middle, make a cohesive setting for the fonts, cleaning up the icons on the mini-map so that one might be able to actually see the border, use something like Mik's to clean up the clutter of combat text (really even needed with Grid?).
Overall that looks like something a kid slapped together.
Beatphreek Mar 17th 2010 8:54AM
This ui of the week wasn't about showing off a masterpiece, it was plainly stated that the submitter was asking for help.
Fluffywumpki of Kilrogg Mar 16th 2010 8:30PM
Wolves are a better DPS pet for Marksman hunters at pretty much all gear levels, BUT the use of a wasp can be justified if there are a couple other physical DPSers and no minor armor debuff (in which case it's likely to be a net DPS gain to the raid, but still a loss to the hunter). And, yes, the minor (5%) and major (20%) armor debuffs stack.
Although they have their flaws, using the Gear Planners and filters in either the Excel spreadsheet Shandara maintans or Rawr are your best bets for determining if moving to an ArPen gemming build will be useful. From the numbers I've run, it's roughly 700-900 ArPen where gemming is generically useful, owing to synergies with other stats on gear.
Also, keep in mind, if you choose to regem for ArPen, you ARE locking yourself into the Marksman tree. While Survival and Beast Mastery both benefit from ArPen, it's MUCH lower on the priority list, and gemming for it WILL cause a DPS loss in the other specs.
Fluffywumpki of Kilrogg Mar 16th 2010 8:34PM
WOW, go go 1Password fail, way to save EVERYTHING.....
What I meant to say was
the spiritual successor to FuBar are the various Data Broker displays. Docking Station, Chocolate Bar, Titan Panel and Bazooka all offer a similar experience to FuBar. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go downrank myself and QQ over the lack of a DELETE function in the posting options...
stephen_burris_0616 Mar 16th 2010 8:47PM
Also, if you are looking for good disapearing UI elements, consider using a HUD (like icehud) for your player / target/ target of target / focus frames, they give as much info, are MORE visable than the default, and can be completely hidden when you dont need them (like, no target, no combat)
Banic Rhys Mar 16th 2010 8:57PM
You got to punch Sacco eh?
Luck you.
Anna Mar 16th 2010 8:57PM
I honestly don't understand the "RaidFrames in lower center" philosophy. It might just be me but switching attention from dead center (where action and warnings take place) to lower center is way harder for me than from dead center to left center (where the default RaidFrames are). Thus, putting my RaidFrames at lower center worsens my tunnel vision (healing-wise).
My own little theory on that:
If you touch your nose and move your finger up till you can't see it, then down till you can't see it, you can measure your vertical peripheral vision. Now do the same with your horizontal peripheral vision. The horizontal is twice as wide. So even if you stare at healthbars on the left side of the screen, your peripheral vision should be providing enough information from the center of the screen (at least more than your vertical peripheral vision would).
What I do:
I keep my RaidFrames center left with my healthbars somewhat bigger than those of most people (according to UI screenshots I've seen). I use green->yellow->red healthbars as class-coloring is not easy on my "peripheral vision warning system". I keep my vital information on one *row*, not one column. Result: way less tunnel vision than other set-ups I've tried.
Disclaimer:
1. RaidFrames in lower center is definitely prettier and cleans the UI up. But a clean UI that facilitates tunnel vision is.. counter-productive.
2. I'm not a click-healer, so I guess there might be a difference there. I doubt it but I've never tried myself.
3. I'm a girl so my peripheral vision is probably better than yours. That's right, it's better than yours.
4. The whole post is completely in the spirit of "imho" but I am really curious if the same observations I've made are true with other people.
Anna Mar 16th 2010 8:58PM
Forgot to mention: I'm *not* using widescreen.
Lissanna Mar 16th 2010 9:58PM
that's one of the reasons I've been keeping my raid bars on the right side (way back in my day, you couldn't turn off the party frames, so I put my raid frames on the right instead & never switched them).
tpilepich Mar 16th 2010 11:42PM
The main reason people use to justify that is to not block their view of whats going on around them.
For dps I highly agree with that method of thinking... It's a good place to put the raid frames as it provides a good way to start balancing the composition as the raid frames are usually the most "heavy" UI element in terms of motion (bars going up and down all the time) and space (for 25 mans at least)
For healing, I suggest putting the raid frames as close to the character as possible without actually blocking whats going on with your character. That way you can just stare at the raid frames, and still see whats going on around you.
In short, your right kinda, you just can't compare healing, DPS and tank UI's... They are all entirely different things and require you to focus on different information. I think if you look at the majority of healing focused UI's you will find the raid frames in a prominent position.
icepyro Mar 17th 2010 5:32AM
When I had a non-widescreen monitor, I agree that putting the frames on the left felt good as my peripheral vision easily moved from raid to center horizontally easily.
The move to lower center came with widescreen and insane resolution. Having the frames on the left edge now put it too far away from center for me so the distance was shorter to have it lower center.
So I think it's all about where the actual distance is. If I put it on the left where it works well, there is now space to the left of the frames that looks bad and feels cluttered. Having parts flush together does indeed make it look neater. The appearance of calm and neat does indeed help make you feel calm and neat.
The one time I logged in on a nonwidescreen since getting the new monitor, I ended up moving most of the frames back to left center showing off my setup to a friend (hooray for flash drive portability). It's not reader UI of the week material, but he was using default Blizzard so a lesson in addons was in order.
My own disclaimer: I've never been in an endgame raid. My only raid experience is healing For the Horde, battlegrounds and WG. YMMV.
Norutsu Mar 16th 2010 9:01PM
Well my computer can't handle all those addons so.... but I do use some of them like visual heal, ete.
Shagger Mar 16th 2010 9:03PM
great read. is it possible to run an article on a dps UI that uses low memory addons. During my 25runs i have a tendency to drop out. i end up disabling majority of my addons in the offchance that it affects this drop out.
seperate question - is it possible to get a low memory version of Grid? i normally just want to monitor raid health levels so i can pop divine hymn should the need arise. Dont need anythign else from a dps perspective.