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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsReader UI of the Week: Crazyate's UI
by Mathew McCurley 
Apr 6th 2010 at 9:00AM
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.
Emergency! Get ready people, let's move, move, move! We're going to need to get the whole pit crew together as soon as possible. This week, reader Crazyates the paladin sent me a plea for help -- tips and tricks to get his UI on course. He's playing on a laptop, so this week's installment of Reader UI of the Week could be very helpful to the small-screen crowd. We've got a lot of work to do! Release the kraken!
What follows is a plea for help:
Hello. Unlike some of your *other* submissions for readerUI of the week, my UI is not clean, neat, or very spacey. If you could take a look at my current addons, setup, requirements, and then give me a few tips, that'd be great! I've also attached a few screenshots, so you can see what I'm talking about.
Setup:
I play on a 13" Macbook, in windowed mode (for quick alt-tabing). This doesn't give me a lot of screen space, at least compared to my brother's 21" monitor hooked up to his gaming rig. It ends up being about 1200x750 pixels, or whatever the WoW aspect ratio resizes it to.
Addons:
-SpartanUI. This is a big one. I love nice, clean look of this addon, but it's disrupted by my small screen and other addons. It's lost a lot of it's original appeal. Note: SpartanUI uses Bartender for it's bar control.
-FuBar helps a lot in saving space.
-Omen Since I tank, this is a necessity.
-PallyPower takes up a lot of space. I liked ZOMGbuffs simply because it was smaller, but PallyPower is a little more "community accepted".
-CowTip Provides a bit more info, but can get pretty big.
-Decursive I tried it out for pvp, but i'm wondering how to simplify this, or if there is a more streamlined alt?
-PowerAuras I just like the look of this, and is a lot of fun to play around with.
-QuestHelper I minimize this most of the time, so it's not a huge deal.
-Recount is again minimized, but is nice to have every once in a while.
Problems:
-LIke i said, my screen is small, so i can't just spread everything out. Trying to fit all the unit frames for a 25man makes me shiver. As you can see, when i'm in just a 5 man pug, i'm losing about 2/3 of my screen (esp with pets - pets take up a lot of space)! Talk about tunnel vision....
-Unit frames! SpartanUI does not let you customize the UnitFrames in any way. XPerl or any other addon adds a second copy of each unit frame, instead of replacing them. This is a myway-or-the-highway setup. :(
-Shrinking or eliminating any other addons: decursive, CowTip, PallyPower, and/or the chatbox, for starters
So basically I need help! I've graduated Addons 101: how to use your addons (or so i'd like to think :P ), but i need help with Addons 201: using your addons to get the look and feel you want. How and what addons can I use to replace/supplement my current setup to fix these problems? And then, how can I keep it updated to change it for tanking, dps, healing, of pvp (all of which i'm capable of: stupid pallys) ?
Thanks for you time, and I hope you can help me out!
-Crazyates - Human Paladin
-The Scryers (US)
Thanks for the email, Crazyates. I'm here to help. Let's see how much we can cover and get you on the right path to user interface clarity. Your choices for most of the addons you have selected are perfectly fine, for the most part. Your goal now, especially when playing on a smaller-screened laptop, is to strip away the superfluous and combine addons and spaces into a more efficient use of screen real estate.
Let's address the three main concerns you're having, and we can go from there. From what I'm seeing, your three issues are Spartan UI, needing a general UI philosophy or goal, and class role UI synergy. We can do this.
This is Sparta!
Your first step in this whole ordeal is to load Spartan UI into a cannon and launch it into the sun. I have nothing against Spartan UI. In fact, it's a pretty damn good beginner's suite for people who want something that looks like, well, Spartan UI. Every day I get a Reader UI of the Week submission where someone uses Spartan UI and adds to the interface. With that being said, Spartan UI does not belong on smaller screens and, frankly, has way too much art for my tastes. You just do not need that much frame art getting in the way of your other addons, which could be using up much less room. With Spartan UI removed, you will now have the wide open plains of screen real estate to populate with addons.
Bartender, paired with the always and eternal ButtonFacade, is more than awesome. Releasing your action bars from their spartan prison will allow you greater flexibility in their positioning. I would recommend checking out my little diagrams from my past Reader UI of the Week: Mar's UI. For Mar's UI, I diagrammed a sample user interface that is made for smaller screens. The main philosophy is keeping the center of the screen clear with a single FuBar or ChocolateBar at the top holding all of your dockable addons and plug-ins.
Grid-iron
Your philosophy should be simple: Tetris. Fitting together disparate addons can be tricky but always doable. You already have a good number of addons hidden most of the time, so you're fine there. As a tank primarily, there's no reason to not substitute unit frames for Grid. Grid is a godsend to tanks because, most of the time, we do not need to know most of the information unit frames report. Grid features, by default, a red box in the upper right corner of a person's grid displaying whether or not they have aggro from a mob. Isn't that all you really need? Grid can replace your unit frames in 5-man, 10-man or 25-man content, making it a perfect addition to your suite.
As for unit frames, you cannot go wrong with Shadowed Unit Frames or Pitbull. I recently talked a little about Pitbull last week, so read over that paragraph for a quick primer on what to do with your now free unit frames.
Download Grid at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Roleplay
As a paladin, you fill many roles. You can easily craft a user interface that works for every spec you decide to play, with the right addons. Grid, as mentioned above, can be complimented with some excellent addons like GridStatusRaidDebuff, GridStatusRaidIcons and Clique, which when used in tandem create a very usable and very minimalist user interface. Clique allows you to bind some excellent spells to mouse-over click-casting for easy healing. Twigleaf's healer UI, profiled back in June of 2009, is an excellent example of the healing powers of Grid and friends. Remember that most pieces of the user interface can be static, especially as a tank or DPS. Your chat, threat meters and assorted general-use addons won't be moving anywhere, and Grid will double as a healing interface and as information for tanking or DPSing.
Download GridStatusRaidDebuff (requires Grid) at [Curse].
Download GridStatusRaidIcons (requires Grid) at [Curse].
Download Clique at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
That should put you on the right path, Crazyates. The biggest hurdle you will have is the learning curve in retraining yourself in a new user interface, but the results will be astounding. Free yourself of Spartan UI and go it alone with individual addons fit together simply. All of that extra screen artwork that is now gone will free up a good deal of your laptop's screen. Try to keep your bars two to three buttons high and work around that. You'll have something beautiful in no time. Please report back after you have had time to slave over your interface, and let's see what you come up with!
Thank you all for reading this week. Before we go, I wanted to give you a few more suggestions for anyone who wants to potentially submit their own user interfaces. First, the biggest the screenshots, the better. I can only work with what I am given, so bigger screenshots can be manipulated better for the article and for closeups of addons I enjoy. Second, tell me about your user interface. Why did you put certain addons in certain places? I love seeing pictures, but I know the readers and myself would love to know the thought process that went into the UI. And finally, please send screenshots along with movies of your interface in action. Movies are fine, but I would appreciate screenshots along with it. See you all next week!
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 3 of 6)
Bronwyn Apr 6th 2010 11:26AM
This. I can't believe the number of comments "Eww I'm not gonna use that UI"
No one is asking you to.
Lemons Apr 6th 2010 5:09PM
It's an easy assumption to make...this is an addon SPOTLIGHT...not Extreme Makeover: Addon Edition. It's like if you went going to a car show and saw a rusted-out clunker on display and you're like "why is this here?" and some guy comes up and says "hey man, I'm here cause my car sucks and I NEED HELP! Obviously! Jeez!"
They should probably make a separate column for really horrible UIs which then get pimp'd.
Eslaone Apr 6th 2010 9:37AM
His UI looked like my boyfriend's till I *ahem* fixed it. He also plays on a small (15") screen.
I'm not great at UI's so I just gave him what he wanted - all his needed addons in a nice looking format.
Bartender, Omen, Prat, Titan Panel, Minimap Button Bag, DBM, Recount, Pally Power are what he "needs" to play.
So I used KG Panels after all was placed and sized correctly to bring it all together.
TheVygs Apr 6th 2010 9:37AM
Wow, random comment cutoff, Batman.
Anyways: I have a selfbuff frame near my portrait showing selfbuffs (seals, RF, flasks) and a debuff frame beneath the selfbuffs.
I highly recommend a buff add-on, in a 25m situation, there are *a lot* of buffs that float on the list.
Colosus Apr 6th 2010 9:44AM
Gird/vuhdo, x-pearl, and trash spartan need i say more.
JenGrace7 Apr 6th 2010 9:50AM
The issue with Spartan UI -- besides the clunkiness -- is that you need a nice wide screen to fit everything on the bottom. Otherwise you'll end up with your chat frames all up in your main viewing space like this person has. I've used Spartan a couple of times, and it's just too busy for my liking. You're better off with a simple setup with Dominos, Pitbull, and whatever mods you may want or feel the need to have.
I usually make my own UIs, but I've been using TukUI lately (http://www.tukui.org/home/) and I've fallen in love with it. It's so simple to install and easy to use.
I agree with the above comment about using the default UI though, but I have tunnel vision when it comes to healing so I gotta have things a certain way. I should probably try and "cure" my tunnel vision though. :P
Raaj Apr 6th 2010 10:30AM
Thanks for the link to TukUI, it looks pretty solid. I'm currently using RothUI, but as far as I know, it hasn't been (and may not be) updated for 3.3.3, so I'm getting an increasingly annoying amount of errors every time I switch characters. I'll give this one a shot as it looks beautiful.
Colosus Apr 6th 2010 9:51AM
o yeah get rid of recount u dont need it for tanking........so i guess i did need to say more. But to comment towards TheVygs yea he could use satrina buff frames i helps with raid and dg (dungeon) buffs.
Pfooti Apr 6th 2010 9:52AM
I like having recount on my tank, if for no other reason then to pick out dead weight. Then again, I leave it closed most of the time, and just open it after bosses or whatever. On my healer, I'll do something similar- if there's a DPS who stands in fire AND does very little DPS, I'm not wasting my time healing him.
Xaverius Apr 6th 2010 10:14AM
Use Skada - and then have it switch to threat mode in combat. Out of combat it magically switches back to how much dps has been done.
It also looks a lot cleaner out-of-the-box.
el ranchero Apr 6th 2010 10:17AM
I disagree. People forget that Recount watches much more than dps/hps. It's most useful ability is actually the deaths tab. Click on someone's name and Recount will tell you the last 10 things that happened to them. Were they standing in fire? Did they go 8 seconds without a heal? Recount will tell you, and give you the option of whispering that info to the raid leader or whomever.
Pfooti Apr 6th 2010 9:50AM
Yeah, absolutely get a unitframe replacement. PitBull is great. I have pared my player and target frames down to minimum (a small rectangle showing health and mana, with class/name text overlaid). I use grid for party and raid frames. Get rid of those portraits! They're pretty, but they're also space-hogs.
If you're playing windowed for quick alt-tabbing, try playing maximized instead. Hit alt-m to swap between maximized and windowed for ease of use.
Ditch SpartanUI- you don't need all that art across the bottom of your screen. When playing on small screens I prefer to put most/all of my UI interface on the left and right side of the screen, leaving a square-shaped viewing portal in the middle.
Use bartender or whatever to scale your buttons smaller. You should be keybinding all the in-combat buttons anyway, so you don't need to worry about mouse-target size.
Consider either moving all your minimap addon buttons to the FuBar (almost every addon with a minimap button has an option to display instead on FuBar), or switch from FuBar to LDB and get Fortress instead. Fortress is a lot more flexible in where it displays, and gives you a chance to shrink and relocate those buttons. You can also get rid of a LOT of those buttons anyway. Do you really need the button that pops open Deadly Boss Mods? Type /dbm when you need that window. Get to know the slash commands and you can get rid of a LOT of rarely-used buttons.
In a similar vein- get to know your spellbook. Lots of people drag all their abilities out to toolbars once they get bartender or a similar bar addon. There's no reason to have stuff like long-duration buffs on your bar. You can always hit P, open the spellbook and cast it from there, if you're not in combat. If you have the space, fine. But if you're space-constrained, try and think about your average use. If there's a button you need less often than 1/hour, and never need in combat, get rid of it. That includes old/baby spices. Use them from your inventory.
Pfooti Apr 6th 2010 9:51AM
EDIT BUTTON: on the mac, it's command-m to quickly switch from fullscreen to windowed.
Colosus Apr 6th 2010 9:58AM
good point i still run it too but i have mine set so it only comes up out of combat and only opens when in a party so there really is no need for it but other than picking out the fail dpser's
johan Apr 6th 2010 9:52AM
A few suggestions not including acctual addons.
* Don't keep the game windowed. Hit Cmd+M when you need to reach other applications. And hit it again to return to full screen mode.
* Buy an external monitor. If you're on a budget keep your eye out for a used one. That way you can run your game on a big monitor and keep your IMs and stuff on the small built-in monitor.
Crazyates Apr 6th 2010 1:57PM
I doubt my ~3year old GMA 950 could power any decent monitor. Higher res kills my fps as it is, another reason i run in window'd mode.
el ranchero Apr 6th 2010 10:10AM
Perhaps posts helping someone improve their UI shouldn't be titled "UI of the Week." Apparently from above posters, people are too lazy to read and will just assume you're holding this up as an example of what a quality UI should look like.
This is more "Pimp my UI" or "Total UI Makeover" or something.
Good advice, though there's another point I think should be made here: bad habits make bad UIs. I'm thinking in particular of Crazy's need to have SIX action bars on his UI, which is only necessary if he's button-clicking. Learn to use the number keys rather than the keyboard, and the shift key to switch action bars, and suddenly there is no need to have multiple action bars on the screen.
Xaverius Apr 6th 2010 10:13AM
I think Colosus mentioned this as well - but VuhDo makes a great alternative for grid/clique. Especially as a Paladin. It also automatically switches behaviour based on spec (tanking/healing). So if you're tanking you can dispel magic by just clicking, or macro taunt the target of someone who's got aggro (works better when clicking on a dps). You can also make it as small as Grid so that it takes up very little real estate.
Personally I prefer VuhDo over Grid/Clique. They both take some work to set up, but I still prefer VuhDo in the end.
Colosus Apr 6th 2010 10:21AM
ty for the info ill look into skada i use recount for now mostly to track my OAH (over all healing) but for my tank that may not be such a bad idea.
Xaverius Apr 6th 2010 10:27AM
Skada can also do Total Absorbs and Healing (this means it includes disc priests! yay!).
One thing I found it took me a couple seconds to learn was switching modes easily.
Use right click and left click on the bars. Let's say you're looking at the main menu:
Current Fight
Total Fight
Left-click on whichever one you want to see, then you get something like:
Absorbs
Absorbs and Healing
Crowd Control
DPS
(I'm probably missing a few, but w/e), say you left-click on DPS:
Chuck Norris: 500,000 (99.9%)
You: 4,900 ( 0.9%)
Me: 800 ( 0.2%)
Then you left-click on Chuck Norris, it will show you a list of what he did as his DPS (probably something akin to round-house kick). Now you want to see what you did? Right-click on the bars (anywhere), you're back a menu.
Rinse and repeat.
Add-on options are in the Interface->Add-ons->Skada menu (You can have multiple skada bars if you want to, so just pick the first one in the Skada menu if you only have one bar to set options for that bar).