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The latest patch 5.4 newsReader UI of the Week: Acacià's UI
by Mathew McCurley 
May 18th 2010 at 5:00PM
Happy Tuesday, Reader UI of the Week fans. Aren't Tuesdays wonderful? Tuesdays are now all about finding something in your user interface that you want to improve upon or could stand to make changes in. This week, we are going to look at the improvements made by reader Acacià and her new, simpler user interface. This UI definitely has some great ideas for managing space using bar grouping and some compacted frames. Let's see if we can get some tips for ourselves by rifling through Acacià's proverbial user interface drawer.
Let's hear from Acacià:
Hi,
As you can well see, my UI has changed a lot over the course of the last couple years. The first major change was going from a Paladin to a Priest where I found out I might need more than one action bar for all my new abilities!
After spending a month or so making a custom UI for my Priest, I found my second passion for WoW. Leveling characters. Just as I had finished my Priest UI, it was abandoned for something that could streamline across any class and spec but still stay quite minimal.
My UI has taken me through levels 1 to 80 a total of 10 times and still counting.
My favourite addon would have to be Power Auras for showing when Penance, Arcane Torrent, Prayer of Mending, etc are off cooldown and when Inner Fire has been used up (Pesky Rogues). VuhDo comes in tied for first just for the ability to show the Weakened Soul debuff so clearly.
Any tips and suggestions on what I can do to improve are extremely welcome.
List of Addons: AtlasLoot, Bartender4, ButtonFacade(Aion), Chatter, DBM, ForteXorcist, Gladius, InterruptBar, MSBT, NugComboBar(Rogue/Druid combo points), Omen, OneBag3, PallyPower, Pitbull4, Power Auras, Quartz, Recount, SatrinaBuffFrame, SexyMap, Skinner, SnowfallKeyPress, TipTac, TrickOrTreat, VuhDo, XLoot.
P.S: Omen test bars are showing just so you can see where it fits in ^.-
Acacià
<Recoded>
Thaurissan - Oceanic
Thanks for the email, Acacià. I am growing ever fonder of the old UI/new UI screenshot submissions coming in. Sometimes the "before" pictures hit a little too close to home from my old user interface days. Anyway, there is nothing sexier to a user interface aficionado than seeing how things have changed for the better, so let's dive in.
- everything
Thin threat
The new user interface, however, is much cleaner and nicer, not to mention functional to boot. I particularly like the stacking middle of the interface, with the addons and user interface elements kept to a modest, thin size. Acacià's threat meters, for instance, are as big as they need to be -- not larger, no smaller. She doesn't need all of the information that Omen provides, and you most likely do not, either. Trimming down your damage and threat meters will free up some valuable space. I like the idea of using the action bars as a height gauge. Notice how the two rows of action bars dictate the height of the rest of the bottom panel HUD. As I have discussed before, keeping within your own set of user interface rules will allow you to make better decisions when it comes to your design.
Let's take a look at Acacià's player/unit frames and the ForteXorcist/Quartz bars above them. All of this information is at the ready, right in Acacià's face. I like the idea of grouping like-styled addons together, especially if those addons can fit together nicely in purpose. I think Acacià got it right here.
Actually, now that I've got this image and set-up in front of me, I really like it. I have always been a fan of the double player/unit frames being off-center, and placing the cast bar, Forte/Sexycooldown, above or below seems like the most logical place. In addition, the space in between the unit frames can serve as a guide for how large to make the other addons as well as act as a guide in the same way the action bars control the height of other addons at the bottom of the screen. Two thumbs up.
The worst menu bar
Here it is: the comprehensive list of default hotkeys, so everyone can just get rid of their menu bars and save me the sad fortune of dying a little more on the inside every time I see them.
- Character info C
- Spellbook and abilities P
- Talents N
- Achievements Y
- Quest log L
- Social (guild, friends, raid) O
- Player versus player H
- Dungeon finder I
- Game menu Esc
- Help request /gm into chat
In conclusion, I very much like most of Acacià's setup. I don't really think too much needs to be changed. If people tell you to move your raid frames, don't listen to them. I just recently got back into healing on my shaman, and my raid frames move around the screen constantly from boss encounter to boss encounter, as I am always finding somewhere new and comfortable to leave them. Floating those frames are fine, especially if you are healing or debuffing. I also like the segmented whispers chat box and the rest of the less important chat residing above. Personally, I'd stick a background on that chat box, making it a little opaque (because I am blind), but that's less of a suggestion and more of a necessity on my end. If any commenters have any suggestions, let's hear them! All in all, I like.
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 2 of 2)
caelwynn May 18th 2010 7:21PM
I'd like to point out that there is no right or wrong way to set up a UI. No matter how complicated one is, it is set up by a user for themselves. If it works for you, and you can still raid/quest/rp/pvp/whatever properly, it's right.
That being said, there ARE more universally appealing UI solutions out there.
Myself? I'm more of a UI minimalist. Too much UI clutter and I can't see the forest through the trees, as it were.
I'd really like to see this column become a little less black and white. After all, it's about helping people who don't know how to get their UI to where they want it; it shouldn't involve telling someone that an element they get functionality out of is "wrong" (or right for that matter).
i.e. instead of trashing the micro bar, you could (simply) explain why it is superfluous if you are good with keybinds.
Donnie May 21st 2010 1:20AM
I think you're missing the basic point. Why keep an element you don't need?
Now, I may need character portraits cuz they're pretty and make things more personal when I'm being a shinigami reaping death on my constantly reappearing foes. I may not need action bars because I have everything keybound and memorized since I'm that nerdy.
Of course this does lead to a "minimalist" way of thinking, which does not mean the UI must be minimal. What one person versus another needs is different and each should adjust accordingly.
What this columns points out is that most people don't ask what do I use this for? Is there another way? How can I do this better? What do I have that I'm not using or using to its fullest potential?
Personally, I think the micro bar hate is just a little of his online persona and also a commonly ignored element when redoing a UI. People keep it because it has always been there. They don't really think about it.
You should be looking at how he attacks the probelm of setting up your UI rather than the specific recommendations he makes, which I imagine the individuals submitting the screenshots rather appreciate over general suggestions. I certainly would.
dodgeballer2005 May 18th 2010 7:31PM
With my current UI set up, (I use pitbull, chatter, and bartender mostly) I still find room for the micro menu and bag menus in the lower left and right corners. But I scale them down to miniscule sizes to make up for the space thatmakes my pitbull frames line up with the sexycooldown bars.
BigB May 18th 2010 8:03PM
I don't know if its just me, but I find this Ui to be very cluttered, you can have all that info but in a much more cohesive and minimal way. but to each their own, as long as it works for you, its great.
I'm a huge fan of tukui ui, so i use that minimalism with a lot of keybinds and macros, i like to see a lot more of the play field.
Pyromelter May 19th 2010 4:27PM
Tukui is great, but honestly, I absolutely hate programming in lua outside the game to change anything. Having no in-game settings to modify will always make tukui a niche suite, as opposed to something that would become ubiquitous. That's kind of a shame, too, because the actual interface of tukui is astoundingly much better than, say, spartanui, which is much more common.
Faxie May 19th 2010 4:52AM
Is there any chance of getting a Download link of the full Ui ?
Thanks.
skaredstiff May 19th 2010 8:24AM
i love seeing these UI's. There are a bunch that i would love to use myself but i'm confused. i have no idea what addons are being used. do you guys think it would be a good idea that if a person is chosen for UI for the week that they have to include an itemized list of what is used or even have to upload a copy of their addon folder?
Pyromelter May 19th 2010 5:43PM
"TrickOrTreat"
For a priest? (also, the curse page has comments showing this addon, which hasn't been updated in a while, is causing problems in it's current version.)
skurfer48 May 20th 2010 12:21AM
So here's a possibly noobish UI query. I have been working a lot on my UI's recently and love seeing this column every week for new ideas. Currently I'm playing with putting my map in new places on the screen with a warrior I'm leveling and I've run into a bit of a problem: The Blizzard Quest Tracking element. I use Sexymap and my current set up has the map in the middle of my screen (which I like) but the Quest Tracker moves with it and now when I have it open (which, when leveling a character like I am I like to do fairly often) it's literally in the middle of my screen, almost top to bottom...
So, is there a way to turn this off (and I would prefer entirely, not just minimizing it since I know how to do that) or maybe even better is there a way I can have my minimap in the middle but the quest tracker element still on the side of the screen? Thanks!