Reader UI of the Week: Ve's UI
by Mathew McCurley 
Jun 29th 2010 at 4:00PM
Twenty-four-hour downtime is upon us again!
Oh, the humanity.
Well, settle down, because you've got some words to read about user interfaces and ... stuff. Look, I'm going stir crazy over the downtime, too. Maybe we can make the best of this together by checking out Ve's user interface and helping him out with some suggestions.
Ve deserves praise for some excellent user interface decisions, which we will soon get to. The call for suggestions and feedback was also sounded, and you know we'll get to that as well. First, let's let Ve take the reins and put this whole ordeal into perspective.
Thanks for the email, Ve! We can start off with what I like about Ve's user interface and then take some time to give some feedback and suggestions.Dear whomever it may concern,
I'm Lucas and I control a human warrior named Ve on Area 52 who is part of <TheGreatSouthernTrendKil>. My interface is composed to suit the needs of a fury warrior, as Ve is my main and the character I have accumulated the most play time on. I will describe my UI clockwise, starting at my player frame. I have used AG units to give me a simple look but display the necessary information required. Above that, is one of my custom TitanPanels. It exhibits the information and statistics I most look at. Now, at the top right, I have my minimap (SexyMaps) as a clean, glossy square that suits my desire to know where I am and my buff/debuff bars (CT_MoD) that stacks accordingly with time remaining. Buffs in blue, debuffs in purple, passive/active buffs in white.
Now, lead your eyes downward to find my skada meter showcasing my damage for my heroic run, you might think in 25 man raids it would clash with my buff/debuff meters but I have circumvented this dilemma by making it so my skada meters only display the top 10 for whatever category I choose. Below my skada meters, I have a collection of miscellaneous items and macros that I use often, what with hearthstone, food, max camera distance macro, mounts, and even the delightful Direbrew keg and remote (When I just feel like getting lost in BRD).
Now, to the left of that is my micro menu and to the left of that, is my shouts. As a warrior, quarantining my shouts helps me keep organized as they govern my buffs. Now, my favorite part, my action bar. With a minimalistic approach, I tried keeping only the needed skills so I could make room for my information in blue text that displays tid-bits of numbers and words that I frequently look for, such as whether or not I have new mail or my current gold count, or even some basic melee stats. Last but not least, is the chatbox.My UI was designed to accommodate the new Real ID button, much dissented by many as it clashes with many simplistic UIs.
Before I take my leave, I would like to add that I play on a 1980 x 1020 resolution with a 21 1/2 inch monitor and my graphics maxed. My video card in an NVEDIA GTX 260, and by that standard alone you should be able to surmise I am a gamer at heart. I would love some feedback on how I could possible further improve my UI in practicality and functionality, and I thank you for your time. For the Alliance!
Regards,
Ve (Lucas)
What I like is crisp
Crisp always stands out to me as one of the hallmarks of a solid user interface. I am, of course, referring to stark lines, smooth, blocky fonts and, above all, segmented compartments that easily segregate the entire UI into pieces. Ve's user interface does all of these things fairly well. I am a big fan of unit frames that are very solid and unambiguous, and Ve's ag_unitframes setup does the job right. I talk about fonts a lot, but only because they are very important, especially when you're reading all sorts of information being thrown at you at any given time. Information that you second-guess because you couldn't read the font is information potentially lost or vital to the group or raid.
Colors are just as important as fonts in the crispness category, and Ve's interface delivers. The textured blue borders easily separate out the different elements of the UI while maintaining a good contrast with the world underneath. Remember, the scenery changes a good deal in World of Warcraft, and having a good border color that doesn't blend too easily in with the rest of the world can make for a wildly different experience. Creating an opaque background also helps in that area, making the user interface elements completely separate from the game world.
Broker-heavy
There are definitely some places that Ve can improve upon in his user interface that will help with space saving and potentially better addon management. My first reaction to the user interface was asking myself why there were two Titan Panel bars. Many people know my unwritten rule of either top or bottom Titan Panel bars, but not both. Both bars never sat right with me, and I always thought that all of your addons and notifiers could fit on one bar. Otherwise, you had too many addons. Ve's UI suffers from addon bloat, completely dominating two Titan Panel bars on both the top and the bottom. How do you find something quickly with this setup? Ask yourself this one question: Is all of the information displayed on the bars vital to my gaming experience? If the answer is yes, find a way to slim down the number of bars you use for broker addons. I promise you, most of the functions are one button away. If the answer is no, trim it down! You do not need a million addons in broker bars. Lots of the modules present on Ve's bars can be cleaned up and rolled into different addons.
Empty space
The bottom left portion of Ve's user interface is nice and proportionally works well, in my opinion. The right half of the bottom HUD, however, leaves a bit to be desired. With a change in location of the menu bar from the right side of the shouts bar to the bottom, Skada could be made to fit in the newly created space. Then, Skada will no longer jet up into the right side of the UI, freeing up some delicate screen space. Make sure the newly created panels match up nicely, and you'll feel a nice, refreshing feeling. Kind of like brushing your teeth before bed.
Other than those two quibbles, Ve's user interface is pretty solid. I have not seen the raid setup or group setup, since only one image was part of the submission, but if those two elements take any clue from the UI as a whole, they shouldn't look too bad.
So there you have it. A very solid user interface that could benefit from some serious attic cleaning. What was that show that I saw on BBC America on a flight I took once? A British guy went into a lady's attic, took a bunch of crap out and sold it at an auction. I liked that show! Let's start selling off some of those broker bar addons and slim things down just a bit. Easily readable, Ve's user interface makes good room for statistics, but could benefit from some tidying up of the bottom right area to accommodate the damage meters.
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)
Zendrear Jun 29th 2010 4:21PM
Where do people get these epic KGpanels from! D:
Elleyna Jun 29th 2010 4:20PM
I'm not crazy about it. Like you said, there's some missed potential on the bottom right. I also don't like how the chat and action bars have the same background panel. It feels like it groups them together when they don't really need to be. I'm also not a fan of TitanPanel on both the top and bottom. Is there really so much information that you need to see that it doesn't fit all in one row? Anyways, I wouldn't use it, but that's the fun about custom UIs, you make something that works for you.
KPB Jun 29th 2010 4:31PM
Agree on the data broker bit. Looking at the screenshot he's got his current amount of gold visible in at least 3 places (top bar, bottom bar and in his details by his chat), at least 2 spots showing his mail (top bar and by the chat) and other possible duplications. Most of it also seems like things that wouldn't be critical in combat and could easily allow the bar(s) to autohide to save space while in combat.
Noah Jun 29th 2010 4:41PM
I really like the aesthetics of his KGPanels and AG Unit frames, but like others mentioned, it's the layout and overuse of information that irks me.
Here's another question for those using AG Units (or Pitbull, like me): Why do people need to have their name, class, level, race, and portrait on their own player unit? Isn't that information that you should already know (and also available with a mouseover or by hitting 'C')? Sure, I have those items set up for my target or focus, which are things I don't always know in the game, but for the player frame why is it that people feel the need to keep that stuff, letting it take up space over the area where you could see the health bar?
Elleyna Jun 29th 2010 4:49PM
Just to keep things looking the same. If you have one set of bars with no information on it and your target's bars right next to it with a bunch of info, it'll look odd. Although, I never show race or class for myself, that just doesn't make sense.
shadowhowl1900 Jun 29th 2010 4:50PM
well you can always shorten the width of the bar but it more of an aesthetic choice than a raiding choice. either way if ur comfortable with or without the portrait is pretty much all that matters.
Wow Jun 29th 2010 4:55PM
I guess you don't play alts Noah.
I haven't found that having text over my own health or power bars is at all a problem.
Noah Jun 29th 2010 5:34PM
Well, I'll tell you what I do (as my response, since I *am* a person who is bothered by text over the bars). None of my text or numbers I have sitting on the bar, but instead I have them on the side or just below. This way I have quick access to health and mana numbers, while also a clear visual representation on the bars of how much I have left.
For my player unit I have no textual information (if i *need* to remember my name/level/class/race for alts I just mouseover), but when I select a target, that panel appears with the target's name and other text info just to the side of the bar. That way the bars look symmetrical without differences, but you also have the text that you need, without being in the way of the visual frame.
Nipah Jun 30th 2010 9:31PM
I generally have my #s hanging out on the outside of my player frame. So my work-in-progress UI overhaul looks like:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v450/ChibiMagatsu/Warcraft/kranlieUI.jpg
I've dropped the portraits from my UI because I don't really care what they look like, and it was taking up unnecessary space. Don't mind the boring bars though... I'm still working on making it more visually appealing.
shadowhowl1900 Jun 29th 2010 4:44PM
I really like the open space in the center cause im pretty sure once those DBM warnings, and bars and SCT come in, you want to keep the clutter as minimum as possible. One thing that just stands out and leaves me confused is the shouts and the micromenu, it just looks like its out of place.
Krick Jun 29th 2010 4:49PM
*shakes head*
Why do so many people not know about Titan MicroMenu?...
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info14482-Titan-MicroMenu.html
You can move the standard Blizzard MicroMenu onto your Titan Panel at the top of the screen and optionally hide the buttons you don't use. I can't live without it.
...
Krick
Mathew Jun 29th 2010 5:20PM
You, sir, have just made my week.
Zam Jun 30th 2010 1:09AM
Mine too!
Saida Jun 30th 2010 3:11AM
If you want to go even smaller you can use Titan MicroButtons which will cut it down to 1 button (which opens a menu with all the standard options)
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/titan-panel-gcontrols.aspx
Wow Jun 29th 2010 4:49PM
I disagree with the author about multiple broker bars in general, but I do agree that they are used poorly here. I have 2 bars in my UI, the top bar has informational brokers, separated into zones based on type of data. The lower, shorter bar is just launchers, again separated by type. It hangs out with my other buttons. If I moved the launchers into the top bar I'd just have a noisy mess up there.
Ve's broker's seem to be placed rather haphazardly, and as another commenter points out, the same info is often repeated. Try zoning them, removed the duplicates, and turn off the text for brokers that are simply launchers (assuming Titan bar can do that).
Tyr Jun 29th 2010 4:50PM
Maybe it's just me, but I really don't like this UI. I prefer to start with centered bars and my way around those. I don't like it when my UI is off center.
Also not a fan of the kgpanels: they're too heavy, I don't like the color combinations and I wouldn't use both round and square corners in the same UI. That little corner above your chat buttons should go imo, make your kgpanel a tiny bit bigger if you have to. I also prefer to separate the chat log in a stand-alone panel, but that's just me.
As has been mentioned, the titanpanels are way too bloated: I'm sure dungeon difficulty, mount, mailbox, talent points and the double(!) gold counter don't need to be on your screen all the time.
About the micro menu: you can integrate it in titan panel if you make some room and you can remove it and its kgpanel altogether. Here's the add-on:http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info14482-Titan-MicroMenu.html
This would also the problem of round and square corners.
OF course this is just my opinion, feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong :)
Tyr Jun 29th 2010 4:53PM
Just noticed I forgot to type a few words... forgive me but I'm tired, hot and sticky.
Oteo Jun 29th 2010 5:14PM
I have a question about addon profiles. I'm both an altoholic and an addonoholic(?). I have multiple 80s. I'm faced with two problems:
-Whenever I roll a new character or, say, log on one I haven't played on since before I decided to revamp my UI, I have to go to each addon setting and copy the profile from another character. Is there anyway to do this for all my addons in just a few clicks?
There are some especially annoying addons (SexyMap...) where the profiles don't work well (I'll copy the profile but still get a minimap with runes) and I ALWAYS have to remake my minimap for each character, individually.
-Is there some way to have different addon setups for an individual character that uses the same addons, but positions them differently, where I can easily switch between?
Here's an example: I have a sort of one-size-fits-all addon setup that I can easily use between my diverse characters. However, this means that I sacrifice some ease of use in order to have an addon setup that works across a lot of characters. I only have one healer, so on all my characters I have Grid in the bottom left corner. This works great... except for my healer, of course, where I have to work with Grid in the corner. I'd like to know of a way where I can easily toggle between "Heal Setup" (Raid frames in the middle, action bars to the side) and "DPS Setup" (Raid frames to the side, action bars in the middle).
Yakuko Jun 29th 2010 7:25PM
Look up Reflux.
Oteo Jun 29th 2010 7:33PM
I'll try it out when my server comes back up :D (stupid 24 hours downtime mumblegrumble)