Reader UI of the Week: Amrytale's UI
by Mathew McCurley 
Jul 6th 2010 at 4:00PM
Hello, hello, hello. It feels like forever since I've written Reader UI. I really don't know why. Maybe it's the long weekend ... Nonetheless, here we are, another week and another reader's user interface to pore over. This week's submission comes from Amrytale of Silver Hand, boasting symmetry and simplicity for a complete raiding warrior's user interface. Shall we take a look?
Show us what you got, Amrytale:
Greetings WoW.com lackey,
I am Amrytale, Fury Warrior of the Wolves of Theramore on US-Silver Hand-Alliance. For a while, I used pre-made UI compilations because I never thought I would be the one designing my own UI. Kgpanels still scares me, to be honest, but I tried my hardest and came up with AmryUI, which is now on its second revision and available at curse.
Since my main is a Warrior (and my only alt a Death Knight tank) the thing I am constantly finding is that I need a considerable amount of action bar space. I've tried using Geist and Opie to put things like mounts, consumables and tradeskills on hidden bars, but I also use a Logitech G13 as my game keyboard, so my game keys are more limited and each one is bound to an action or to my Vent. Therefore, the central focus of my UI was to present my abilities in a centralized location where I could monitor cooldowns with a quick glance.
I have a secondary action bar off to the side which houses my mounts and raid consumables. Because I'm a huge fan of symmetry, I made a Status Window on the other side that lets me know my FPS, latency, durability status, and how poor I am. Also in keeping with this symmetry theme (and because I don't have a healer), I have my raid frames (via Grid and several of its modules) off to the right, and my chat window (currently managed by Prat, although I've been having some trouble with it since Patch 3.3.5) over to the left. When I am in a 5-man, Pitbull manages my party frames in the raid frames window. I need to find something to do with it during solo play, and I'm looking in to whether I could put some sort of other information there. Rounding out the bottom of my screen, I have my two "raid leader" type addons, Skada for keeping up with DPS/HPS performance of my raiders, and Omen for watching my own threat and making sure I can yell at Hunters to feign death.
I manage my player, target, and focus frames with Pitbull, because I like its modularity and customizability. Also, because I tend to find its appearance comforting, I use IceHUD to create a heads-up display. I am aware that I could jettison my Pitbull frames altogether, but for some reason I like having the target frame there for right clicks, etc. IceHUD is currently set up to manage my target-of-target frame.
All buff monitoring is done through several Satrina's Buff Frames. I have my main "buffs" frame up in the top right, which is visible only out of combat. I only use it to monitor my raid buff status before a pull. Above my player frame are the debuffs currently on me. Above the target frame are the buffs the target has gained.
Beside my HUD health bar (left side) are a whitelist of buffs that I can gain, like Flurry, Heroism, etc., to make smarter decisions with when to pop trinkets and cooldowns. On the right side of the HUD are target debuffs I like to monitor, like Rend, Mortal Strike, or Sunder Armor. Right above my HUD, I have a visual cue for my Bloodsurge instant Slams. I also use GupSlamAlert to provide an auditory cue.
OmniCC provides other cooldown information, and Mik's Scrolling Battle Text lets me know about any other proc or event I need.
My bags are managed by ArkInventory. The game micromenu and my bag button are hidden below the minimap, which Squeenix puts up in the corner for me. Minimap Button Frame sits to the left of the minimap and contains the various buttons I like to use, like Grid (which I use for fast profile switching between 10, 25 and 40-man raid frames, and AtlasLoot. I have a transparent TitanPanel bar at the top which has the plugin to switch specs, an Outfitter button with my gear sets, and a list of who is on in my guild.
I use the lovely TipTac to manage my tooltips. DBM and HudMAP provide me all of the encounter assistance I need.
I designed the UI because DeathKnights and Warriors tend to be proc-heavy melee classes with lots of "utility" abilities that need to be used at any given time. Since I hate using my mouse for anything but movement and targeting, I find a large amount of buttons (quickly macro'd to my G13) provide me all of the instant control I need. The
game field is kept as clear as possible, with information that I need to know during a fight appearing only contextually, such as the Slam alert, the Sunder Armor timer, or when I have a Sudden Death or Taste For Blood proc during PVP. Because it is symmetric, my eyes naturally flow between the elements without being "drawn" to a particularly clustered area. I am a lawyer by trade, so I spend a lot of time reading for a living. I've found that the Calibri font family is the easiest and most pleasant to look at, and so where possible, the Calibri font or one of its variants is used.
It's definitely not minimalistic, but I can't think of a more complete raiding UI, and of course, I don't mind sharing with people that need a good raid leader/tank/melee DPS UI. I'm working on a way to integrate centralized healing frames like Healbot (or perhaps moving my Grid around) to make it healer-friendly, but that will have to wait for another day.
Please consider this for discussion and critique in the column. I'm always looking for ways to improve!
Thank you,
Amrytale
Thanks for the email and the detailed descriptions, Amry. Long, descriptive emails are always the way to go when submitting to Reader UI of the Week, if you can -- it gives me a lot of fun information to work with when I decide what to discuss.
Let's get down to it. I have some accolades for Amry's user interface, and potentially a tip or two. Rather, I have some ideas to try, not really "tips." Frankly, I think the UI is great and really like the placement of many of the user interface modules, especially the raid frames for a warrior/death knight combo. My idea is all about the size and shape of the addons, not necessarily the form or function. Let's rock.
Raid frames, my dearest raid frames
Amry's Grid setup is the way I love raid setups. Really, the only reason a death knight or warrior tank needs a raid setup is to easily target raid members for an intervene or to check who has aggro. Personally,
that's how I use my Grid when I'm tanking, if I haven't already mentioned that 900 million times. Quickly being able to see who has aggro on a boss is great for fights with adds as well as when using taunt abilities like Righteous Defense and others. Grid's flexibility is amazing. I love how simply raid frames can be made to fit all sorts of places on the interface. We talk a lot about raid frames on Reader UI, and it's been something I have been struggling with for a good, long time. It's not that I dislike talking about raid frames, but that they are such an integral part of the user interface that I feel remiss not talking about their usage. Ever since CT_raidframes and the early refinements to the old, abysmal Blizzard raid frames setup, people have had their staunch opinions about raid frames and their usage. So, for the comments today, I'd like to hear what you guys have to say about raid frames. What's your favorite type, how do you use raid frames, and, if you're a healer, what is the most important thing a raid frames addon must have in order for it to feel comfortable for you?
A clicker's dream: the utility bar
I have been using some form of utility bar ever since Diablo II's little hotkey bar was introduced. Any interface that allowed me to make my own bars always included some kind of utility bar. I highly recommend setups that use something similar. Some cooldowns that I use, like Divine Protection or Shield Wall, are just more naturally clicked than pressed with a button. Mounts, trade skills, potions, feasts and more all can live happily on a utility bar. It's probably because I know I'll panic when I need to find the key, smashing every button on the keyboard until I spout gibberish into chat, hit Shield Wall or throw my hands into the air, turn off the monitor and run screaming from the room. All three have happened.
This is where the utility bar comes in. Potions, big cooldowns and other "sometimes" clicked items get to go here within easy reach of the player. You know where they are, so you know instinctively where to move your mouse. And better, yes, you can see the cooldown simply by looking at the utility bar. A lot of people pan this method of cooldown binding, but personally I think it works for a good number of people out there, including myself. Now that I have a G15 from Logitech, though, I think some of these awesome G buttons are getting binds.
Amry's utility bar does it right, and one of my big questions was actually going to be able the symmetry of the bars. I'm glad that Amry found the status bar above chat to keep the style whole.
An idea
My one problem with Amry's UI is that there is a good amount of open space between each of the addons. For symmetry's sake, this works. For my own wacky, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, I hate seeing open breaks. One idea would be to scale each addon down a bit, making each "squatter." After you make them shorter and a bit fatter, you could have a seamless bar along the bottom, retaining the shape and charm of the user interface while eliminating the spaces and even using less screen real estate. It's just an idea and could potentially make this whole setup even nicer.
Great job, Amry. I love it. Simple, functional and clutter-free.
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)
Mann Jul 6th 2010 4:09PM
Its just like mine! only thing I have different is that I have everything transparent.
I think they copied me.
Amrytale Jul 6th 2010 8:53PM
I'd say more like great minds think alike. The biggest "inspiration" for this actually was Bodasafa's UI from Tankspot, but in the end, I found his too involved for my tastes and thought of ways to simplify it.
Pyromelter Jul 6th 2010 4:17PM
I actually like the bottom, although making everything a hard black can be a bit of a hindrance to the occasional time when you need to see something at the bottom of the screen.
The thing I really don't like is how he has those buffs. There should be a way to condense them while making the icons bigger, for more clarity.
What I really do like is how he did his action bars. That's virtually exactly how I set mine up, as I also find that I use a lot of my skills and abilities and consumables; having the visualization of it right there really helps. And looking at where he put his omen, that actually is going to spur me to try that positioning in my UI. Good job. :)
Amrytale Jul 6th 2010 8:46PM
In my latest revision I've done away with the labels to the side and have them centered over the icons, with the icon size increased.
Pyromelter Jul 6th 2010 4:19PM
Semi off-topic: Anyone know if Prat has been fixed? It was totally messed up last time I used it, and I prefer prat to chatter. (Switched to chatter temporarily since prat was not usable.)
Eyhk Jul 6th 2010 5:26PM
The latest latest revision has fixed most of the hiccups. You should try it again.
Pyromelter Jul 6th 2010 5:51PM
The extra column with the stupid social button is still present and totally taking up space that can't be modified. Everything else looks fixed, but until prat gets rid of that completely stupid social button (as chatter has), looks like I'm forced to stick with chatter.
Pyromelter Jul 6th 2010 5:54PM
As another aside/OT, I really think blizzard should just fire whoever the hell is doing their chat programming, and hire the person who does prat. And just make prat the standard chat box. The standard chat was really bad, and now it's even worse. So much of the game is social and typing, and it's arguably the worst part of the standard UI.
feniks9174 Jul 6th 2010 7:02PM
Make sure you have The "original buttons" options enabled, you'll need the high CPU usage aspect of Prat turned on in order to access it. You can remove te new social button and its side bar in there.
Amrytale Jul 6th 2010 4:43PM
Eep.
Xarnlen Jul 6th 2010 4:45PM
Where are you getting prat from, If any where but wowace I suggest wowace since it's the most up to date and current version.
http://www.wowace.com/addons/prat-3-0/files/8699-r509/
as of 2010-07-06 14:41:36
Amrytale Jul 6th 2010 8:47PM
I confess to being lazy and using my Curse updater more than is good for me, but thanks for the tip.
Tordenflesk Jul 6th 2010 4:50PM
Ever since Splaunchy I haven't put any non-combat related spells, macros, mounts, pets, proffesions or LDB-launchers(atlasloot etc.) on my bars/broker-display.
http://imgur.com/coYe8.jpg
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info14628-Splaunchy.html#info
logicalfundy Jul 6th 2010 7:20PM
Interesting, but I'm not a big fan of searching for everything. Often it becomes a game of guess-the-right-word. Despite Google's push to try to make the search box the center of the UI, I don't think a search based UI is really user friendly.
Tordenflesk Jul 7th 2010 3:23AM
After a minimal amount of training(Just like Launchy) it "learns" what you most frequently use.
Usually i only have to type one letter(J for JC, A for Atlasloot, W for White War Talbuk )to get what i want.
Urizen Jul 6th 2010 5:36PM
As a healer I personally have fallen in love with vuhdo. I used healbot at the beginning of my healing career and liked it for awhile and then was turned on to grid. Grid however in its earlier stages just seemed too cluttered for me to see all the debuffs I wanted and it wasn't that sleek looking to me.
Vuhdo has a vast amount of customization to it that can be confusing and as such there are entire forums dedicated to this one addon. Whats most important about it to me as a priest is seeing exactly when weakened soul is up so I can cast a power word: shield immediately as well as prayer of mending and of course renew. I use prayer of mending as my bread and butter and knowing exactly where it is and when I can use it again efficiently is key. I was able to do this in grid but when the person had a debuff on them as well as their health dropping things just became too cluttered for my liking. I was also forced to download additional addon expansions for grid to do these basic functions. Personally though I haven't used grid in awhile so it may have been update to implement this features easier.
I do enjoy the smoothness of vuhdo though and easily being able to see everyone's class colors as well as immediately knowing who has aggro before they are even hit. This as well as being able to see what debuffs and buffs that I have placed on a person easily is essential to being a great healer. If your eyes can not flawlessly slide between each person in the raid frames without having to stop and examine each one to decide what they have on them because you can't tell at a glance then you are hindering yourself.
Vuhdo also allows you to keep watch of buffs that you have given out as well as key binding everything you need which essentially eliminated the need for the addon clique.
zubbiefish Jul 6th 2010 6:31PM
Seconded.
kamodius Jul 6th 2010 7:28PM
And third. Vuh'do has made healing so much easier.
Now if only I could find a better theme for it...
Anarythith Jul 7th 2010 10:12AM
I also agree. On my druid healer, I have it set up so that when Rejuvenation is up, it is a pink dot in the upper left, when Regrowth is up, its a blue dot on the upper right, and Wild Growth is a pink dot in the lower right. Once they hit 10 seconds, they start counting down, so I know when to recast. The background is set up so that when someone is poisoned, the green health bar turns blue, and cursed is purple.
However, the best part about these frames (and something that I didn't even set up) is that in all encounters, the moment a boss uses an ability, it pops up large and then settles into the right center of the bar of the afflicted person. For example - Marrowgar's Bone Spike, especially in 25 man. Three large squares pop up, notifying me of the general area of where to look for who is spiked, and then they settle onto the player bar. The same thing happens for spores on Fester, etc.
I also quite enjoy how I can have four separate modes for it to pop into - Solo (hidden), 10man, 25man, and 40man. And it does it automatically, based on my group size.
I'm still a clicker, never got into the keybinding (yet), and these frames work very well for that, although I'm sure other frames do as well.
These are the only frames that I have ever used, so I don't know if anything I have said above is "well... duh, they do that" to everyone else, or if it is actually unique, but with these frames, I have no reason to try anything else out.
Naturalguy Jul 6th 2010 5:47PM
I say, as a (druid) healer, the following would be essential in a raid frame:
1) Click cast ... as fast as possible
2) @mouseover support so i can make macros using targets under mouse. And it get understood just placing the mouse over the grid.
3) Small. I need to see where i am standing :p
4) Aggro marker. Especially as a druid, healing before that mage is actually taking the damage is essential.
5) (Small) Mana bar. i can help dps and other healers with innervate.
6) (MY) HoT indicator. Blizzard raid frames shows any buff including other ppl buffs (like other druid rejuv);
I get all that with a customized Grid + Clique and a few macros.
For a priest i would add a shield indicator (and the shield cd, forgot the name of the debuff); for a pally BoL and Sacred Shield; and for a Shammy Riptide and Earth Shield.
Just that .... :P