Reader UI of the Week: Simple UIs for laptop gaming
by Mathew McCurley 
Aug 23rd 2011 at 3:00PM
Laptops are becoming increasingly more popular for gaming ever since the ascension of the capable laptop video card and the desktop replacement. Coupled with the fact that most developers found the need to make their games laptop-compliant to succeed in the global marketplace, laptops are the big gaming PC for many, many people. World of Warcraft is notorious for being able to run on practically any machine, and I am sure there are some high school kids out there playing during Chemistry right now on their TI-85. That joke hurt because I realized how long it's been since I had a TI-85.
Qiuxiang's laptop setup does laptop UIs right -- it's simple, boils the game down to very basic elements, and does not take up the precious screen real estate with too much stuff. Sure, during raiding you get bombarded with notifications and warnings, but everything is manageable with a little bit of legwork. Not everyone raids to the extent many people do, so it's nice to see a user interface setup that makes just playing the day-to-day game something gorgeous.
Qiuxiang's UI - Laptop UI, IceHUD, adorable little action bars
What have you got for us, Qiuxiang?
Hi, Mat.
I've been playing around with my UI for a while, trying out different things. I don't raid except once in a blue moon, so my UI didn't need to have a lot of raid utility involved. This is what I finally came up with.
Addons I use:
Bartender4
Buttonfacade
Chatter
ChocolateBar
Grid
IceHUD
SexyMap
Skada
TipTac
DBM
I play on a laptop, so I've been aiming for a minimalist approach. I use Grid (not shown) for when I'm in a group, so I don't tend to bother with other unit frames. I tried Shadowed Frame Units for a while, but determined that IceHUD was better suited to my personal needs. It shows me my own mana and health, and I have the threat bar it offers turned on as well.
I use the trinitybars plugin for button facade just because I like round things. They're like coins. Shiny, shiny coins. Also, I was fascinated by the trinity bars UI and I'm sad it doesn't exist anymore.
I keep my minimap in the upper corner because I don't really use it for anything except looking for nodes. I thought that sexymap style works well for my mage.
I am open for suggestions, if you have any, but I wanted to show this off to someone. :D
Qiuxiang
Level 85 Mage
Eldre'Thalas (US Alliance)
Thanks for the submisssion and the email, Qiuxiang. The first noticeable differences in this UI are the fact that the chat box is located in the middle of the screen, as well as a lack of "heavy" UI-related elements. Let's dissect, shall we?
The world goes 'round
I don't know if the subject of round action buttons has come up in my column ever (it probably has) or if I have ever discussed my opinion on them (I probably have). Over time, my opinion on rounded action buttons has changed significantly and often, as one day I find them weird and inefficient to the next where I find them whimsical, adorable, and very fitting when done correctly. Qiuxiang's setup works nicely because I can imagine this setup on the laptop screen, as a mage. Exactly why rounded action buttons suit a mage better, I do not know. But that's how I feel.
If you're going to explore the use of round action buttons, remember a few of these concerns. First, it is a bit inefficient on space, since the rounded buttons will need to be larger than their square counterparts to get the entire ability icon in the frame. While this isn't usually a problem, people with less than perfect eyesight might have to scale up the buttons a bit more than normal because of the size of the icon.
Second, you can quickly get out of control with the size of the round action buttons, opposed to the square buttons that fit nice and neat together to form a solid block. Do not be discouraged! If that is the motif you are going for, stay square. On the other hand, if you like your action buttons to breathe a bit, with some space in between them, creating a very nice transparency effect, rounded buttons may be the way to go.
Having the chat box center screen is a great way to create easy symmetry along the bottom of the user interface and allows a screen with less workable space to gauge center-specific sizing. As long as the chat edit box (where you enter text) floats away from the box or on top of the box, I am happy. I just can't do the whole "chat box grows larger from the bottom with the edit box" thing anymore. Call me crazy.
When dealing with the chat box on a laptop, you may or may not be using a mouse. Some people don't use a mouse at times when playing on a laptop. I know, crazy, but it happens. When you are using a mouse, however, you probably have one with a fancy scroll wheel in the middle between the two buttons. This means you don't really need all of the scroll buttons on the chat box, since the scroll wheel allows the player to scroll up and down through their past messages. And with an addon like Whisp, another personal favorite of mine, you can easily see the previous lines in any conversation with your reply target.
Taking up space
Qiuxiang's UI doesn't need all of the raiding accoutrements because raiding isn't a priority. If you don't raid much, you don't need to build a raiding UI. Many people miss the point that not all WoW user interfaces must be innundated with raiding addons and notifications. The game has been designed now in such a way that encounters, especially in the 5-man dungeons, are easily dealt with based on in-game notifications and the basic setup. I'm not entirely sure if DBM is even needed for content before raids. It's nice to have, but not mandatory.
For light raiding, you can grab DBM but you don't necessarily have to build your UI around it. Just go for some minimal notifications and timers on boss abilities. As a DPS, you need even less for most encounters in the normal mode tier 11 content, and with the raid finder coming in patch 4.3 more and more people will be entering these instances with the notion of success and potential team work. Remember, new raiders, you don't need every addon to be successful all the time -- learning your class and the fight mechanics through the dungeon journal are much more important.
So with that, I present to you Qiuxiang's UI courtesy of Qiuxiang. The laptop is a tricky little computer, and without the benefit of a 23" screen players need to conserve their precious screen space so that they get to see the game and not the meta game. The right balance was struck with Qiuxiang's UI, in my opinion -- easy to set up, asesthetically pleasing, and doesn't overdue the raiding addons since, admittedly, raiding is a secondary concern. Great job!
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, or visit Addons 101 for help getting started.
Filed under: Add-Ons, Reader UI of the Week
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
crateish Aug 23rd 2011 3:06PM
I've gotten very used to playing with the trackpad on my MacBook Pro. So much, that a mouse doesn't feel right. Thanks for this article. I will check out the add-ons.
Cetha Aug 23rd 2011 3:27PM
I have been playing using a trackpad first on my iBook and then a MacBook pro, since 2005. I'm getting my first desktop since the early 90's in a few weeks and I have been contemplating how difficult it's going to be to learn how to play WoW with a mouse, it's going to feel so bizarre.
moirafae Aug 23rd 2011 3:28PM
Ditto. I just recently got a Mighty Mouse and have been trying to use it, but it just feels weird after years and years of using the trackpad and keys to navigate the WoW screen ...
Great article! It's funny, because my addon list, while a little heavier, is fairly similar to this, for the same reasons.
exogenesis. Aug 23rd 2011 4:26PM
I used a trackpad for nearly 4 years. I even learned how to successfully kite on my hunter using keys and a pad. I'm so uncomfortable using a mouse that I often find myself key-turning and mouse-clicking abilities without even realising it...
Donhorn Aug 23rd 2011 5:05PM
I originally started playing using just the trackpad on my laptop and got pretty good with it. There were times that I had my hand streached across most of my keyboard hitting buttons and whatnot. Eventually I came into posession of a cheepo little USB mouse and my whole world changed. It took a bit of getting used to but in the end it worked out real good. Now I'm sporting a wireless mouse on my new laptop and I don'tt think I could ever go back, the trackpad on the new laptop is really wonkey at times so the physical mouse works wonders.
crateish Aug 23rd 2011 8:13PM
I've gotten very used to playing with the trackpad on my MacBook Pro. So much, that a mouse doesn't feel right. Thanks for this article. I will check out the add-ons.
crateish Aug 23rd 2011 8:18PM
Somehow duplicated my original post.
Cetha, use a Wireless Magic Trackpad with your coming desktop.
Amrytale Aug 23rd 2011 3:11PM
If you are on a laptop, the less RAM/CPU you're using, the better. Tukz and Elv put out awesome ultralight UIs with eveything a raider needs.
Also, they look phenomenal.
Nipah Aug 23rd 2011 3:47PM
I don't know... While I took that stance on my old laptop (2GB or ram), my most recent one has 8GB (and if I had a more disposable income, it would have 16GB), and I'm sitting pretty (I won't even get started on the jump up in processors... yowza).
Anyone who isn't playing on a laptop that is 5 years old (like my previous one) should be sitting in the same boat as most tower PC users.
That being said: regardless of how much RAM/CPU you've got, having unnecessary bloat due to large addons / overlapping addon / unneeded addons is a silly thing, and should be avoided.
Aigarius Aug 23rd 2011 4:37PM
Laptop CPUs, hard drives, motherboard data transfer busses and even RAM are slower than desktop components due to having lower power consumption and smaller dimensions. They are a few laptops that are built with desktop CPUs and SSD hard drives, those are big, heavy, noisy, expensive and hot exceptions that reinforce the rule.
Donhorn Aug 23rd 2011 5:13PM
I'm a firm believer in ElvUI, and should Elv ever end his work I'd be sticking close by with one of the other Tuk edits. Even though it's not really designed for the small screen it workd wonderfully on my old laptop, and it continues to work well on my new laptop's big screen. And while not so much anymore, addons used to be a big problem for me, I actually had to purge most of what I had back in ICC just to get through the encounters. Actually, I'm pretty sure I was in Elv when I finally saw the LK down. Just having a good base can help allot with addon cleanup.
Jeanluc Aug 23rd 2011 5:17PM
While your laptop might have more RAM and CPU power than my current desktop, most netbooks are woefully underpowered and top out at 1GB of RAM from the factory. A super-lightweight UI is just what I need on that.
tibbelkrunk Aug 23rd 2011 3:28PM
You, sir, are either playing on a very large laptop or have excellent vision. (Grats to either of those, I suppose.)
It's certainly very sleek looking, however the arcs of IceHUD don't really match the circles that are present everywhere else in your UI. I think choosing arcs with a smaller radius to look more like circles would really... erm... "round" out your UI.
Great field of vision! You can really see the vast world around you. :)
lordtrollingsworth Aug 23rd 2011 3:44PM
OR he could try using ArcHUD, my HUD of choice.
Homeschool Aug 23rd 2011 3:40PM
I appreciate the TI-85 reference. Kudos, sir.
incoming00 Aug 23rd 2011 3:45PM
what UI's would u recommend for someone on a huge screen?
currently i play wow on my tv, which is a 46" lcd tv....
most of the default ui feels bloated and obstructive, yet when i reduce it the letters are hard for me to read.
any ideas?
Nipah Aug 23rd 2011 3:53PM
I may be wrong, but don't most televisions actually have a much lower resolution than computer monitors? (Though I guess, thinking about it for longer than a second, this wouldn't hold true with LCD TVs... but I'll keep this here as a testament to my own thought process.)
Anyhow. I would probably go with something like Pitbull, StUF, or something similar... you can make the necessary elements a decent size, and still have the freedom to enlarge the text without creating anything too garish.
Word of warning: Those do require quite a bit of tinkering with, so its not for the faint of heart (and if you're like me, its actually an enjoyable experience, tweaking everything to be exactly as you want it to be).
incoming00 Aug 23rd 2011 4:16PM
thanks for the reply and suggestions Nipah.
you're right, most tv's have a lower resolution than monitors because of the HD 1080p craze. but most LCD tvs have an RGB input which would (should?) allow it to handle different resolutions other than 1080p. since i am plugged in with HDMI, my current setting is 1920 x 1080.
right now i am connected with a DVI>HDMI converter since my tv doesnt have a DVI input, but i should invest in a DVI>RGB converter to get more flexability on the resolution.
i'll have to check those addons when i get home, thanks again :D
Aigarius Aug 23rd 2011 4:29PM
The modern TVs do 1080p which is the same resolution as almost all computer monitors. The problem with TV is not that they are too big, it is just the opposite - they are too small. If you sit down in you computer chair in front of your 23" computer monitor it is likely to occupy much more of your view than that 43" TV does when you are sitting on your couch. Due to the perspective it actually is a smaller screen.
So - either move closer or make your UI bigger, just like you would have done on a small screen. Or get an HD projector - 100" screen from 10-15 feet should be big enough to comfortably read the smallest chat text at max resolution. :)
Aigarius Aug 23rd 2011 4:34PM
All TVs (except the old catode ray tube TVs that would not handle 1080p anyway) have physical pixels and maximum resolution. ALWAYS run them only on that maximum resolution (usually 1080p) - otherwise you are loosing a TON of quality in the conversion. I would strongly recommend getting a video card with an HDMI output and connecting the TV trough the simple HDMI cable - you get perfect digital picture and also sound - easy and fast. You can not get higher resolution via RGB because there simply are no more pixels in that TV. You will only loose quality by convertng the digital image to analog and then back to digital (pixels) again with inevitable noise and distortion.