Additions:
December 10, 2007 Update:
Party interface (Omen and SW Stats replaced with Assessement):
Edited on 2007-10-26 00:20:37 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
October 26, 2007 Update:
Some time in 2006:
Edited on 2007-09-27 16:58:11 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
Ancient History:
October 2006 (in preparation for TBC):
May 2006:
Edited on 2007-09-26 11:01:29 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
September 26, 2007 Update:
Party interface:
Raid interface:
July 2007:
Edited on 2007-07-02 13:39:29 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
I'm an information junky, I like to know as much about what's going on around me as possible. I'm also easily drawn to new and innovative things, even if they're not necessarily the best possible fit for me. On the other hand, I like my display to be as clean and simple as possible. Those things conflict heavily, and in my recent UI revamp, I had to constantly recite the new mantra: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."
The end result was this:
That's the raid interface, so that's as cluttered as I get now. What follows is a more in-depth discussion of each of the main elements.
Action Bar
I've never liked Blizzard's action bars. At release, the problem was there just wasn't enough buttons, which forced me to move to Gypsy. Not only did it add a lot more buttons, but they were positioned more compactly, and without finicky artwork. Here's what my bars looked like at level 28, back in 2004: (yes, those are macros for very simple emotes -- I was a noob)
When Blizz did offer more action bars, they appeared kind of all over the place, which allowed them to be toggled on and off, but for those of us who had already moved to more logical configurations, the positioning of the new bars was a bit of a mess.
The problem with action bars and bindings is that people tend to fill their bar in with skills as they get them, and then they never change them, because they've grown used to that configuration. I started to realize that my particular layout was not optimal, and decided to bite the bullet and relearn a more logical layout. What resulted was a new layout, enhanced by super-flexible FlexBar, around patch 1.9:
Patch 2.0 broke Flexbar, so I went back to a more conventional looking set of action bars for expansion, but the basic layout has remained the same. For the most recent revamp, I opted to keep displaying my action bars -- minimalists insist that anyone using full keybindings ought not to have their bars displayed, since they should know how to control their character without looking at bars. Others argue that action bars are handy for seeing things like range and cooldowns. I'm leaning this way, myself (I also find it handy to click on certain abilities while I'm eating at the keyboard, etc.), so the action bar has stayed, though I did scale them down considerably. The only notable part missing is the stance/shape-shift bar, which I don't need to see. And while I like being able to see my action bars, I do wish there was a combat fader option, so that I could turn the alpha down when not in combat.
New bars in config mode:
I've also hidden Bar 3, which sits below my Autobar along the right side of the screen. It only appears on mouse-over and handles stuff I don't generally use in combat and that aren't keybound.
Deletions:
Raid UI
Edited on 2007-05-11 02:21:46 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
Raid UI
Deletions:
(A work in progress, needs screenshots)
< snipped horrendously out-of-date stuff >
Edited on 2007-04-09 11:18:17 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
< snipped horrendously out-of-date stuff >
Deletions:
Overview
My setup revolves around a fairly simple philosophy -- I want my UI to be clean, compact, and easy to use, while providing as much pertinent information as possible. To that end, I've dumped the default interface, with all it's extra artwork and fussy bits, in favour of a simple button grid in the lower left corner, using Bartender3∞. Notice that the standard shapeshifting/stance buttons have been replaced by an additional row of buttons which are bound to shifting macros.I've kept the self frame and party frame, more or less, but added HP and mana values to the bars using CT Mod∞'s Unit Frames add-on. I also use the CT∞ UnitFrames Target's Target frame instead of Blizzard's weak implementation. Along the top of the screen is FuBar, which gives most of the information I like to keep handy (like time, XP, honour, rep, gold, zone, etc.). I also have an ItemRack∞ bar showing my weapon, offhand, ranged weapon (druid idol), and trinket slots. This allows me to easily swap these items, or queue them for swapping, if I'm in combat (for the trinkets -- weapons are always swappable). I also have my right Blizz bar displayed for a few extra, non-combat spells (Gift of the Wild, Soothe Animal), and I also keep AutoBar∞ overlaid on this bar for my consumables (although Autobar is currently broken for me).
Chat windows consist of normal chat, combat, and damage. The normal chat and combat windows are more or less default, and the damage one tracks only the damage that I do (so that, in a hectic raid, I can easily watch for strings of crits, or to ensure my cower wasn't dodged or parried). All the windows are modified via Prat, to add timestamp info and other stuff like class colours for people's names. In addition to the chat windows, info is available via Scrolling Combat Text (SCT)∞ (and SpellAlert SCT∞, which adds SpellAlert messages to SCT) (SCT∞ and SpellAlert SCT∞ are not currently updated, so I'm having to make-do with the default scrolling text, which makes me sad).
Raid UI adds a few more windows and things. On the left side, the party interface has been replaced by a raid frame by sRaidFrames∞ (a raid frame plug-in for oRA2∞). The cooldown timer and resurrection monitor are also part of sRaidFrames∞. I'm a huge fan of sRaidFrames∞, and I'd use it instead of the party interface if I could figure out how.
On the right are the tank targets provided by oRA2∞, and below that are the damage meters (usually just SW_Stats∞ (which is currently not updated), but sometimes DamageMeters∞ as well). I also usually put a default raidgroup for priests alongside the DMs so the priests are easily located for innervates.
To the left of my combat log is where KLHThreatMeter∞ lives. I often don't bother to display it, but on fights where aggro management is important, I will. Usually.
In the middle-left of the screen, Squishy∞ (not updated) will display the list of people who are taking damage, or those who have aggro.
Edited on 2006-12-07 11:33:12 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
Mitsu's UI
NitF∞ > Mitsu > UI
(A work in progress, needs screenshots)Deletions:
Mitsu's UI
(A work in progress, needs screenshots)Edited on 2006-12-07 11:26:22 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
Mitsu's UI
(A work in progress, needs screenshots) For a complete list of mods used, check out my mods page.Deletions:
Mitsu's UI
(A work in progress, needs screenshots)Edited on 2006-12-07 11:24:55 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
Mitsu's UI
(A work in progress, needs screenshots)Overview
My setup revolves around a fairly simple philosophy -- I want my UI to be clean, compact, and easy to use, while providing as much pertinent information as possible. To that end, I've dumped the default interface, with all it's extra artwork and fussy bits, in favour of a simple button grid in the lower left corner, using Bartender3∞. Notice that the standard shapeshifting/stance buttons have been replaced by an additional row of buttons which are bound to shifting macros.I've kept the self frame and party frame, more or less, but added HP and mana values to the bars using CT Mod∞'s Unit Frames add-on. I also use the CT∞ UnitFrames Target's Target frame instead of Blizzard's weak implementation. Along the top of the screen is FuBar, which gives most of the information I like to keep handy (like time, XP, honour, rep, gold, zone, etc.). I also have an ItemRack∞ bar showing my weapon, offhand, ranged weapon (druid idol), and trinket slots. This allows me to easily swap these items, or queue them for swapping, if I'm in combat (for the trinkets -- weapons are always swappable). I also have my right Blizz bar displayed for a few extra, non-combat spells (Gift of the Wild, Soothe Animal), and I also keep AutoBar∞ overlaid on this bar for my consumables (although Autobar is currently broken for me).
Chat windows consist of normal chat, combat, and damage. The normal chat and combat windows are more or less default, and the damage one tracks only the damage that I do (so that, in a hectic raid, I can easily watch for strings of crits, or to ensure my cower wasn't dodged or parried). All the windows are modified via Prat, to add timestamp info and other stuff like class colours for people's names. In addition to the chat windows, info is available via Scrolling Combat Text (SCT)∞ (and SpellAlert SCT∞, which adds SpellAlert messages to SCT) (SCT∞ and SpellAlert SCT∞ are not currently updated, so I'm having to make-do with the default scrolling text, which makes me sad).
Raid UI adds a few more windows and things. On the left side, the party interface has been replaced by a raid frame by sRaidFrames∞ (a raid frame plug-in for oRA2∞). The cooldown timer and resurrection monitor are also part of sRaidFrames∞. I'm a huge fan of sRaidFrames∞, and I'd use it instead of the party interface if I could figure out how.
On the right are the tank targets provided by oRA2∞, and below that are the damage meters (usually just SW_Stats∞ (which is currently not updated), but sometimes DamageMeters∞ as well). I also usually put a default raidgroup for priests alongside the DMs so the priests are easily located for innervates.
To the left of my combat log is where KLHThreatMeter∞ lives. I often don't bother to display it, but on fights where aggro management is important, I will. Usually.
In the middle-left of the screen, Squishy∞ (not updated) will display the list of people who are taking damage, or those who have aggro.
Deletions:
Mitsu's UI
Work in progress.Edited on 2006-11-09 15:52:32 by MitsuKurina
Additions:
Mitsu's UI
Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2006-11-09 10:32:47 by MitsuKurina []
Page view:
Work in progress.