Addon Spotlight: Fubar
by David Bowers 
Jun 10th 2007 at 3:20PM
I personally find one of its most useful features to be that it can show you how many of your guild mates and friends are online at any given moment, then let you hover your mouse over the number to see a tooltip list, with clickable names for whispers or invitations, just like a regular IM program.
To be honest, I actually tried out its competitor, Titan Panel, long before I had heard of Fubar, and then switched to Fubar because it feels more flexible and lighter on my system. Fubar is made with Ace, which usually helps addons feel smoother somehow; the difference between Fubar and Titan is what made me go looking for other Ace addons. Also, the other thing I love about it... is that it's called "Fubar!" and most of its companion module addons end in "fu", as in "QuestsFu" and "MoneyFu!" I just love my addons with a extra helping of humor sauce.
Filed under: AddOns, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adys Jun 10th 2007 3:38PM
The guild/friendlist stuff is not a FuBar feature. All FuBar does is providing one or two configurable bars where addons written correctly for it will go and absolutely nothing else.
However I agree, FuBar is an addon I wouldn't be able to play with, but that's probably due to the fact I'm so used to it.
Areis Jun 10th 2007 4:14PM
Fubar absolutely rocks. It does all that Titan does, and then delivers a generous helping of "More". after installing fubar, and playing around with it a bit, I have switched the majority of my mods to Ace, and never looked back.
I use about 200 mods or so, for various little bits and bobs, and the majority of them are based on Ace2. my system is faster, smoother, has less issues, and uses a lot less memory then I was using before I switched to Ace.
Coupled with the WoWAceDownloader, my mod setup is not a hassle at all.
Polarity Jun 10th 2007 4:39PM
The author of fubar (ckknight) also released a unitframes mod. It's fantastic! It goes by Pitbull, and is highly configurable and relatively bug free! It gets updated on a nearly constant basis, and any bug I see submitted is quickly fixed. It's great on memory, and you can add all kinds of crazy frames. Personally, I *LOVE* the pet target window. It really helps out when things get hairy and targets bunch up.
WeeLittleDragon Jun 10th 2007 4:43PM
I have used Titan and Fubar and prefer Titan. Seems more solid to me but I am sure it is more personal choice than anything. Meh, to each there own I suppose
Tumples Jun 10th 2007 5:49PM
I dont use any, it doesnt tell me what I cant already find out in a matter of seconds really, and my UI looks much better without it.
Jonathan Jun 10th 2007 7:14PM
@3
I also use PitBull and love it, but I've had to set my druid's target window back to Blizzard's so I can see DoT timers and such. Is there any way for PitBull to show these as well?
CB Jun 10th 2007 7:51PM
@3: Thanks for the info on Pitbull, I love Fubar and to find out that the author does a unit frames addon is awesome.
Tried it already and it's exactly what I need...couldn't get some of the other unit frames addons to show my pets happiness...this one does it automatically
MartinC Jun 10th 2007 7:57PM
Those looking to keep their interface clean, and show only what is needed during comabt, will stay away from Titan and Fubar. All the information they provide can be retrieved with a few button clicks, as during combat you should only be worrying about what is relevant.
Other unnecessary information that clutters up the screen is only distracting and slows down performance.
wowinsider.qsh Jun 10th 2007 8:23PM
"Other unnecessary information that clutters up the screen is only distracting and slows down performance."
I won't argue the distraction part, but a well written addon will ALWAYS take performance into heavy consideration, especially in combat. One of the main things fubar modules need to watch for is only updating when the really need to. Some thing (like durability) are both costly to update and change very frequently (every time you get hit!) So addons like DurabilityFu have to consider when the player will actually LOOK at the plugin. There's no reason to waste time updating in combat if the player doesn't care, so DuraFu waits until you drop out of combat and refreshes the value once, instead of every time your durability changes by 1 point in-combat.
It's also very easy to get too many plugins installed. One that tracks ammo? Neat idea, but I found that I never consulted it. It was simply engrained into my brain to pop open my bags and see visually how empty they were... looking at that number and then trying to remember the max ammo I carry... it just wasn't helpful. If you get in a Fubar plugin frenzy make sure to sit back every now and then and consider if you really need each plugin.
G Jun 10th 2007 10:03PM
"Other unnecessary information that clutters up the screen is only distracting and slows down performance."
If a handful of 2D text is slowing you down, then by all means, please steer clear. A larger screen and a faster computer could also be in order. No problems here.
A possible epilogue to this story: I just switched from Titan to Fubar because it looks like the Titan author has disappeared (along with the authors of ItemRack and GroupCalendar). I was in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" camp, but the fix turned out to be easy. And superior.
Tridus Jun 11th 2007 5:47AM
Healing Priests may want to take a look at RegenFu: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info4717-FuBar-RegenFu.html
On the surface, it tells you how much mana you regen per tick, and how often you're inside/outside of the five second rule. Using that, it can also tell you how much Spirit you'd need to compare to 1 mana per 5, which is really useful in making gear/gem choices. Druids can also get some use out of it too, but nobody else actually uses Spirit for anything, so its pretty limited that way. (Yay broken stats.)
oomu Jun 11th 2007 9:28AM
fubar is useful to give fast access to addon functionnality
for example WIM ( a sort of messaging system for wow)
I put fubar in a little corner (up left) only and add the wim icon in it. nice and fast to see if someone talked to me while combat, to access history of discussion and so on.
nicer than cluttering the minimap with all addons icons. fubar allows easy and fast management of theses icons addons.
I do not use questfu, regenfu, durabilityfu and so on. I think the same than #8 and #9 but I found some uses of fubar to "unclutter" the interface. yes.
Tesop Jun 11th 2007 11:38AM
I love FuBar and have been using it for quite some time. Clutter reduction at it's finest.