Reader UI of the Week: Twigleaf's healer UI
by Eliah Hecht 
Jun 21st 2009 at 12:00PM
Reader UI of the Week is back! Each week WoW.com will bring you a fresh look at reader submitted UIs. Have a screenshot of your UI you want to submit? Send your screenshots, along with info on what mods you're using, to readerui@gmail.com.
Let it never be said that I don't listen. After last week's sparse screenshot, many of you said you wanted to see a UI in real action, and especially a healer UI. I got a number of good submissions, but Twigleaf's (of Unity on Velen) stood out from the pack by being both very functional and very pretty. Everything has a place, the screen is information-packed, and nothing is ugly.
If this was my UI, I would move the center scrolling combat text up a bit, since I like to keep the very center of my screen clear to watch for things. But hey, it's not my UI. Let's see what Twigleaf has to say about it.
Lately, I've noticed that a lot of people are commenting that they would like to see a UI pictured with raid frames and all of those other mods necessary for raids. My UI is designed around seeing everything I need to know as a healer, while keeping many of the add ons smaller so that I can see when my raid members are standing in fires, void zones, or Yogg clouds. I also like to be neat and orderly, and my screen is arranged as symmetrically as possible with concurrent color schemes. My UI goes to show that you can have a lot of important raid add ons running while still being able to have a large amount of screen space. I use a Clique and Grid combination for healing the raid to minimize space. Overall, the UI is made to look sleek and get the job done.
Yep! Looks sleek, gets the job done, and shows a ton of information. As a raid healer myself, this is everything I'd need: raid frames down and center, myself and target frames below my character, tank frames off to the left, damage and threat meter down in the bottom-right.
I especially like the various rounded corners on the eePanels. The only thing that doesn't quite fit in this interface to me is the main tank frames; they need a little more integration as far as appearance. Overall though, a great healing UI.
Addons used:
- Acheron: death info
- Ackis Recipe List: profession info
- ArkInventory: bag compressor
- Atlasloot Enhanced: loot display
- Auctioneer: AH mod
- Bartender 4: Action bar replacement Bidder_EPGP: DKP mod
- ButtonFacade: button appearance changer
- Chatter: chat mod
- ClassLoot: shows loot priorities
- Clique: click-casting mod
- CowTip: tooltip replacement
- Deadly Boss Mods: boss timers and info
- Decursive: debuff remover
- eePanels 2: colored squares to add to background
- Elkano's Buff Bars: buff and debuff info
- Grid: raid frames replacement
- Grid Mana Bars: adds mana bars to grid
- GridStatusHots: tracks HoTs on grid
- HealPoints: tracks healing capabilities
- MiksScrollingBattleText: combat text mod
- Minimap Button Frame: collects minimap buttons into a moveable square
- Omen: threat meter
- oRA2: important raid info
- Pitbull: unit frames mod
- Quartz: casting bar replacement
- RatingBuster: tracks loot upgrades/stats
- Recount: combat meters
- SexyMap: minimap replacement
- SLDataText: FuBar-like add on with display info
And here's a bonus screenshot for reading this far, of the UI in its resting state.
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, Raiding, Reader UI of the Week
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Blorc Jun 21st 2009 4:14PM
grid is extremely customizable, and you can very easily make it show the icon of the magic effect afflicting the person. Just do a little research.
Burix Jun 21st 2009 4:15PM
You know, you can set your grid to show the icon, if not the actual text for the debuff that you want to dispel via Grid. I have the stuff I can dispel (with my priest: magic and disease) on a priority and the grid thing is colored so that I know it's either a disease or a magic debuff on a person to know what type it is. Also, I don't think you can dispel Arcane Blast anymore since they fixed that.
Avan Jun 21st 2009 11:10PM
In my experience, Pitbull is just plain superior to Grid. Ease of set up was one of the big factors. The other was that, while I understand that Grid can greatly reduce the screen space used by unit frames, Grid would also needlessly "save" on screen space in a 5man, which I did not like at all.
So... Eww, Grid.
Ishne Jun 22nd 2009 12:40AM
Grid is excellent for druids because the indicator dots allow us to easily track all of our HoTs, as well as HoTs cast by other druids that are Swiftmend-able. It's really helpful if there are multiple trees so you aren't wasting mana by casting three Rejuvs on the same target. It can also track missing buffs that people need, e.g., Thorns on the tank. I have it set up to show aggro and debuffs, and as a druid, I generally don't need to know anything about debuffs beyond "someone is cursed, decurse them". (I don't play a priest so I can't speak for dispelling magic.) I can't imagine trying to keep track of HoTs with Pitbull's auras.
Zuckerdachs Jun 21st 2009 1:53PM
My UI is almost exactly like this and has been for a while. My scrolling text was higher originally, where you said you'd prefer it, but I moved it down to the center to be closer to mine and my target's unit frames. The less your eyes have to move away from your frames and your cooldowns, the faster and more efficiently you can work. Your peripheral vision should be able to let you know if the boss is headed your way anyway, DBM tells you if you're standing in the fire, and addons like Grid and Xperl can be set to tell you if you have aggro. Hence, you shouldn't really need to focus on much other than your job most of the time, so having your scrolling text in the middle of the screen is not a problem.
Joe Jun 21st 2009 2:13PM
Whats addon name which shows Player frame and target frame in the center?
Taladan Jun 21st 2009 10:59PM
Probably Pitbull.
jaenicoll Jun 21st 2009 2:32PM
Nice layout. Mine is similar but I prefer to use Dominoes over Bartender due to the ability to easily hot key. I think healers are beginning to settle into similar UI preferences =)
I am curious as to why you use decursive when you have grid and clique. Why not set them up to decurse using a modifier (shift, alt, ctrl) key?
hanster007 Jun 21st 2009 4:19PM
Just to add support to what I felt is a great streamline: I recently made the change to a grid+clique hotkey to decurse and it saves me TONS of time!
Ishne Jun 22nd 2009 12:05AM
I play a resto druid and I have Clique/Grid set up to decurse and abolish poison, but for some fights it's a lot easier to use Decursive simply because the unit frames are even smaller than Grid. If I have to do a lot of cleansing, like on 25 Noth, it's faster to click the Decursive frames. In a 5 or even 10-man, it's usually easier to just use Grid to cleanse. I have Decursive right above Grid though, to minimize required movement; here it seems so far away that the benefit would be negligible.
Eternauta Jun 21st 2009 3:37PM
I have a question for WoW.com:
The UI's sent before you choose this one, will be shown in next articles?
Eliah Hecht Jun 21st 2009 3:37PM
Probably not, no. I usually choose each week's UI of the Week from out of the submissions I've received since the last one.
Eternauta Jun 21st 2009 6:47PM
So... there's no problem if I re-send my UI after every RUIotW 'till it gets posted?
rob Jun 21st 2009 3:40PM
I wish the author would provide more criticism. As it stands this is glorified show and tell.
Rlyeh Jun 21st 2009 3:53PM
If only people could comment on what they would fix or change... If you think it needs criticism, provide it.
At the the moment, your comment brings nothing.
rob Jun 21st 2009 4:00PM
I have tried to provide criticism in the past, but the comments aren't approved.
Beatrix Jun 21st 2009 6:00PM
Hopefully constructive bullets!
- Use one bar texture and stick with 1-2 fonts. I count at least 5 or 6 different bar textures and 4 different fonts. If you need to, I'd suggest using SharedMedia which will give you a plethora of textures/fonts to choose from for the majority of your addons and takes up little space. It will lend A LOT to the overall flow of your UI. As it is, it looks like you simply turned everything on, put them in a good place, and left it at that, except Grid, which I'll address below.
- I'm pretty sure you can set Bartender4 to hide bars/UI elements until mouseover. I'd hide your bags and the Blizzard mini-menu. It isn't necessary for you to see them all the time and their placement seems more like an afterthought as opposed to an actual functional element.
- Something I don't quite understand is why one needs a full bar + icon + full name + timer to display buffs and debuffs. Could you perhaps limit yourself to arranged icons with the timer displayed in an abbreviated fashion underneath? As it stands, it feels like they just take up unnecessary space.
- As far as your unit frames are concerned, it looks like Pitbull's default. Portraits have little to no functional use whatsoever, so if you can live without them, I'd suggest you do so--unless you -really- like whatever aesthetic effect they may have. You don't really need to see the race of your target and your level, name, race, form, class, and auras on your UF are completely redundant and unnecessary. I'd space out the auras for your target as well and perhaps limit/filter the number of buffs and debuffs as it looks crowded.
- The most important aspect of your UI is your raid frames and I really like your Grid set-up. Looks clean, functional, and like you put some effort into customizing it to suit your needs. Arguably, how well your Grid set-up works makes the rest of your "problems" moot, but I would extend the aesthetic of your raid frames to the rest of your UI.
- I'd set Recount/Omen to be hidden until you need to look at them. People argue about what their specific functionality may be to a healer, but so far I've never seen or read anything that constitutes as a truly necessary reason. That's really up to personal preference however, as I can see how Recount's placement lends to the overall symmetry of your UI.
- I'd put all your SLDT stuff in one place, spread out along the bottom, time being on the far right.
- Your MSBT seems a little large.
- I like the fact that your UI is extremely readable. Despite some of the redundancies and "clutter" it remains functional-looking. You obviously have a good grasp of where everything needs to be, I'd just look into doing a little more tweaking with what you already have. Thank you for sharing your UI!
unigolyn Jun 22nd 2009 8:14AM
" Something I don't quite understand is why one needs a full bar + icon + full name + timer to display buffs and debuffs. Could you perhaps limit yourself to arranged icons with the timer displayed in an abbreviated fashion underneath? As it stands, it feels like they just take up unnecessary space."
Because you can find a buff faster when the names are also displayed? Because you can see when a buff is running out faster when it's a bar instead of just text?
UI is about functionality as much as it is about looks.
"I'd set Recount/Omen to be hidden until you need to look at them."
Um, Omen doesn't show anything out of combat, so when exactly would you look at it?
Book Jun 21st 2009 6:32PM
great UI. i like the placement of grid-- most UIs that have this look usually put the minimap there, which seems a little central for something you don't always immediately need access to in the middle of a raid.
i agree with eliah though: i had the same problem with scrolling combat text blocking out my character. i'm a MT and with all the incoming heals and damage, it made it difficult to see void zones and mimiron rockets on my character. the addon Parrot solves this problem by separating incoming, outgoing, and buffs/debuffs into three different areas, to the left, right, and above your character respectively. pretty great fix for that problem.
Urza Jun 21st 2009 6:38PM
I don't much care for minimaps in the middle either.