Post Your UI

[Everlu]

I feel like I probably could have been clearer about my point. Oh well. Post more screenshots, people! Chop chop, I just canceled my sub and need to live vicariously through you! :P

[tflogic]

I feel like I probably could have been clearer about my point. Oh well. Post more screenshots, people! Chop chop, I just canceled my sub and need to live vicariously through you! :P

why the sub cancel? it takes no effort to keep it renewed with tokens.

[modernist]

time though

[shanthi]

time though

Not too much. With a level 3 garrison, a level 3 inn for increased gold missions and a bunch of treasure hunter followers, you can earn enough for a token each month just from garrison missions (which does take a bit of time each day, but not a lot). I should say, though, that I mean in the US region. Tokens in other regions seem to cost a lot more gold.

Granted, this is pretty off-topic.

[Iezabel]

Okay so not sure if this is the right place to post this (if its not I'm sorry). But my question is: When you're deciding on a UI design do you lay everything out in game first and then build around that or lay it out on Photoshop or a sketchbook and then put it in game?

[shanthi]

Okay so not sure if this is the right place to post this (if its not I'm sorry). But my question is: When you're deciding on a UI design do you lay everything out in game first and then build around that or lay it out on Photoshop or a sketchbook and then put it in game?

There's no set way, but I tend to sketch it out on a piece of paper, in broad strokes...generally where I want certain elements, like cooldown alerts, raid frames, etc. Then I do the rest on the fly in game.

[Deleted]

Okay so not sure if this is the right place to post this (if its not I'm sorry). But my question is: When you're deciding on a UI design do you lay everything out in game first and then build around that or lay it out on Photoshop or a sketchbook and then put it in game?

For my UIs I do not plan or decide anything at all beforehand as that would only constrain me before I even know what I want.

I formulate a basic idea ("Text only!", "Super compact!", "White paladin UI with lots of sparkly WA effects!"), then I design the UI directly in the game in an open and highly iterative process, element by element, beginning with the unitframes for player and target.

Whatever layout I end up with is a result of that process, not the other way around.

[Arborus]

Okay so not sure if this is the right place to post this (if its not I'm sorry). But my question is: When you're deciding on a UI design do you lay everything out in game first and then build around that or lay it out on Photoshop or a sketchbook and then put it in game?

I don't lay out anything, I just start where I kind of know what I want and then work from there.

So if I know I want my map in a specific spot, and I want my chat to look a certain way I'll try to fit other elements into that.

Currently my UI is kind a mess, though. I've not really had time to make something prettier since I started playing bear this tier, so it's all pretty utilitarian for the moment.

[Birgwow]

I tend to do like Shanthi. Though I start with a shape or element I want and then place stuff to fit that. Actually found some old sketches in my drawer.

Monk UI sketch

Result


Mage UI sketch

Result

[Everlu]

why the sub cancel? it takes no effort to keep it renewed with tokens.

Oh I have no problem affording WoW. I'm just not interested in playing.

Also I do UIs the same way Shanti and Birg do it. My sketchbooks are filled with UI ideas. I find it easier to do different iterations and compare them when I just have sketches next to each other, rather than moving everything around repeatedly in game.

[shanthi]

Oh I have no problem affording WoW. I'm just not interested in playing.

Psh, who said anything about playing? Even if I lost interest in raiding, I'd probably maintain my sub in WoW (especially since it only costs me gold) just to mess around with UIs. It's a fun sandbox for quick-and-dirty design. I mean, you could do random stuff in Photoshop or HTML (and, I guess, build your portfolio and be productive) but WoW gives you a stage to immediately test your designs for functionality (like, on a dummy) in addition to making the pretties.

[ls-]

Okay so not sure if this is the right place to post this (if its not I'm sorry). But my question is: When you're deciding on a UI design do you lay everything out in game first and then build around that or lay it out on Photoshop or a sketchbook and then put it in game?

At first, I speed-sketch stuff in photoshop to get basic shape and idea, I have a tablet, so it saves me a lot of paper , then I draw about 4-12 prototypes/concepts that fit that certain idea. In the end I pick only 1 or 2 candidates I definitely like, do more work on them, for example add more details, shadows, shades and so on, and only then I make an atlas out of a texture and write some Lua code to animate it.

Of course I do write some stuff on paper, but that's mostly diagrams, layer compositions and so on, cuz my frames tend to be quite complex T_T Sometimes way too complicated, so projecting my thoughts on paper, helps to streamline frame/addon behaviour, and thus lets me spend less time (re)writing code. Hovewer, I fail at it sometimes, so I regularly have "let's optimize this shit" sessions

- - - Updated - - -

Psh, who said anything about playing? Even if I lost interest in raiding, I'd probably maintain my sub in WoW (especially since it only costs me gold) just to mess around with UIs. It's a fun sandbox for quick-and-dirty design. I mean, you could do random stuff in Photoshop or HTML (and, I guess, build your portfolio and be productive) but WoW gives you a stage to immediately test your designs for functionality (like, on a dummy) in addition to making the pretties.

But you can mess with UIs on PTR for free

[shanthi]

But you can mess with UIs on PTR for free

Hmm, that's a good point.

[cheshyrko]

Ogait, can you share/send your elvui & sfui profiles? ^^ please.

[Kaitain]

Psh, who said anything about playing? Even if I lost interest in raiding, I'd probably maintain my sub in WoW (especially since it only costs me gold) just to mess around with UIs. It's a fun sandbox for quick-and-dirty design. I mean, you could do random stuff in Photoshop or HTML (and, I guess, build your portfolio and be productive) but WoW gives you a stage to immediately test your designs for functionality (like, on a dummy) in addition to making the pretties.

Personally I do sketches -> Photoshop -> inGame. After years of doing it, it isn't doing "random stuff in Photoshop", it's doing super fast experimenting with layouts in Photoshop with functionality you already know will work from experience. It's possible that you need to make 20+ very different UIs before you get to that point though, because by then you've made pretty much all possible mistakes. Of course a lot of people don't have Photoshop, but anyone serious about design can probably find a way to make it happen.

[Deleted]

Constie doesn't seem to be around anymore (so it should be safe to speak for him--that's how it works, right?), but he was pretty absolutist.

I can't believe this!!!

Okay so not sure if this is the right place to post this (if its not I'm sorry). But my question is: When you're deciding on a UI design do you lay everything out in game first and then build around that or lay it out on Photoshop or a sketchbook and then put it in game?

I'm not some kind of tryhard nerd, so I just do it in-game. I think about what the UI is for and what it's going to need to have, and then come up with a good way to do that. Unlike Kurokawa I plan out all the big important things before I start putting them in, though.

[modernist]

lol

i usually figure out the fundamentals in my head — minimap, unit frames, chat — and then arrange everything else around that one by one. slowly gotten less sympathetic with my process in terms of cutting things out (don't *really* need a fleshed out tot, don't *really* need action buttons when i can just track important cooldowns) and its partly because of constie's insane military grade UI reduction

[Deleted]

In this Thread are so many ideas for my Interface. I just have 2 wait until i can post mine.

[shanthi]

Personally I do sketches -> Photoshop -> inGame. After years of doing it, it isn't doing "random stuff in Photoshop"

My "random stuff in Photoshop" comment was not about the sub-discussion of how one goes about creating WoW UIs, it was in context of messing around with WoW stuff when you don't play the game anymore.

[Kaitain]

My "random stuff in Photoshop" comment was not about the sub-discussion of how one goes about creating WoW UIs, it was in context of messing around with WoW stuff when you don't play the game anymore.

Ak ok sorry, i missed what you meant. My bad.