New to UIs

[Rankiz]

I've never ever made my own UI, raided at 70 with no addons except things like Xperl, Quartz etc... So I acutally never made my own UI.

So, I was thinking, if someone, can give me some default tips. I switched to a healer class, as I was warrior before, and now it seems like I need alot more addons etc. Installed VuhDo today, and took ALOT time even to go through everything on it, tho, I did not understand 50% of it. I am looking for good all around tips on how to make a UI, never done before, also, how hard is it to adapt?

I have used Blizzard bars for 2 years, I think it would be strange and unconfortable to just switch now, tho, I think I want to try, since I am going to heal, dunno if I will start raiding alot of 10/25mans I would rather just stick to 5mans at the start.

[Jÿnks]

My computer can't handle too many AddOns so my healing AddOn is HealBot (though there are arguments that Grid+Clique are better. it's all about which you feel more comfortable using), then I have the standard raiding AddOns (Deadly Boss Mods, Omen, etc.), otherwise, it's all Blizz standard UI.

[Jubite]

I'd start with small steps, like a Bar mod+unit frames first, then upgrade slowly and get more advanced.

My personal favorites

kgpanels for background effects.
xperl for unit frames
grid for raid frames
DBM for... bosses?
Dominos for action bars
Power Auras for every notice you want to give yourself

That should get you started.

[lawomous]

If you want to get a look at how some professionally created UIs look, check some out at

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/cat28.html

and perhaps try one or two out.

You should have a good eye for detail and be extremely patient if you want to make your UI from scratch. Above everything, it should feel comfortable to you and tell you what you need to know.

[Malladin]

UI's are very subjective, and creating your own can be a lot of fun. Much of it depends how much time you want to commit.

A good way to start can be looking at how others have done it, like lawomous said. The way I like to start a new UI is make a list of everything that I know I want now. Then look for addons that meet these requirements (knowing what I want usually helps with searching the addon sites/forums). Find what works for you, then play around with them till they look right.

After this, its really a matter of tweaking stuff until it feels just right. I've been fiddling with the same UI for about 18 months now, and I feel its just about perfect. Ive added and removed quite a lot of stuff as I've found new addons. You may do the same.

Really, its up to you how involved you get with it. To be perfectly honest, the only thing you need when healing is a group/raid frame, which blizzard does supply. I believe Grid is the best mod out there for that, as it is compact, very customizable, and quite simple to use. The main thing to learn with it is adding custom debuffs and making them display in the centre icon. This allows you to easily manage specific raid debuffs (ie iceblocks on Kel'thuzad, Incinerate Flesh on Jaraxxus etc). Power Auras is great for this sort of thing too.

For the rest, Jubite gave a good list of addons to try if you want to go that way. I prefer Pitbull to xperl, as its more customizable, but its much more fiddly, Xperl is where I started too. Everyone will have different ideas of what you need and how you should do it. My suggestion is always play around with individual addons yourself and make something that works for you. Its much more satisfying, and in my experience works better than any pre-fab UI out there. Set aside an afternoon to play around, then be willing to fiddle afterward. Its fun when you get going.

[metalbeerandwomen]

first of all, you need to ask yourself the following

1. am i concerned about aesthetics or Function more? [obviously a great ui combines these very well]

2. am i going lightweight or heavy duty?

3. is this for raiding? questing/leveling? or PvP?

4. Healing, dps, tank, or hybrid?

5. Do i have a clear idea of what i am asking for in a ui?

Once you have answered those, you can begin to build. The challenge then becomes: Identify which addon's you want to use

for me, i like very light weight addons, the downside is that typically the more lightweight, the more advanced their configuration is.
I'm speaking specifically of strictly lua edited addons. such as ouf unit frames. If you can learn lua, then you are much better off for it, but that is a huge time sink, not to mention the discipline involved.

I recommend starting out with:

Pitbull or stuf: unitframes
Bartender or Dominos: barmod
Chatter: chat mod
Pminimap: lightweight map addon
Satrina buff Frames: great buff addon, you can make it do whatever you want
Msbt or Sct: combat text

that is pretty much the bare minimum, from there you can go on to add whatever you want.

take your time with this, read through everything [thoroughly] there is nothing worse than installing fifty addons to do separate things when mastery of just one can be more than enough.

read this, it should help you loads.

http://omgphatloots.org/?p=64


best of luck. and one last piece of advice: "don't let yourself get frustrated to the point where you are making mistakes."