Reader UI of the Week: Stympa's UI

Each week, WoW.com brings 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@wow.com.

Greetings, loyal RUIotW readers. We have much business to attend to. First, I wanted to thank you all so much for the comments, suggestions and discussions we have in the comments after each article. It is sometimes an arduous task to hit every aspect of a reader-submitted user interface, and you guys always give awesome advice. The greatest aspect of this column and the comments is, to me, finding out new things by happenstance. You guys make that happen every column, and I thank you for it.

It's Reader UI of the Week time, ladies and gents. This week, we are taking a look at Stympa's UI, which uses as its base the wonderful Tukui, along with some tweaks. Kick the tires, light the fires, switch all addons into the "locked" position and get ready for some minimalist fun. The actual fun isn't minimalist ... the user interface ... whatever, just click.

Stympa's email was short and sweet:

Thank you for the email, Stympa. Truth be told, I saved Stympa's email and submission for awhile because I was not yet ready to talk about tukui. Now, I am ready and raring to go. Stympa's user interface builds off of the core package of the aforementioned tukui, a very simple, thin-bordered compilation that aims to take a lot of the fuss out of minimalist user interface creation. Tukui comes with a plethora of addons already in package and configures the style of your UI with an excellent bottom-focused motif.

Stympa's contribution to tukui comes in a few forms. First, as tukui is a basic compilation that replaces unit frames, some bar elements and moves around a good deal of the interface. It is by no means a one-stop shop compilation. Adding essential addons such as Recount, DBM and others still needs to be done, but the basic re-skin puts your user interface in the right mood, so to speak. Stympa has added Omen, Recount, Sexycooldown, DBM and others to complete his own package. I appreciate Stympa keeping the number of addons low, making his user interface light and clean.

Adding on to tukui is not always a simple task -- keeping with the layout and the organization is tough but doable. Frankly, it is rewarding to me to be able to fit everything I want to in to a UI replacement like this, because it has my own little tweaks and changes that make it my own creation, in a way. It's like adding flaps to a really cool paper airplane someone folded for you -- the basic shape is there, but you get to tinker with the accessories. Stympa does this great with the addition of a solid Sexycooldown bar underneath the main action bars, and a re-skinned Recount over near his minimap. Excellent work.

Most of all, I wanted to thank Stympa for writing in about tukui. I've been meaning to talk about this user interface replacement for awhile, forgot about it, remembered, saw something shiny, wrote it down, checked it off, did something else and finally came back around to it while cleaning up my inbox. Stympa did what you should do with tukui, and that's add the extra essentials and keep them skinned and configured to fit the motif. Now, if you'll excuse me, Stympa, I need to talk a little bit about tukui.

Tukui comes with DPS and healing layouts, is simple to download and install and has a fairly large community behind the compilation. Tukz, the creator, is extremely active on his own forum and pushes out a quality product. The real magic of tukui, though, is that once you are part of the family, so to speak, you get to hit the forums and learn all about skinning other addons, mods and addon elements to get that same tukui look. This thread, for instance, makes available some great skins for Quartz, Omen, Recount, Sexycooldown and Skada -- all addons essential to your user interface. Tukz is fortunate to not only make a great compilation but have some really talented people working on elements as well. Good show!

I recommend tukui to players with wide-screen monitors who really haven't been able to nail down that right minimalist look that they know they can achieve but just can't hammer down. Tukui is a great starting point to learn about border control and skinning in addons. The community that revolves around tukui seems like a really helpful and innovative bunch, not to mention Tukz's own commitment to the project. You really cannot go wrong with the setup, and it helps that it looks great, the fonts are clean and the art is pretty. Please, take some time to check out the tukui gallery over at Tukz's website to see just how awesome the interface can look (not to mention the snazzy site design, of which I am a fan.) And, like Tukz says -- it's pixel perfect.

Download Tukui at Tukz's own website [here]

Fun time!

Here's a fun little dealio -- have you ever been to the bookstore or movie rental place (when people did this sort of thing) and seen a Staff Picks section? Of course you remember! I sent out a request for the WoW.com editors to give me a little bit of information on their favorite addons, so I will occasionally be posting their responses here for you to add to your addon life.

Let's hear from esteemed editor and the place place for World of Warcraft news and views from around the web, Mike Sacco:

Sacco says: AtlasLoot -- because if a boss doesn't have something I want, I can just sit out the fight, to "make sure an app gets his turn."

Very nice, Mr. Sacco. One more tool in Captain Lazy's toolbelt. I can understand not wanting to fight Marrowgar for the 900th time, believe me -- but badges, Sacco! Badges! So many precious badges! The app probably won't last a week.

Atlasloot is definitely a favorite of mine. The interface is fairly easy to navigate and there is no real configuration needed. Plus, as Sacco attests, it's very handy to have on demand knowledge of what bosses drop, so you can begin your prayers/hymns/chants/ritual sacrifices early, before the fight, while eating a Fish Feast or sleeping through trash pulls.

That's all for this week, folks. Remember, when you submit your user interface for Reader UI of the Week, give me some awesome chatter to work with. I love it when I can get into a dialogue with the readers over all sorts of issues with people's UIs. Also, it seems like the "help me with my UI" thing went over pretty well, so if you think it would be cool, lobby for an Addon Makeover type column, and we'll see what we can do. Addon Guy for the Messy UI, perhaps? Hmm ...

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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.