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Reader UI of the Week: Selece of Deathwing

Adam Holisky
Editor
Updated ·3 min read


World of Warcraft allows all of us an unprecedented ability to modify our user interface to meet our needs. Each week WoW Insider will bring you a fresh and detailed look at reader submitted UIs. Have a screenshot of your UI you want to submit? Send it, along with your character name and server, to readerui@gmail.com.

This week the column returns to give you your dose of regularly scheduled UIs. We'll be looking at the UI provided to use by Selece of the Deathwing server. He's submitted a UI back in March of 2007, but the one he sent us a couple weeks ago was so slick we just couldn't pass it up.

Selece tells us his UI is designed for end game Hunters and has four primary goals:

  1. Clean lines – He needs to see what's happening without the UI getting in his way.

  2. Readability – Text elements need to be clean and crisp, everything has to be easily identifiable.

  3. Clear center – He needs to be able to see what's going on around him, and the center of the screen is his place for that.

  4. Visible cooldowns – Cooldowns need to be easy and quick to see, so he knows what's up next.

I really find those four pieces of advice to be very useful for not only a ranged DPS class like Hunters, but also for any class.

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Having a clean UI without tons of screen elements getting in the way is essential to any successful UI. Remember the point of you modifying the interface is to make it more useful – and cleaning up the screen in a prime way you can do that.

Keeping things readable, which he does with the addon ClearFont2, is a must. While the default Blizzard font isn't bad – it's not perfect either. Having a crisp font that is large and spacious enough to easily see without straining your eyes can make the world of difference. It might only take a split second to focus and react to the text – but if that split second can be shaved down, eventually the arrogate reaction time will be faster. That only means more DPS and less wipes, in the long run.

One of the interesting things that I found Selece talking about was a clear center. He mentions that as a hunter he needs to have absolute clear visibility of the entire raid field. I can't really argue with this. A clear center and view of the main playing field is necessary for any class. However I've found with tanking, a center that has critical information and buttons can help reduce eye movement, and increase reaction time. I think we're both right in our respective environments, and it's an interesting dichotomy to look at.

So what addons is Selece using? Here's the master list. All of these can either be found on Curse or through WoWAceUpdater.

  • Baggins – Bag organization.

  • BigWigs – Gives detailed boss alert information.

  • Bongos2 – Sets up many customizable action bars.

  • ClearFont2 – Changes the default font.

  • ClosetGnome - Wardrobe management.

  • CowTip - Tooltip modification.

  • cyCircled - Rounded action bar buttons.

  • eePanels2 - Frame helper.

  • ElkBuffBars - Buff bar replacement.

  • FreeRefills - Automatically restocks items in your bags.

  • Fence - Multi-use item and interface enhancements.

  • Fubar – Informaiton bars at the bottom and/or top of your screen.

  • gdFont - Changes the default damage font to something "cooler."

  • Grid – Raid frames.

  • LoggerHead - Automatic combat logging.

  • MikScrollingBattleText - Highly configurable combat scrolling text.

  • NRT - Raid attendance tracker.

  • Omen - Threat meter.

  • OmniCC - Adds cooldowns onto the action bars.

  • oRA2 – Raid organization and information tool.

  • PitBull - Unit frames.

  • Prat - Chat modules.

  • Quartz - Casting bars.

  • RatingBuster - Detailed tooltip information for items.

All in all, a pretty good and robust UI for Hunters or anyone else.

Have a screenshot of your UI you want to submit? Send it, along with your character name and server, to readerui@gmail.com.