WoW Interface Design for Beginners

By Piratepoots Updated: 2018/04/10

This Is A User-Submitted Guide!

Wowhead only updates official guides, so information might not be up-to-date.

IntroductionusefulMemory ConsumptionA Custom UIHow do I install AddOns?Where do I Download AddOns?

CurseForge/Twitch: https://www.curseforge.com - Recently, Twitch acquired Curse, which was a very popular place to download AddOns for many games. The Curse download manager app has now been replaced with with the Twitch app, which is wonderful as it merges all of the functionality of the Twitch website with the Curse App and also adds chat rooms. It is a very safe option for downloading AddOns for any of your games and allows you to queue up updates and downloads all at once.

WoW Interface: http://www.wowinterface.com/ - Another safe bet for downloading AddOns. They have their own AddOn manager called Minion as well. It has less functionality than the Twitch app, but if you’re looking for a no-frills solution, it works very well. Many of the AddOns you can find on here can be found on Curse, but there are a few that can only be downloaded here (and vice versa).

Tukui: https://www.tukui.org - You can download Tukui and ElvUI, as well any additional modules for it, here. In addition to this, they have also built a handy client that you can use to update the interface.

TradeSkillMaster: https://www.tradeskillmaster.com/ - Mastering the economy in-game is important if you want to be able to make money and I trust this website. Here, you can download the addon as well as the client that runs in the background to keep up-to-date information for the prices on the Auction House. You will want to watch a few videos on YouTube to understand how to use this one, but once you get it configured, you will be able to make gold a little easier.

What AddOns do you Suggest?

Bartender: This is your basic Action Bar AddOn. It will replace the entire bottom portion of the UI, basically. Menu buttons, bags, experience bar, etc. You can also choose to hide any of those or add more Action Bars than you will probably know what to do with to your screen.

PitBul: A complete Unit-Frame replacement. Highly customizable.

Deadly Boss Mods: This is important if you plan on raiding. It will provide you with detailed timers and alerts to let you know what a Boss or a tough enemy is about to do. There are also modules you can install for Dungeons and previous expansions.

AdiBags: Organizing your bags can be time consuming, so rather than sorting your bags, AdiBags will display your items based on what type of item it is and you can also configure how they are sorted manually. It isn’t without some of it’s bugs, but it is a highly usable and I highly suggest it.

Quartz: This AddOn has some of the best cast bars that I have used. You can resize the bars and place them wherever you like on the screen. I personally appreciate this because I can keep an eye out for any casts that need to be interrupted much easier with it.

SexyMap: A highly customizable mini-map addon which will allow you to change the shape, size and location of your mini-map. It also comes with a bunch of awesome looking presets to give your interface a little extra style.

Sunn Viewport Art: This is my viewport addon of choice. In addition to resizing the viewport, you can add additional graphics to disguise the fact that you have a black border surrounding your screen.

TipTac: With this, you can change how your ToolTips are anchored. You can place an anchor anywhere around the screen and you can also choose to anchor ToolTips to your mouse cursor. You can do both, if you choose.

Skada Damage Meter: This is a pretty good damage meter and pretty easy on the system resources.

Recount: This is another damage meter, but it has a whole host of extras such as pie charts and graphs for the folks who like to analyze the entire fight. It uses a little more resources than Skada does from my experience, but the differences are minimal on most machines.

Auctioneer: A full suite can be found that will scan the auction house and keep track of average prices for items to help you sell and buy from the auction house effectively. It can be resource intensive due to the size of the database it stores on your machine.

TradeSkillMaster: As mentioned previously, this AddOn will help you master the economy (with a little guidance). If you are looking to jump in and out with ease, this may not be the one for you, but if you are committed, you can earn a lot of gold with this AddOn.

Prat: A chat replacement. Includes many modules and even allows you to choose where the edit box is located so that it doesn’t just show up at the bottom of the chat window by default.

HandyNotes: If there is anything important to keep track of, this addon will help you do so. There are additional modules you can download that will help you track down treasures in the more recent expansions or even the location of spawns for herbalism and mining.

TomTom: paired with HandyNotes, this addon puts a little arrow on your screen that will point you in which direction your chosen objective is from your current location.

WeakAuras 2: When keeping informed, Weak Auras is wonderful. This AddOn will allow you to configure graphical and textual notifications based on different triggers such as how much Rage your Warrior has or when you get a certain proc, which may let you know that you need to use a particular spell. The default Blizzard UI has a very basic version of this, but if you find it hard to keep track of certain triggers, this may be your go-to. Additionally, WoWhead include WeakAuras scripts on their spells pages to help you set things up.

In Conclusion…

Comments

Comment by Fartacus

Great Post...Would you have some suggestions for Graphical interface set up...
Thxs again

Fartacus

Comment by ZhaunRong

good information, thanks for spending it time.

WoW Interface Design for Beginners

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