Originally Posted by Benegesserit

Eepanels and media found in sharedmedia, as well as many other visual mods, serve the purpose of meaningful organization of the UI. Fonts, for example, can make the modified UI more readable (some fonts are easier to read at larger/smaller point sizes). Textures are also things people can use to make the UI more readable, or to easily differentiate areas of the UI using our peripheral vision.

Essentially, if I'm looking at a mod that improves the visual aspect of the game, it should primarily be contributing to functionality, with always a focus on good looks. There are plenty of MMOs that function well, but none have the beauty and polish of Blizzard's. Of course, the mods we are blessed to have improve on them even more, but there are plenty out there -- user/party/raid frames, action bars, bag frames, map mods...to name a few -- that BOTH improve the usability AND the looks of the UI. That's where I feel the accolade implied by the topic title should fall.