A UI thread without "this is my UI [Pic]", Thoughts and Theory. - Page 4

Kodus · 12/21/06, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by EllTrain

Regarding viewport -- I did some testing with viewport a long while back. Unless I changed my viewport area such that it was in the same aspect ratio I was actually running the game in, I did lose screen space. This is why I ultimately decided against it.

How is it possible for viewport to re-render your screen without distortion? Unless you are running a 4:3 monitor, change wow to a widescreen resolution (resulting in serious distortion), then using viewport to re-scale it to 16:9 with black bars, I imagine you do lose screen area.

I've noticed with Skinner (updated oSkin) I loose some on the top but gain more on the sides. Since most of the WOW game is 2 dimensional (i.e. stuff in front or to the sides is a lot more important then that on top, at least as a general rule), this works fine for me.

As far as my UI I try to keep a combination of as much info as I can possibly cram into the screen balanced with a strong desire to actually enjoy the 500$ video card I just purchased. I'd love a mod that would hide all your windows out side of combat unless moused over/changed contents to enjoy a bit more cinematic view of the game, but on a raid or even 5 man groups it's generally about getting the job done in the most efficient way so I've got a lot more info.

Iol · 12/21/06, 12:53 PM

Well well after some thoughts and re-reading this thread over and over. Applied some general rules that we outlined a bit through the discussion...

Here is what i used to have:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h312/medski/Ui_8.jpg

And here's the work in progress:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...i/IolUInow.jpg

I know i broke the no pic rule :p But a pic is worth a thousand words.

Since i raided with the second UI, I must say, the Unit frames under the character and in center of screen helps a ton. It feels like i really do know a lot more of "what's going on" than when it was in top left. The raid panels takes so much less space i can now see my surroundings a lot more while still viewing my raid. Added "Clique" to map De-poison, de-desease to mouse buttons and adjusted the fade range of the frames to 30 yards. That way i see who i can decurse and do so with just a right click or mid click. And i dont need additionnal windows to monitors those decursing things.

The combat log moved under the chat like in default UI, Tweaked SCT to have dmg on me on right, heals on me or that i do on left, special event in top center (of my character).

Slimmed down the FuBar addons to what i was using the most the rest sits away of immediate visibillity.

Overall feeling: I see more things, i can react faster to what needs to be done. I am in general more aware of what's happenning to the whole raid at any given time because all the info is displayed in a centralized manner either in my raid frames (or party frames in 5-mans, wich is hidden but at the same place) or unitframes, target and ToT. and battle events are around my character. I dont need to take my eyes off my character (or if i do its very short and close to my character) to see anything i need to see.

This thread helped me tons in terms of design and optimization of my UI, as well as reminding me how to tell what is it that i /need/ vs what is just fluff.

Thanks :)

Tiiki · 12/22/06, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by EllTrain

Regarding viewport -- I did some testing with viewport a long while back. Unless I changed my viewport area such that it was in the same aspect ratio I was actually running the game in, I did lose screen space. This is why I ultimately decided against it.

How is it possible for viewport to re-render your screen without distortion? Unless you are running a 4:3 monitor, change wow to a widescreen resolution (resulting in serious distortion), then using viewport to re-scale it to 16:9 with black bars, I imagine you do lose screen area.

Exactly.

Logically, I just don't see how it can be any other way. I run 1600x1200. Unless I keep that 4:3 with side borders, how can I see the same area when I remove some screen space top/bottom without distortion?

The widescreen thing sounds like an interesting idea though! Shame I don't think mine lists widescreen resolutions as being available choices...

spronk · 12/22/06, 11:46 AM

As far as I know the viewport is changing the clipping area, not the resolution. You don't get distortion or perspective issues, as all thats happening is the clip area, normally 0 on all sides, is changed.

In essence its the same as taping a black piece of paper to a portion of your screen, except its the graphic engine being told theres a black piece of paper so don't bother drawing in it.

I run on a 21" lcd at 1600x1200 with a viewport that drops around 240 pixels from the bottom, and notice no visible distortion/perspective/aspect ratio issues when I toggle the viewport on and off. My FPS goes up 5-6 with the viewport in effect which is nice.

• Shalas · 12/22/06, 3:15 PM

Originally Posted by spronk

In essence its the same as taping a black piece of paper to a portion of your screen, except its the graphic engine being told theres a black piece of paper so don't bother drawing in it.

No, it isn't. It actually changes your aspect ratio. If you go from 4:3 to 3:3 (by viewporting away 1/4 of the screen), you'll lose about 1/6 of your horizontal viewable area, and gain about 12% vertical viewable area due to that everything shrinks. Changing the aspect ratio changes where the viewable area is, but the total amount visible stays fairly consistant. If you keep the same aspect ratio, the viewable area will be exactly the same, and everything is just smaller.

Iol · 01/17/07, 5:44 PM

Just a bumping request to have this move in the now UI section forums... The thread still have some valuable info / opinions and views on UI designs, or so i think.

You can delete this one post when it is moved.

Thank you :)

• Double-Neg · 01/18/07, 2:02 AM

I moved this thread despite you being unable to handle the simple instructions in the huge block of text.

Tacitus · 01/18/07, 2:51 AM

Originally Posted by Iol

1) Do you have multiple UI profiles setted up so you can reload a UI design based on if you are PvPing, Raiding, or 5 Manning. -or- Do you Have 1 and only UI that does it all with hiding frames and rotation on bar pages, or just have ALL your buttons showing?

And what is the reason for such a choice?

2) What do you consider the most important stuff to have in a UI, what you consider usefull but not required. What's the bare minimum you would be comfortable with?

3) The important stuff identified in 2) where do you place it and why? (around your character? sides for peripheral vision? top, bottom?)

4) At what point do you consider you have too much info displayed?

1) One UI, everything showing. Well, my warriors main bar page changes with stances as does my druids bar with forms, but that's it.

Too lazy to make multiple setups.

2) Visual output, my UI looks a lot sleeker than the stock Blizzard one. Fubar, unit frames and extra action bars are a must, as are my class addons. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

3) I have unitframes set up on the left side of the screen, mimicking the default one. Target bar is down middle, it's easy to look at it and below it are my action bars.

4) When I have every buff showing, my targets auras showing, Recap open, KTM open, Shardtracker summoning buttons open and everyone in my party is buffed up to full and having some crazy debuffs on them.

Kink · 01/18/07, 5:05 AM

I use the default buttons/bars. I don't like the idea that every patch my UI is totally screwed up for a day or two. I do lower the UI scale until the dragons are fully visible with some extra space either side.

Other than that I basically follow similar rules when designing my UI to what Kalmans tated at the start. They are common sense mostly (at least for a rogue). I also like a minimalistic UI to save as much screen for the "action" as possible.