This post is going to be the first of a four part series that’s going to get you an amazing UI (or at the very least, a few shiny new addons). I’m an addon-aholic, and at any one time I’m sitting on 250-300 addons. And that’s after I clean up and uninstall all the addons I’m not using any more (which I do every 2 weeks or so). I’ve developed a reputation among my friends and my guild that if someone needs and add-on (or is bored and wants to try something new), I’m the person to ask.

Among the questions I get, two are quite frequently asked. The first of these is the question of what addons I use. Many people ask me for just a list of the addons I use so they can go through it at their leisure and find ones they like. The reason I don’t particularly like just giving people a list is twofold. First of all, my list is dynamic and ever-changing. An addon I may be using now may be replaced by a superior alternative, or perhaps it just gets out of date and is no longer useful. Additionally, I constantly find new addons, so the list would become outdated very quickly.

The second question I get is if I can help someone set up their UI so it’s efficient (and/or clean). The problem with this request is everyone has their own preferences, and the UI’s of different people are often vastly different, often as different as the way those two people dress. A person’s UI can become a very personal thing, especially if one spends a lot of time picking addons, and setting it up. This is also why I’m against just downloading “pre-made addon packages” and throwing it all together. Not only are you just copying someone else and not making it your own UI, getting so many new addons at once is a surefire way of guaranteeing you’re never going to know the full features of many of them.

And so I write this little guide, a tutorial if you will. I recently reinstalled WoW after a short hiatus and had to setup my UI from the default WoW one, and I will be approaching this guide the same way, assuming that we’re starting with a clean slate. There are two things I ask of you, however. One of the most common mistakes of people building a UI is that they will install addons that simply “look good,” or help them in tiny ways they don’t really need, or ones that are very rarely used. If you’re not going to be actively using an addon, don’t install it! Or at the very least, disable it until you do need it. Having more addons increases your loading time, increases the size of the WoW process in memory (and thus can slow down machines and decrease frame rate), and is overall just messy. The second common mistake is when people download an addon on the grounds that it was recommended to them. Often this isn’t a bad thing, but chances are you’ll forget about the addon if you don’t use it frequently, and it can quickly lead to addon bloat, which I described above. So although I’ll be recommending addons throughout this guide, make sure you’re making your own decisions when it comes to what addons you really do need. For example, if all you do is PvP, then don’t download Omen, as it really won’t do anything for you.

This guide will be split up into four parts.

• Part I - Introduction – By now you probably know what this post is about. It’s just a way to introduce you to the idea of getting your own UI, and to ensure you understand the perspective I’m coming from, and where this guide will go.
• Part II – Picking and Choosing – This section will deal with what addons we’re going to get. This is where we’re going to brainstorm what addons could come in useful for you, and this is also the section where I’ll go through the addons I have and use, and explain why I do so.
• Part III – Downloading & Installing – Probably the shortest section of them all, this will simply help those who are new to addons. It will explain how to download addons from the sites I link to, and then explain how to install them properly. Those of you who are familiar with this step can skip this section.
• Part IV – UI Setup – This is where we’re going to log into the game, make sure all our addons have their dependencies, and then start the meat of this guide; setting up your UI. This is where we’re going to focus on a few various layouts, and talk about the various approaches one can take when it comes to their UI. I’ll also be sharing my UI setup for my various characters here.

So if you’re interesting in setting up your very own personalized UI, or are simply on the lookout for new addons that could help you out, follow along!