little OT, but I know the old posters will have an answerFollow

So,

Like i said, a little OT, but I know some of the older posters here can help me out. (wether or not you want to might be a different story)

I've seen a few of you put together some impressive UI's, and im never happy with the ones others make. I've got some great ideas and layouts, but I would love to do it myself.
The problem is I have no idea where or how to start. I've tried checkin for stuff on google, and spent a few days looking around for help. Dead ends.

I'd like to start making my own, but don't know a damn thign about it.

A simple push in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Well, first I'd check out the "Screenie for no damn reason" or some such title. In there, alot of good addons were listed, and it would help you out immensely.

As for my way of assembling the perfect UI:

First step: Realise that your perfect UI may not be another persons perfect UI.
Second Step: Vice Verca. Just because someone loves an UI, doesn't mean it's the UI for you.
Third Step: Let's get down to business!

I start by removing all addons on all my characters. I take a backup of all existing addons, but remove them all from the interface folder. Clean slate. Then I divide my search into the following:

Unitframe modification addons.

These mostly change how your unitframes (your portrait, party portraits, pet portrait, target portrait, raidframe and so on and so forth) looks like, and if you can move them. Most of them have alot of customization options, and nice little additional features. Download alot of these, after doing a little bit of forum searching to find out which are the most used, and which of them works right now. Install them all, and activate them one at a time. Check the customization options and pick the one you like the most. Uninstall the rest, after checking all your other characters to see if it works with all classes.

Barmod modification addons

These change (surprise surprise) your actionbars and how they look. Almost all of them come with several options for hotkeying, bar translucency, barswitching, location modification, size difference and alot of nifty stuff. They can be difficult to understand at times, but for all the basic functions these addons can be worked by anyone. Helps out alot for arranging the bars as you want them instead of using the standard Blizzard UI which to me seems... cluttered and annoying to use.

Warning: Some barmod addons will work differently on classes such as Druid/Warrior/Rogue which change aspects, forms and stealth. Some aren't too comfortable with switching between forms and stealth at the same time like a Druid can, and will mess up your actionbar. So if you find one your like for your Hunter, check the rest of your characters to see if they were affected. If so, pick another one for the character that has problems.

Map/UI/functionality addons

So. By now, we've almost completely changed the look of your UI. Your bars look different, and are most likely located differently than they were before. So does your unitframes, targetframes and all that jazz. You have almost completely changed the look of your UI to make it more pleasing to your eyes and more efficient for your playstyle. Time to add those nifty little features we have come to love. Now you are actually adding things to the UI, instead of just changing what was already there.

Titan Bars. One of the most used addons out there. Displaying alot of nice information at a glance, that would otherwise have to be accessed through a hotkey or a few mouseclicks. Not really intrusive, and quite useful. Also, a metric crapton of addons have Titan plugins, so you will be able to access them from the Titan bar instead of using text commands or stuff like that. Almost a must have.

Damage Meters, SWstats, Recap, Oh My! These are a staple among the lolkiddies, and if you have been into any instance within the last two years, you will have seen a damage report spammed throughout the entire instance with the "lol" tag after. Until you actually hit raids, these things are pointless. Analyzing your DPS in a PuG group is just pointless, since you can't really compare things until you truly know the persons you are playing with, and their playstyle. Useful in raids, for analyzing your own DPS, your groupmate's DPS, healing, overhealing, damage taken and a partridge in a pear tree. Very useful tool, but used way too much as an E-Peen stroker instead of what it was intended as. Install one, but don't even show it until you are finished with the instance. In a raid, or even five-man group, make sure you synch it.

Threat Meters! Now these are just awesome. After these things came along there is no bloody excuse ever, for pulling hate off a tank during a bossfight. There are a few versions available, but all will do the job. I personally use KTM, and I am happy with it. Omen is also a first-rate threatmeter, but I just installed what the rest of the guild preferred while raiding. Do be warned though, that on multiple mobs and without a Master Target, threatmeters won't be accurate on the mob you are attacking. Threat is added for all the mobs, and you might have higher threat than the tank on the DPS mob. These things do not give you a license not to keep an eye on your DPS.

Timer Addons. I have a penchant for La Vendetta Bossmods, or Deadly Bossmods or whatever it is called these days. During bossfights, they will trigger on certain events and show the approximate time left until something or other happens. Like Nightbane's Fear and so on. Don't rely entirely on this, but it certainly helps. Also a nice PvP tool in BGs. I noticed on my alt that it kept showing time until capture when someone or other capped a flag. Also, it made an estimate time until win/loss depending on number of flags captured and current score. Good thing to report into a chat if your allies are running around thinking they are winning a battle when the opposite is happening.

DoT/Castbar addons. There are several of these, but I am partial to Natur EnemyCastbar. As the name states, these addons show your enemy's castbar and most likely the name of the spell being cast. It can help immensely. A Pyroblast is being cast somewhere is a hint that you might want to throw up that Priest bubble or if a Hunter either Run, or start looking for that Silencing Shot button. Another nice use, is that it also shows a few timers. Let's take Karazhan for an example, or Gruul. Respawn timers for the trash mobs show on some of these addons. If Maulgar isn't taken down the next try, you are going to have to deal with the trash again. Could be a problem.

Class Specific addons: Well, we Hunters don't really have many of those. I used to have zHunter mod installed for that nice Quickstrip option and showing the Aspect bar and so on. Helped out clean out my actionbars to create room for other skills/items/consumables. You will just have to see which addon helps you out the most.

General Information addons: There are several addons out there that will provide you with alof of information. Mapmods giving you instance maps, lootaddons enabling you to browse all kinds of loot and linking it to others. Abuse this while looting a corpse in Scarlet Monastery while boosting a friend, showing that you just picked up Gorehowl or something like that from a random mob. Hilarity ensues. Some addons change the tooltips of your targets, or add their Health values and so on. So far, I've never seen one that was truly accurate, but they can be close enough. Other possibilites are ArcHud, showing various information in different ways that you can't do with unitframes. Healthbars, Mana/Energy/Ragebars, Castbars and all that jazz around your character instead of in a little box somewhere. The same from your target. Can look weird to begin with, but I find it helps in PvP to have all that information available without moving my eyes from the center of my screen.

Well, by now your screen is cluttered beyond imagination, and you can barely see your character. But wait! Salvation is near! Most of these addons don't even show up until they are needed. Enemy Castbars? They are hidden as long as your enemy isn't casting. Deadly Bossmods bars? You don't even know it is installed until you see the Enrage ticker start going down. Your threatmeter? It is gone until you actually need it, and then it is summoned by typing a simple command. The same with your Damage Meter.

In the end, you will end up with a sleek, delightful UI of your own creation. It will be a thing to be proud of, and it will suit your playstyle exquisitely.

Now, there are other addons out there that I haven't mentioned, but most of the Must Have addons are here. Some other addons are more raidspecific, and thus your raidguild should already have linked them on your website.

If I have forgotten anything, feel free to ask.

Off topic? Have you even read my posts on these boards? They are 99% offtopic. Besides, I don't flame people, I just educate them about their own mental capabilities, and the limitations thereof. Besides, your post wasn't retarded.