How to use & configure the Grid & Clique addons

[TeaLeaf]

I get asked a lot about which healing addons I use and in particular Grid & Clique, so I figured it would be helpful to write something for the forum for reference.  Grid is only one part of a good healer UI, but Grid in particular seems tricky for new users to set up, so I hope the info below helps.  If you have any questions about this or if I have omitted anything then just post in the thread and I will update the post to include the info.  Just a reminder, this is the way *I* use Grid and it is not the only way, but it is the way that works for me.  DYOR and find out what works best for you, but hopefully the process described will help you understand how to now configure Grid in the best way for *you*.

[size=18]Grid[/size]
Grid is a RaidUI, it could replace your main unit frames, but is primarily a raid display.  I use Pitbull for displaying my own character, Target(T), T of T, Focus T, Focus ToT etc.  However I have disabled Pitbull's party & raid display frames as in my opinon Grid is far more efficient & effective at providing information to healers or raid leaders.  Here's how Grid would display a solo player:


As you can see the Grid shows a numeric health deficit, and the 'health' bar has reduced in proportion to that health deficit.  Grid can also invert the colours to show full-health players as black and health deficits as coloured bars, it's up to you to choose, but I prefer to keep the colour as it allows me to use the colour for range checking (described later in this post).

In order to maximise the effectiveness of Grid you need to install some plugins to work with Grid and expand what it can do.  Once Grid is installed I recommend also installing:

• Grid Plugins
• Grid_Quickhealth
• GridIndicatorText3
• GridLayoutForHealers
• GridStatusHots
• GridStatusRaidDebuff
• GridStatusRaidIcons
• GridStatusRD_WotLK (part of GridStatusRaidDebuff)
• LibQuickHealth-2.0
• GridStatusRes

All of these plugins can be downloaded and updated via the Curse client.  There are many other plugins available for Grid, but these are the ones I use and find effective for me.

• Grid_QuickHealth speeds up the display of health information on the GridUI - you can only start healing when you know someone is short of health and this plugin helps make the information update to you quicker.
• GridIndicatorText3 adds an additional line of text to the Grid box for each player, making 3 in total.
• GridLayoutForHealers helps set some healer friendly options
• GridStatusHots - allows you to configure which HOTs, whose HOTs and how & where they are displayed on the Grid box.
• GridStatusRaidDebuff - automatically sets most known important raid debuffs to show in your icon area of the Grid box.
• GridStatusRaidIcons - displays raid icons on your Grid (enable it in Grid then select it to display in the Central Icon)
• GridStatusRes - gives important info about SS or ankh CD status mid-fight, or if someone has already been rezzed.

Grid displays party or raid members (and their pets) in one square per member/pet and sets out the raid/party in rows or columns of 5, so a 25 person raid displays a box of 5 x 5 smaller squares.  So one player is shown per square of the Grid, but what makes Grid so powerful is the amount of information you can get from that square.  

Grid's key configurable information areas are:

• The four corners of each player's box
• The 3 lines of text visible in the middle of the player box (3rd line via a plugin)
• The central icon
• The alpha or brightness of the player box
• The degree to which the player's box is 'filled' with colour to denote the degree of health
• The border of each player box
• The health bar/colour

Now that you are fully installed let's look at what can be displayed.  

Grid - Basic Configuration
The command /grid config will get you to the configuration menu for Grid and I do not intend to write much about how to adjust the size and position of Grid, it should be pretty self-explanatory from the menu!  However here are some settings I use:

Grid>Frame>
Center Text Length 7, Invert Color Bar ticked

Grid>Advanced> - sets the size of the Grid
Enable Center Text 2 Indicator
Enable Health Bar Color indicator
Icon Border Size 1
Icon Size 10
Enable Icon Cooldown Frame
Enable Icon Stack Text
Enable Mouseover Highlight
Border Size 1
Corner Size 5
Font Size 6
Frame Height 30
Frame Width 35
Orientation of Frame - Vertical
Orientation of Text - Vertical

Grid>Advanced>Center Text 3 (Middle)
Font Size 7

Grid>Layout> - sets the type of raid shown
Solo Layout - By Group 5 w/Pets
Party Layout - By Group 5 w/Pets
10 Player Raid Layout - By Group 10 w/Pets
25 Player Raid Layout - By Group 25 w/Pets
Battleground Layout - By Group 40
Horizontal Groups - UNCHECKED as in my UI I want the 'grid' to expand to the right when I go into bigger raids not expand downwards on my screen
Frame Locked
Padding 1
Spacing 1
Scale 1.2
Border - Gray
Background - Black

Grid>Layout>Advanced>
Layout Anchor Top Left
Group Anchor Top Left
Border Texture None

Grid>Status>Range> - fades the player box to grey when out of range for healing
Range Check frequency 0.5
More than 10 yards away - disabled
More than 30 yards away - disabled
More than 40 yards away - enabled
More than 100 yards away - enabled

Grid - Healing Configuration

The below picture really is the key to Grid's effectiveness.  It allows you to absorb a massive amount of information about a player and their combat status in a single scan.  As most of the information is graphical (rather than text) you find your are able to absorb, process & prioritise far more information, far more quickly, than you might have been able to do before with different raid UIs.

Now let's take a look at how & where information is displayed and some extra configuring you can do to Grid.  The below two pictures show a player solo and a 2 person raid with a pet showing (thanks to Bellanie for lending a toon for the picture) and the general areas that you can configure to show you different information.


The text boxes are obvious as to what they are, but they are set to show:

Grid - Configuring the Text Options
Text 1 -  shows Name
Grid>Frame>Center Text> scroll down and select Unit Name

Text 3 (middle) - shows quantity of any incoming heals, if a SS or ankh is available and if they have been Resurrected.  Knowing the quantity of incoming heals is important as it helps you decide if the target needs any additional healing or if you can move your heal to another lower priority target who is not receiving any healing.  When incoming healing info is combined with health deficit and HOT information it also helps you asses *which* heal you use so you do not underheal or overheal unnecessarily.
Grid>Frame>Center Text 3 (middle)> scroll down and select Incoming Heals, Resurrected & Soulstone

Center Text 2 - shows the number of seconds remaining on your HOTs on that target and the number of HOTs on that target, Death, Ghost, Feign Death Warning, Health Deficit & Offline Warning.  Knowing the remaining duration of HOTs maximises things like Riptide so you can cast riptide then leave the target for 11 seconds before hitting them with a chain heal/healing wave (insert appropriate spells for your class).  Knowing the number of HOTs allows you to understand the quantity of HOTing on the target and not recast unnecessary HOTs.
Grid>Frame>Center Text 2> scroll down and select these items from the list.  With the HOTs you should select them from the Buff list in that section as appropriate to your class.  If you need different lists for different classes use the Grid>Profile option at the very bottom of the config menu.

This text information is as much text info as you need.  Everything else can be displayed as a graphic.  

Grid - Configuring the Graphic Options
Grid's key graphic areas are:

    * The four corners of each player's box
    * The central icon
    * The alpha or brightness of the player box
    * The degree to which the player's box is 'filled' with colour to denote the degree of health
    * The border of each player box
    * The health bar/colour

Corners
I set my corners to show particular information.  To select which information to display go to Grid>Frame> and then the status you want to display.  Mine are set up as follows:

I use the Top Left Corner to display who has aggro.  If someone has aggro they get a bright red dot displaying in the top lefthand corner of their grid.  You can see this in the last picture where I have the red dot in the corner.  Bellanie's warlock and pet were hitting me!  This info is seriously helpful in fight when 'the wrong tank' (e.g. those pesky aggro-pulling ret palas/dps warriors/rogues etc) pulls aggro and you then know to slap some urgent healing on them.  It also helps for ranged cockups too as when a red dot appears on a ranged member you can call the aggro, pre-BOP them, or simply pre-cast a massive heal that will heal them up immediately after the boss has run over to them to splat them.  It's a really helpful tool to confirm who has the aggro - and it means you do not need to use MT windows at all.  To set this up go to:

Grid>Frame>Top Left Corner> select Aggro alert

Top Right Corner is used for Debuff Types.  So for a resto shaman I would select Grid>Frame>Top Right Corner> and select Debuff Type: Curse, Debuff Type: Disease & Debuff Type: Poison.  Anyone with a curable debuff gets the DOT and I then know to cleanse them.  Select the appropriate debuffs for you class.

Bottom Left Corner is used for incoming heals.  It's a nice green light and when I see a sustained Green light on 5 members of the same party I know that a nice priest is casting a PoH on the group so I am not going to heal them and will send my cast elsewhere.  Green is a nice visual indicator of who has big inbound heals from other healers and it stops you wasting your cast and reduces your overhealing.  Set this option in the same way as describe above for the other corners.

Bottom Right Corner - on my resto shaman this is used as my Earthshield marker.  When the brown dot in the bottom right corner is there then I know my earth shield is up without the need to look at my totem bars.  When I play disc priest I use it to show who has Debuff: Weakened Soul, so when the yellow debuff light goes off I know I can cast another bubble on the target.  Select a use that suits your class.

Central Icon
This element of the Grid is massively important as it displays all those really nasty debuffs that mean immediate  healing is needed.  If you install RaidStatusDebuffs then most will automatically show up in the fashion of the Curse of Agony icon displaying on my Grid in the above picture.  To see which buffs are automatically shown go to Grid>Status>Raid Debuff>Debuff and inspect the zone you are in.

If you come across a debuff that you want tracked and shown on the icon but that RaidStatusDebuffs has not yet got included then do this simple two-step operation:

1 - go to Grid>Status>Auras and type in the name of the new debuff you have found in debuff box, then hit enter.
2 - now go to Grid>Frame>Center Icon and scroll down the list to find your newly entered debuff and tick it.  The new debuff will now show up in the icon area of the Grid next time someone gets it.

TL.
Wisdom doesn\'t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.  (Tom Wilson)
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. (Michael Jordan)

TeaLeaf

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How to use & configure the Grid & Clique addons

#1

September 17, 2009, 11:23:22 AM Last Edit: April 07, 2010, 02:41:59 PM by TeaLeaf

The alpha or brightness of the player box
This part of Grid I use to show me when someone is dead, offline or simply too far away for me to heal. If they meet any of these conditions it will simply grey the box out, very much like the above 2 person raid in which both the warlock and the warlock pet are greyed out.  As everyone alive & in range are brightly coloured this setting provides a visual indication of where my attention should be focused, so that I do not try to heal people out of range or offline.
Grid>Frame>Frame Alpha>
tick Death Warning, More than 100 yards away, More than 40 yards away, Offline warning.


Border
I use this simply as a highlighter to show me people who have low HP, low Mana or if I have my mouse hovering over them and they are therefore my target (I use mouseover macros not click healing - see Clique comments below).


Grid - Summary
The above tells you how I set up my Grid and the bulk of the options I use.  If you reached this far down in the post you will have visited most areas of the Grid config and by now have enough confidence to make some selections and choices of your own.  Your UI is what works best for you, not what works best for me, so I encourage you to experiment with Grid and its configuration options in the hope that the above has explained how to use those options to your advantage.

Other Addons Used

• Quartz - make sure your cast bar incorporates lag so that you the earliest point at which to start your next cast.
• Acheron - a fantastic death log addon and worth it's weight in gold when trying to work out a strategy for an encounter.
• Clique - see post below
• Cooldowns - does what it says on the tin.

But now, to Clique which is I believe a massively configurable addon that works in conjunction with Grid (and some other raid frames) to make healing even better.


[size=18]Clique[/size]
What is Clique?  Clique is an addon that helps you bind a spell in your spellbook or a macro to a particular mouse button or keyboard key and to cast that ability on mouse-over click.  Clique is available via the Curse client, but you might not be able to find it once you have installed it, so here's a hint as to where you can track it down!



In its simplest application you open the Clique tab, select the type of action you want to group this bind under (for example if I wanted to bind 'Earth Shield' to a mouse key I would choose 'Helpful Actions' from the 'Click Set', then simply navigate in my spellbook to the Earth Shield spell and then click on it with which ever mouse button combination I want to use.  In this case I have use Alt-Right mouse button as you can see in the below picture.

When the Clique tab is open it is ALWAYS looking to record any click/key bonds that you press to cast a spell or ability.



Clique active on which unit frames?
Having set up a bind: 'Earth Shield to Alt-Right mouse button', we now need to tell Clique which unit frames it should operate on, and more importantly which it should not.  For example, I use right mouse button to cast Healing Wave, but when I right-click on my player frame in Pitbull to leave a party or set dungeon difficulty level I do not wish Clique to cast a heal on me instead!  So, in the above picture click on the 'Frames' option and you will see a list of the frames in your UI.  In my case I deselected all other raid frames and just want Clique to cast Earth Shield when my mouse is hovering over a Grid frame, so only Grid frames are selected.



Profiles & Options
Profiles - this bit is obvious, it allows you to create and load/set different profiles for the same character to allow you to change the way your binds work.  For example you might have one resto shaman set of binds and another different elemental set of binds.  The Options button allows you to automatically switch profiles on dual-spec change.

Custom
This is where the fun starts.  The custom button allows you to really unleash the power of Clique.  Clicking the Custom button brings you this menu:



Most of these options are fairly intuitive:
ChangeActionBar - allows you to bind the 'change actionbar' to a key/mouse button
ActionButton - simulates a click on a specific action button
PetActionButton - same as above
Cast Spell - can cast a spell and apply it to a bag item (e.g. feed pet) or unit/player
UseItem - obvious, but it can pull it from your bags by slot number or name too
StopCasting - less useful nowdays
Target/SetFocus/AssistUnit/ClickButton/ShowMenu - obvious

Custom>Run Custom Macro - this is the interesting one.
As a worked example, let's say your aim is to be able to:
-trigger special cool down abilities
-trigger one of a variety of trinkets  
-cast Healing Wave on mouseover the Grid frames

You could just open Clique, then navigate in your spellbook to the Healing Wave spell and right-mouse click it.  This would bind Healing Wave to your right mouse button and assuming you have already selected the frames you want it to operate on then this will work just fine, but this would not trigger your trinkets or special abilities, it would only cast the spell.  

Run Custom Macro allows you to bind a macro directly to a mouse/key click.  Let's say you have set up this macro: (yes the macro could work in other ways, but it is less than 255 characters and works!)

Code Select Expand

#showtooltip Healing Wave
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/use Binding Light
/use Meteorite Crystal
/use Energy Syphon
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/script UIErrorsFrame:Show()
/cast Tidal Force
/cast [target=mouseover,help] [target=player]Healing Wave
Go to Clique, select the 'Helpful' set, then click the 'Custom' button and you'll get a page like this:



Click 'Run Custom Macro' and then either type the macro text directly into the window, or even easier, where it says 'Macro Index' type in the name of the macro you had already created in the Blizzard UI.  In this case I had called it HW12.  You then move your mouse over the 'Set Click Binding' button and right-click (this being the mouse combination you wanted to use for this spell cast).  The button will now change from 'Set Click Binding' to 'RightButton' as per the above picture.  Click 'Save' and you're done.  

Right-clicking when your mouse is over a Grid frame will now cast Healing Wave on whomever your mouse is hovering over.  You do NOT need to have selected the player in order for your cast to work, it is enough simply for your mouse to be over the player in Grid and the cast will be directed to the mouse-over player, not your selected target.  This makes healing very much quicker as no player selection is needed.


The above should explain to you how to get the best out of Grid & Clique.  When combined they are the best combination I have come across for healers in particular.  In my opinion the degree to which you can customise these addons makes them the most powerful combination we can use.

I hope this encourages healers to go and try Grid & Clique combined.  They are massively powerful and make healing both easier and more fun!

TL.
Wisdom doesn\'t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.  (Tom Wilson)
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. (Michael Jordan)

Fatdog

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How to use & configure the Grid & Clique addons

#2

September 17, 2009, 11:34:25 AM Last Edit: September 17, 2009, 01:24:25 PM by Fatdog

thanks TL, makes much more sense out of grid

Cliche just blew my mind tho

Carr0t

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How to use & configure the Grid & Clique addons

#3

September 17, 2009, 02:56:59 PM

Just a point with your example macro, macros run between frame updates on WoW, so you don't actually need

Code Select Expand

/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide() or

Code Select Expand

/script UIErrorsFrame:Show() as long as you have the clear in there. I also use a /console Sound_EnableSFX to turn the sound off then back on, as that stops the warning beep as well (and doesn't cause stuttering in your audio or similar). Thusly:

Code Select Expand

#showtooltip Frostfire Bolt
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/cast Combustion
/cast Icy Veins
/use 13
/use 14
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/cast Frostfire Bolt
Of course you'd want to edit that for healing spells. I haven't played my mage for a good few months now

Unless i've missed something reading the API, and the hide and show on the errors fram also causes the error sound to not be played.

I *really* wanted to like Grid, but unfortunately I'm very OCD and particular about the way I have my unit frames laid out, and I just could not get Grid to layout in a way that didn't make me twitch (I wanted 10 rows, so in a 10 man raid i'd have a single column of people, and maybe a second column of pets next to them. I also wanted pets to be next to their owners, not just stacked from the top down). Possibly you can make Grid do what I wanted, but I couldn't work out how

[imga=right]http://77.108.129.49/fahtags/ms10.jpg[/imga]Wash: This is going to get pretty interesting.
Mal: Define interesting...
Wash: Oh god, oh god, we\'re all going to die?

TeaLeaf

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How to use & configure the Grid & Clique addons

#4

September 17, 2009, 03:10:11 PM

Yep, I know they can be scripted in other ways, which is why I commented just above the macro about it, but these are old school and worked back in vanilla, they still do what I want and I have never felt the need to update them and probably won't until something breaks!  I'm not a programmer, have never read the API, just used stuff I have found elsewhere that does what I want.  I know some people have some sound issues, I do not with these macros so not sure what is going on there.

Anyway, the thread was meant to be about Grid & Clique, so you can put whichever macros in there you want, don't choose mine! :

TL.
Wisdom doesn\'t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.  (Tom Wilson)
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. (Michael Jordan)

krapenhausen

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How to use & configure the Grid & Clique addons

#5

September 17, 2009, 03:37:20 PM

hey TL - nice post, just wish it was a few days sooner as i made the switch to Grid / Clique at the weekend and it took me a while to set it up. did find a couple of nice guides on the internet which i'll link here when i remember where they were...

couple of questions / comments:

1 - i previously used healbot which was fine for all intents and purposes (insert QQ about healbot) but wanted to get more out of the addon so made the jump. even with quickhealth installed i still find that HB updated HP quicker. is there any way to improve on this?

2 - HB also had a neat timer on all my healing buffs (Beacon, Sacred Shield, FoL HOT) so i knew when they were about to drop off and i could re-apply efficiently. in Grid, it only classifies Beacon as a HOT hence this is the only one i can apply the timer on. this leaves my options as either waiting for the buff to drop off and then re-applying (leaving a period of time when the target is not buffed / HoT'd) or guessing when it is about to drop and re-applying (inefficient use of mana).

anyone know how to classify buff's as HoT's or be able to set a timer for when they are about to drop off?

 - DW

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#6

September 17, 2009, 09:57:07 PM

another quick question (sorry):

i set the frame editor as you suggested (as i was sick of having to Alt+Right Click to get a menu on a Unit Frame) but now when i Right Click on any Unit Frame I get the PitBull menu! seems a few people had this and the suggestion seemed to be to delete a line from the pitbull lua file - but there must be an easier way, right?

 - DW

TeaLeaf

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#7

September 18, 2009, 08:01:39 AM

Hi DW.  If you get the Pitbull menu then in Clique, Helpful Action Set, Frames you have not selected the frames you want Clique to work with.  Just make sure that you check the frames you want it to be active on.  I've not heard of anyone I speak to having had a problem with this before.  I use Pitbull myself and you saw the screenshot of my settings.

Not sure about the other questions, might be worth a trawl int he developer thread, I never played my pala as holy so have no experience of those things, sorry.

TL.
Wisdom doesn\'t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.  (Tom Wilson)
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. (Michael Jordan)

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#8

September 18, 2009, 09:16:43 PM

WoW this post I am gonna read.. thanks TL for the info
 
D.

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My Troll Name: is Kitty Girl.
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TeaLeaf

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#9

December 03, 2009, 03:59:00 PM

Note:
The latest updates for Grid & GridStatusRaidIcons seem to, between the two of them, have reset the Alpha setting on the raid icons that display on Grid's central icon (if selected).  This is a serious PITA if you notice this during Anub where you are assigned to heal a specific icon and none show up.  Fortunately I tend to check icons prior to the pull and avoided an embarassing moment.

So, a warning, if you use raid icons on Grid and they have disappeared, go reset the Alpha to 100 from 0 and they will reappear.

Grrr.

TL.
Wisdom doesn\'t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.  (Tom Wilson)
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. (Michael Jordan)

Pandizar

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#10

December 03, 2009, 11:34:38 PM Last Edit: December 05, 2009, 03:27:42 PM by Pandizar

thanks, didnt know about those addons for grid.

-andy

p.s - wow clique is amazing i thought i wouldn't need it but just playing with it now I wonder how I healed without it!

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#11

December 08, 2009, 05:19:18 PM

sweet info mate, thx alot. Gonna switch back to grid then, was using Healerbot on Urspace since I thought grid was a bit hard to use without some auto spell function.

Space

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#12

December 18, 2009, 08:30:39 AM Last Edit: December 18, 2009, 08:31:27 AM by Tirkad

I have a question about grid, in particular about the tools to show your buff on the target. On my paladin i have to keep an eye mainly on 2 buffs: the sacred shield and the beacon of light. I have now set a dot on the lower right corner for both, but grid doesn't make any difference between the 2. This is sometimes confusing, since in some fights i have to swap both buffs among tanks for a more efficient use. For example, on healbot, it showed me the icon of the buff on the right and when there were just 15 seconds left on the buff duration the icon started to fade away, so i knew i had to refresh it. Now i know that if i wanted to make an icon on a 4x4 pixels square it would be ugly, but is it possible to make a difference among the 2 buffs (for example, make one buff yellow, the other green and when both are applied it will show blue)?
Note that by now, i have chosen the light grey as color for them, since is the color i found less confusing with the official class colored frame.

TeaLeaf

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#13

December 18, 2009, 04:43:19 PM

Using 2 different corners perhaps might be easiest?  As to timers, you can do it in a number of ways with dot timers for example, but I find that the sight of the DOT disappearing tells me it needs to be refreshed.  Something like NeedToKnow is a very simple DOT timer and would give you a bar that would track down on things like beacon.

TL.
Wisdom doesn\'t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.  (Tom Wilson)
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. (Michael Jordan)

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#14

December 19, 2009, 08:04:19 AM

Well, the use of different corners is a bit difficoult, since among the 4 corners, i use the top left for aggro, the lower left for incoming heals and the topper right for debuffs. I think i'll just have to  check on how to improve the visual impact.

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[TeaLeaf]

The alpha or brightness of the player box
This part of Grid I use to show me when someone is dead, offline or simply too far away for me to heal. If they meet any of these conditions it will simply grey the box out, very much like the above 2 person raid in which both the warlock and the warlock pet are greyed out.  As everyone alive & in range are brightly coloured this setting provides a visual indication of where my attention should be focused, so that I do not try to heal people out of range or offline.
Grid>Frame>Frame Alpha>
tick Death Warning, More than 100 yards away, More than 40 yards away, Offline warning.


Border
I use this simply as a highlighter to show me people who have low HP, low Mana or if I have my mouse hovering over them and they are therefore my target (I use mouseover macros not click healing - see Clique comments below).


Grid - Summary
The above tells you how I set up my Grid and the bulk of the options I use.  If you reached this far down in the post you will have visited most areas of the Grid config and by now have enough confidence to make some selections and choices of your own.  Your UI is what works best for you, not what works best for me, so I encourage you to experiment with Grid and its configuration options in the hope that the above has explained how to use those options to your advantage.

Other Addons Used

• Quartz - make sure your cast bar incorporates lag so that you the earliest point at which to start your next cast.
• Acheron - a fantastic death log addon and worth it's weight in gold when trying to work out a strategy for an encounter.
• Clique - see post below
• Cooldowns - does what it says on the tin.

But now, to Clique which is I believe a massively configurable addon that works in conjunction with Grid (and some other raid frames) to make healing even better.


[size=18]Clique[/size]
What is Clique?  Clique is an addon that helps you bind a spell in your spellbook or a macro to a particular mouse button or keyboard key and to cast that ability on mouse-over click.  Clique is available via the Curse client, but you might not be able to find it once you have installed it, so here's a hint as to where you can track it down!



In its simplest application you open the Clique tab, select the type of action you want to group this bind under (for example if I wanted to bind 'Earth Shield' to a mouse key I would choose 'Helpful Actions' from the 'Click Set', then simply navigate in my spellbook to the Earth Shield spell and then click on it with which ever mouse button combination I want to use.  In this case I have use Alt-Right mouse button as you can see in the below picture.

When the Clique tab is open it is ALWAYS looking to record any click/key bonds that you press to cast a spell or ability.



Clique active on which unit frames?
Having set up a bind: 'Earth Shield to Alt-Right mouse button', we now need to tell Clique which unit frames it should operate on, and more importantly which it should not.  For example, I use right mouse button to cast Healing Wave, but when I right-click on my player frame in Pitbull to leave a party or set dungeon difficulty level I do not wish Clique to cast a heal on me instead!  So, in the above picture click on the 'Frames' option and you will see a list of the frames in your UI.  In my case I deselected all other raid frames and just want Clique to cast Earth Shield when my mouse is hovering over a Grid frame, so only Grid frames are selected.



Profiles & Options
Profiles - this bit is obvious, it allows you to create and load/set different profiles for the same character to allow you to change the way your binds work.  For example you might have one resto shaman set of binds and another different elemental set of binds.  The Options button allows you to automatically switch profiles on dual-spec change.

Custom
This is where the fun starts.  The custom button allows you to really unleash the power of Clique.  Clicking the Custom button brings you this menu:



Most of these options are fairly intuitive:
ChangeActionBar - allows you to bind the 'change actionbar' to a key/mouse button
ActionButton - simulates a click on a specific action button
PetActionButton - same as above
Cast Spell - can cast a spell and apply it to a bag item (e.g. feed pet) or unit/player
UseItem - obvious, but it can pull it from your bags by slot number or name too
StopCasting - less useful nowdays
Target/SetFocus/AssistUnit/ClickButton/ShowMenu - obvious

Custom>Run Custom Macro - this is the interesting one.
As a worked example, let's say your aim is to be able to:
-trigger special cool down abilities
-trigger one of a variety of trinkets  
-cast Healing Wave on mouseover the Grid frames

You could just open Clique, then navigate in your spellbook to the Healing Wave spell and right-mouse click it.  This would bind Healing Wave to your right mouse button and assuming you have already selected the frames you want it to operate on then this will work just fine, but this would not trigger your trinkets or special abilities, it would only cast the spell.  

Run Custom Macro allows you to bind a macro directly to a mouse/key click.  Let's say you have set up this macro: (yes the macro could work in other ways, but it is less than 255 characters and works!)

Code Select Expand

#showtooltip Healing Wave
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/use Binding Light
/use Meteorite Crystal
/use Energy Syphon
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/script UIErrorsFrame:Show()
/cast Tidal Force
/cast [target=mouseover,help] [target=player]Healing Wave
Go to Clique, select the 'Helpful' set, then click the 'Custom' button and you'll get a page like this:



Click 'Run Custom Macro' and then either type the macro text directly into the window, or even easier, where it says 'Macro Index' type in the name of the macro you had already created in the Blizzard UI.  In this case I had called it HW12.  You then move your mouse over the 'Set Click Binding' button and right-click (this being the mouse combination you wanted to use for this spell cast).  The button will now change from 'Set Click Binding' to 'RightButton' as per the above picture.  Click 'Save' and you're done.  

Right-clicking when your mouse is over a Grid frame will now cast Healing Wave on whomever your mouse is hovering over.  You do NOT need to have selected the player in order for your cast to work, it is enough simply for your mouse to be over the player in Grid and the cast will be directed to the mouse-over player, not your selected target.  This makes healing very much quicker as no player selection is needed.


The above should explain to you how to get the best out of Grid & Clique.  When combined they are the best combination I have come across for healers in particular.  In my opinion the degree to which you can customise these addons makes them the most powerful combination we can use.

I hope this encourages healers to go and try Grid & Clique combined.  They are massively powerful and make healing both easier and more fun!

[Fatdog]

thanks TL, makes much more sense out of grid

Cliche just blew my mind tho

[Carr0t]

Just a point with your example macro, macros run between frame updates on WoW, so you don't actually need

Code Select Expand

/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide() or

Code Select Expand

/script UIErrorsFrame:Show() as long as you have the clear in there. I also use a /console Sound_EnableSFX to turn the sound off then back on, as that stops the warning beep as well (and doesn't cause stuttering in your audio or similar). Thusly:

Code Select Expand

#showtooltip Frostfire Bolt
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/cast Combustion
/cast Icy Veins
/use 13
/use 14
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/cast Frostfire Bolt
Of course you'd want to edit that for healing spells. I haven't played my mage for a good few months now

Unless i've missed something reading the API, and the hide and show on the errors fram also causes the error sound to not be played.

I *really* wanted to like Grid, but unfortunately I'm very OCD and particular about the way I have my unit frames laid out, and I just could not get Grid to layout in a way that didn't make me twitch (I wanted 10 rows, so in a 10 man raid i'd have a single column of people, and maybe a second column of pets next to them. I also wanted pets to be next to their owners, not just stacked from the top down). Possibly you can make Grid do what I wanted, but I couldn't work out how

[TeaLeaf]

Yep, I know they can be scripted in other ways, which is why I commented just above the macro about it, but these are old school and worked back in vanilla, they still do what I want and I have never felt the need to update them and probably won't until something breaks!  I'm not a programmer, have never read the API, just used stuff I have found elsewhere that does what I want.  I know some people have some sound issues, I do not with these macros so not sure what is going on there.

Anyway, the thread was meant to be about Grid & Clique, so you can put whichever macros in there you want, don't choose mine! :

[krapenhausen]

hey TL - nice post, just wish it was a few days sooner as i made the switch to Grid / Clique at the weekend and it took me a while to set it up. did find a couple of nice guides on the internet which i'll link here when i remember where they were...

couple of questions / comments:

1 - i previously used healbot which was fine for all intents and purposes (insert QQ about healbot) but wanted to get more out of the addon so made the jump. even with quickhealth installed i still find that HB updated HP quicker. is there any way to improve on this?

2 - HB also had a neat timer on all my healing buffs (Beacon, Sacred Shield, FoL HOT) so i knew when they were about to drop off and i could re-apply efficiently. in Grid, it only classifies Beacon as a HOT hence this is the only one i can apply the timer on. this leaves my options as either waiting for the buff to drop off and then re-applying (leaving a period of time when the target is not buffed / HoT'd) or guessing when it is about to drop and re-applying (inefficient use of mana).

anyone know how to classify buff's as HoT's or be able to set a timer for when they are about to drop off?

 - DW

[krapenhausen]

another quick question (sorry):

i set the frame editor as you suggested (as i was sick of having to Alt+Right Click to get a menu on a Unit Frame) but now when i Right Click on any Unit Frame I get the PitBull menu! seems a few people had this and the suggestion seemed to be to delete a line from the pitbull lua file - but there must be an easier way, right?

 - DW

[TeaLeaf]

Hi DW.  If you get the Pitbull menu then in Clique, Helpful Action Set, Frames you have not selected the frames you want Clique to work with.  Just make sure that you check the frames you want it to be active on.  I've not heard of anyone I speak to having had a problem with this before.  I use Pitbull myself and you saw the screenshot of my settings.

Not sure about the other questions, might be worth a trawl int he developer thread, I never played my pala as holy so have no experience of those things, sorry.

[Knabbel]

WoW this post I am gonna read.. thanks TL for the info
 
D.

[TeaLeaf]

Note:
The latest updates for Grid & GridStatusRaidIcons seem to, between the two of them, have reset the Alpha setting on the raid icons that display on Grid's central icon (if selected).  This is a serious PITA if you notice this during Anub where you are assigned to heal a specific icon and none show up.  Fortunately I tend to check icons prior to the pull and avoided an embarassing moment.

So, a warning, if you use raid icons on Grid and they have disappeared, go reset the Alpha to 100 from 0 and they will reappear.

Grrr.

[Pandizar]

thanks, didnt know about those addons for grid.

-andy

p.s - wow clique is amazing i thought i wouldn't need it but just playing with it now I wonder how I healed without it!

[Spaceinvader]

sweet info mate, thx alot. Gonna switch back to grid then, was using Healerbot on Urspace since I thought grid was a bit hard to use without some auto spell function.

Space

[Tirkad]

I have a question about grid, in particular about the tools to show your buff on the target. On my paladin i have to keep an eye mainly on 2 buffs: the sacred shield and the beacon of light. I have now set a dot on the lower right corner for both, but grid doesn't make any difference between the 2. This is sometimes confusing, since in some fights i have to swap both buffs among tanks for a more efficient use. For example, on healbot, it showed me the icon of the buff on the right and when there were just 15 seconds left on the buff duration the icon started to fade away, so i knew i had to refresh it. Now i know that if i wanted to make an icon on a 4x4 pixels square it would be ugly, but is it possible to make a difference among the 2 buffs (for example, make one buff yellow, the other green and when both are applied it will show blue)?
Note that by now, i have chosen the light grey as color for them, since is the color i found less confusing with the official class colored frame.

[TeaLeaf]

Using 2 different corners perhaps might be easiest?  As to timers, you can do it in a number of ways with dot timers for example, but I find that the sight of the DOT disappearing tells me it needs to be refreshed.  Something like NeedToKnow is a very simple DOT timer and would give you a bar that would track down on things like beacon.

[Tirkad]

Well, the use of different corners is a bit difficoult, since among the 4 corners, i use the top left for aggro, the lower left for incoming heals and the topper right for debuffs. I think i'll just have to  check on how to improve the visual impact.