September Waypoints

 We're approaching the end of our first month here on the Darq Side, and it seems like it's gone super fast!  The summer months always do.  DarqUI has been a pet project for more than a decade now, and I've always offered it out of the shared affection (and addiction!) for EverQuest II that we all have.  So starting a value-added site like this was something that I've long been hesitant to do.  But your encouragement in email, on the site here, and in Discord has been motivating and gratifying.  So of course the first thing I want to do is thank you sincerely for joining and supporting DarqUI as our charter Patrons.

It's important to know what's working and not working for you, and what you'd like to see in September and beyond.  The starting plan from my side of the Darq Side for September looks like this:

Tips and Tutorials

• TOTD and TOTW are scheduled
• In-depth videos are on deck for NPC Spell Monitor and URL Helper

DarqUI Unified Utility and Notifier apps

• I was planning for the next release of the utility to coincide with the next expansion, but it may make sense to publish once before then.  New Window Manager features have been added to their utility setup pages, a couple of small bugs are fixed, and both the utility and the darqui_notify tray app have been updated to better account for patrons.  Right now the tray app thinks everybody is a non-patron so it keeps suggesting non-patron files.  If you're using it, you already know this.  I'll post here and on EQ2Interface when these items are published.

On the DarqUI 4K front

• I enabled the XL size format for the utility today, and you can check it out the next time you get updates.  If you have not played around with the sample L and XL Broker windows from the front page of this site, now you can try them out just like you do with other windows.  Choose a size (see image) and hit the Update button.  If you don't have a 4K display and you choose XL, prepare to be like O_O!  My game machine is not 4K but I'm using the L version of the Broker window -- it fits neatly into 2K and it's just a little bit nicer to use than the default size.
   
• Quick Challenge!  Now that XL distribution is in place for patrons, I can make XL UI components available as they get built.  I have one more window almost finished in L and 4K sizes -- it's not major, but it's one we use every day.  When we get to 30 patrons it'll be available on the updater.  When we get to 50 patrons, you'll be able to help decide which UI pieces are most important to enlarge first.  I've already got the polls and component groupings ready to go.  Don't forget to mention the Darq Side to your fellow gamers and guildmates!

DarqUI: A Look Back

• I've also been blocking out a less formal video for patrons that takes a look back at the history of DarqUI, all the way back to version 1.0.  Earlier this month I was rummaging around in the archives looking for a technical tidbit from one of the older versions.  I ended up spending more than an hour nerding out and loading up previous incarnations of the UI.  There were a lot of chuckles and a couple of cringes as well.  It's not surprising how much more complete the UI has grown over 10+ years, but what is surprising is seeing some of the earliest innovations -- Cure Check, reference-cast icons (spell images instead of 1 2 3 4 5) -- that are still around in their original form.  This should be a fun video, and it *should* be here during September.