Why is X-Perl so popular?
 

I have been curious about this a long time. Across the various add-on sites, X-perl seems to be head and shoulders above all other unit frame add ons in popularity.

Why is this? I'm assuming it is because it does something better, but what exactly? Does it do things that are hard to find in other add ons?

I haven't been able to change the looks of it enough to suit me. My only complaint with it has been cosmetic but I wonder if I am missing out on some important functionality by not using it?

It's one of the oldest unit frames out there, and is by far the easiest to set up for beginners. I'd be willing to bet that these are 2 of the biggest reasons for X-Perl to still be so popular after so many years.

I would have to agree. X-Pearl has been around for ever, and it is a very good solution for an "all in one" unitframe. It pretty much covers everything and is very easy to use.

So safe to say I'm not missing out on any great functions or whatever by using Pitbull 4 or ShadowedUF or some other?

I prefer the look of those two much more and I like the configuration process more.

Not at all. Most unitframe addons out there probably even have more features than X-Perl does (don't quote me on this, I haven't used X-perl for over 4 or so years).

That's the main reason I never tried X-Perl... it's just too ugly.

I think most addon awareness is spread by word of mouth :p

"Hmm, I wish the X feature was better."
"Lol get Y addon! I use it and it's teh pwnzors!!" (even when there's 10 alternative addons better suited for the player in question)

I agree... I used to use X-Perl too. But as I started looking around (I check this site often for cool new stuff) I have since moved on. It's a good quality package, one of the oldest, and easiest. So I'd have to say that's the main reason.

It also had its own raid system that integrated with CT_Raid and oRA/oRA2 back in the day. This is another reason why it became popular, because people could use it to view main tanks, etc., before the default UI had main tanks.

/edit: I personally used X-Perl from mid/late-Vanilla into early-BC. I liked it, personally. I think what drew me to it were the bells and whistles over the default UI and I liked that you could change the bar textures (the leaves were my favorite) and stuff. Then I further delved into UI customization and found ag_UnitFrames.