UI addons and Outdated mods

[Hambil]

Are starting to clutter the searching for real mods. Can a filter at least be added. I love showing off cool UI compilations as much as the next guy, they I don't need half the new or update addons to be someones UI.

And why would I want to see outdated mods at all?

[Vis]

When you do a search for an addon on this site, you can click the column titled "Date" and have them reorganized. That way you can see the newest addons that match your search at the top of the list.

I'm not sure what criteria is used to determine when an addon is out of date though.

[Bluspacecow]

Originally Posted by Hambil And why would I want to see outdated mods at all?

How old an addon is isn't always the best indication of it will still work or not.

If the stuff in the API it uses hasn't changed all that much then you can safely use older addon.

This is only if the code it relies on in Blizzard's API hasn't changed of course.

For example.

I use an addon that just moves the tooltip onto the mouse by hooking the tooltip's parent to be the mouse cursor. It's very small around 10 lines of code total.

Blizzard haven't changed how you can hook a tooltip or anything else that those 10 lines of code work with.

So yes it still works (got it enabled now on my Shaman). I don't have any errors at all as again the logic it uses hasn't changed.

[Hambil]

Originally Posted by honem So yes it still works (got it enabled now on my Shaman). I don't have any errors at all as again the logic it uses hasn't changed.

The exception does not make the rule. I'm not saying don't make a way to search outdated mods, I'm saying don't make it the default.

[BWarner]

Originally Posted by Hambil The exception does not make the rule. I'm not saying don't make a way to search outdated mods, I'm saying don't make it the default.

The issue, however, is that "hasn't been updated in a week/month/6 months/a year" doesn't necessarily mean that it's OUTdated - just that it hasn't been updated in the last X time period. A mod only becomes "outdated" when it becomes "out of date", usually in reference to its code no longer working with the current API. A piece of code can go weeks, months, even a year or more without an update, if a) it is coded well, and b) the API that it hooks into either does not change, or changes little, or otherwise does not break the mod.

If it ain't broken, it ain't outdated. As such, older addons can be 100% viable as a user solution, as long as it still works, regardless of that last date it was updated.

[Hambil]

Originally Posted by BWarner The issue, however, is that "hasn't been updated in a week/month/6 months/a year" doesn't necessarily mean that it's OUTdated - just that it hasn't been updated in the last X time period. A mod only becomes "outdated" when it becomes "out of date", usually in reference to its code no longer working with the current API. A piece of code can go weeks, months, even a year or more without an update, if a) it is coded well, and b) the API that it hooks into either does not change, or changes little, or otherwise does not break the mod. If it ain't broken, it ain't outdated. As such, older addons can be 100% viable as a user solution, as long as it still works, regardless of that last date it was updated.

But they are calling them outdated. Just do a search for anything, e.g. 'druid' and you'll see mods with the category 'outdated'.

[Recluse]

Originally Posted by Hambil But they are calling them outdated. Just do a search for anything, e.g. 'druid' and you'll see mods with the category 'outdated'.

All the 'outdated' flag means is the author has not changed their TOC file to say "Yep, I work with the new patch." Most addons do not need any update to work with the current patch, and so many authors choose not to release an update just to change the TOC file, but as a result, they get flagged as 'outdated'.

I think here on WoWInterface, it requires the author to hit the addon's "Works in 3.x" confirmation box when updating/adding their addon instead/as well as having an up to date TOC, but I've no way of knowing for sure.

I've had several addons which hadn't been updated since vanilla WoW which were still chugging along, because Blizzard didn't change anything on their end which affected the addons, just like the others were saying. One of them in particular ran for 4 years after the author abandoned the project before dying due to Blizzard's new quest tracker only just recently. 'Outdated' is no indication of whether the addon actually works is what it boils down to. It's just a way to let people know that it hadn't been updated since the most recent patch.

As for adding a filter to remove them, well it seems like a lot of work for not a lot of payout. That's not to say that it wouldn't be worth doing, mind you. But as someone else mentioned, you can sort by last update date, and that essentially serves the purpose of what you want to do.

[Hambil]

Well, you've been beat out in the bad UI contest by Curses anyway. They've actually started including mods that don't exist yet and can't be downloaded.

[Torhal]

Do you have links to some that don't "exist" yet, and can't be downloaded? If so, I'd appreciate it so I can try to get that sorted out.

[Hambil]

Originally Posted by Torhal Do you have links to some that don't "exist" yet, and can't be downloaded? If so, I'd appreciate it so I can try to get that sorted out.

Sure, anything that's in alpha. Here is one example.

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-a...e_talents.aspx

[Torhal]

Thankye. It's been relayed - now hopefully it will be remedied.

[danltiger]

I realize that this thread is old, but I think it bears saying that a mod being "Outdated" is a significant thing, regardless if it still works. Some users aren't familiar with the option to "Load Out-dated Addons". And, up-to-date addons are often the most supported. By making out-dated mods "opt-in" during search, it might better serve the general population.