Everyone knows about the basic addons you need to start building a UI: Action bars, unit frames, cast bar, minimap, textures/panels, etc. But what about the kinds of addons no one really needs but are extremely useful anyway and can make your game-life (even if it’s just a tad) easier? These are the kinds of addons that assist you in small ways.

1. FriendShare: Syncs your friend and ignore list between characters. Extremely useful if you’re an altaholic, you no longer have to remember who that guy was who tanked that instance on that character that you made friends with and now want to add him to your friend’s list on another character than the one you met him on. Also handy if the friend-in-mind has funky (albeit illegal!) characters in his/her name, so you don’t have to remember any crazy alt codes to type it in.



2. CloseUp: Zoom in on that awesome looking sword, try on your target’s gear with one click, get rid of the annoying background in the dressing room! CloseUp does all this, and it even works in all frames where there’s a 3D portrait (except unitframes) such as the character frame, pet frame, and even the inspect window!



3. FarmIt: Handy for anyone who has farmed anything in their entire life (and we know this is all of us!), especially handy for those with a gathering profession. FarmIt is a little frame that you can move around that displays how much of an item you currently have, all stacks included, without you having to go into your bags and count (and perhaps miss a stack?). It also lets you know, every time you pick up an item, how many of it you have total in your bags. So if I pick up x5 Frostweave and I already have x25 in my bag, FarmIt will let me know that I now have 30 Frostweave.



4. GridAutoFrameSize: For you users of Grid, this is something I consider a must-have that, surprisingly, not many know about! It sizes your grid based on the size of your current party or raid without you having to go into your Grid configuration menu and changing it yourself. Yes, less work for you!



5. RecipeKnown: Ever go to the auction house to peruse available patterns/formulas/schematics for your, and your alt’s, professions and buy a bunch you think are neat only to discover said you’ve already learned them? Yeah, I’ve done that, too. So that’s why when I discovered this addon, I leaped for joy! RecipeKnown will color a recipe green if you’ve already learned it, even if an ALT has learned it! No more wasted money!



6. SendSelf: Ever go to the mailbox to send an alt an item or some gold and accidentally send it to someone else because a friend or guildie has a similar name and the auto-complete feature filled in their name instead of yours? Is your friends list maxed out because you had to add your numerous alts to the list just so your lazy self wouldn’t have to type their name at the mailbox every time? Well then, this addon is for you. SendSelf adds all your alts names to the auto-complete list at the mailbox without them being on your friends list, and it prioritizes your alt’s names over names of friends and guildies. Problem solved!