Some info I found helpful
Some stuff I found here and there (sorry didn't note the source) that I found helpful as a newbie. Great guide.
Obviously, you can use ctrl-home to resize elements. If you are playing with a gamepad/PS3, you can use R3. You can use the right analog stick to nudge elements, as well.
You can use the screenshot tool (PrintScr, L1+Start) to take a picture of your screenshot. Then you can use an image editor to count pixels to make sure your elements align.
Your character settings are stored here on Win7... "C:\Users<USER>\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn" You'll see a folder for each character (FFXIV_CHR0000000001AAAAAA). (Since it's hard to know which folder goes with which character, I create a txt file that's named after the character and stick it in the folder.) You can copy all your settings between characters by copying all the *.DAT files from one folder to another.
I used hotbar 8 to put some key one-line macros. (Macro 1 may seem odd, but its use is to cancel an already running multi-line macro.) I map spaces on this hotbar to specific keys to make my life easier.
Macro 1, mapped to "`": /echo Cancelling Macro
Macro 2, mapped to "F": /assist <f>
Macro 3, mapped to "CTRL-F": /follow <t>
When editing macros/hotkeys/HUD, you can make it easy to get back into the related menu by putting an Edit Macro/Keybinds/HUD icon on one of your bars.
Item and action help boxes are used if you want to have tooltip help for items and actions located in a fixed location on-screen. You have to enable that in the character settings.
The focus target is one of the most useful ui elements in the game for dungeon or raiding runs. Make a target a your focus target with SHIFT-F, and it will appear in the focus target element.
It is useful for targeting your tank and using the "/assist <f>" macro command to target whatever your tank (focus) is targeting.
Finally, notices are for link shell or friend invites.
Can anyone tell me how you set it so the vertical hotbars are shorter?
It's an option in the Character Configuration - UI Settings somewhere. On one of the last tabs it basically reads "Hide unused action buttons" or something like that.
When I play games as beautiful as this, I like leaving as much real estate as possible to actually SEE the screen. *The default positions have most of the UI elements slightly inwards, so my first step was to push everthing to the edges, into the corner. *The default action bars are 2 stacked on top of each other, but when I push the rest of the stuff to the sides, I can free up some leg room and put them side by side. *I have my most-used skills on the left bar, so that one button push will activate them, and the less common ones can be clicked on the side. *I would like to permanently remove the Menu Icons on the lower right, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
The biggest change I've made is to add a vertical taskbar to the upper righthand corner. *Up there I've moved all of my non-hotkey skills, or skills that have a longer cooldown that might not be connected to my main job, which at the moment is Paladin.
I've got sprint up there, in addition to my two mount choices. *A small gap and there's Return and Teleport, a small gap then Protect/Stoneskin, a small gap and then Raise. *It seems to be working out really well, giving me at-hand options without taking up space for things I might need at a moments' notice.
The secret to premium space management is overlapping.
In your character creation above your head slot there is a button for Equipment Sets. They save lives.
Read the tutorials! It's in the character menu above your gear on the top-left. It's the little folded corner paper icon. Once you click it, click the + symbol to save whatever you're currently wearing as a set. The default name is the class you are and the level of your weapon, but I believe you can rename it in case you ever need multiple sets for the same class. You can then drag that set from the list to your action bar if you want to have an easy way to swap to it. If you want to update your gear set easily, you can click the two circular arrows in the top-right of your gear to update the currently equipped set to whatever gear you are now wearing.
EDIT: Just figured out you can in fact Drag and Drop your Gear Set Lists into your hot bar. Just thought people should know if they didnt already.
Indeed! I haven't bound them or anything but I've got a vertical sidebar with nothing but commonly used gear sets and chocobo commands.
Hey, someone else who likes A & D set to strafe! I always set mine up that way, as well. Much nicer control scheme overall.
I also tend to change auto-run to the W key, that way I can start running with one press and stop with another and I don't have to worry about either holding W down to run or hitting a completely separate key to auto-run.