Printable View
For my HUD, it is right beneath my mana regen CD in addition to my other major CDs I am monitoring. It is a quick visual reminder of where I am at while taking note of everything else throughout the fight-- also, I don't have my party bars showing when solo and when I play different jobs I look at the party bars much less. Do you play with your party bar showing 24/7? Do you toggle it each time you change jobs?
Always on. I think its better when your hp/mp bar is always at the same place. Yes, you don't stare at party list that much when on a different job - but it's useful anyway.
Debuff control for tank swapping, mp/tp for songs etc.
Selene
http://i68.tinypic.com/egoa3a.jpg
Eos
http://i68.tinypic.com/rub82g.jpg
The fairy skills changes depending on which I summon at the time.
My only real input is to make use of /focustarget and keep it near your party list ("/assist <2>; /focustarget" is a handy macro for focusing the first tank's target). Getting caught in the heat of battle and missing important mechanics (pacify for instance) or tank busters can put you in a bind. With HUD layouts and efficiency I think wether you're a mouse, keyboard, or controller dominant user will effect the importance of positioning. I'm partial to controller, but also have one large hotbar for clicks and cooldown watch, and keybinds for less commonly used skills (rez for instance). my party list stays in the upper lefthand with alliance below it, focus target and enemy targets to the right of it.