#patrick hofmann

After spending many hours doing usability research, Patrick Hofmann has assembled some tips and tricks for better web page design. Here are a few of them:

Size matters. Make sure your screen type is large enough to read. Make sure your images are big enough that users can read and interpret them. Although this sounds like common sense, Patrick has found in his usability testing that size is often a problem with websites.

Be brief. For text, keep your word count down. For images, remove unnecessary visual traffic. This helps your users read and process information more effectively and efficiently.

Be consistent. Use the same wording across your design. Don’t say Click OK in one place and Press OK in another. For images, be consistent with your sizes, angles, and views. Repeat a common illustration and make slight modifications to it to emphasize change.

Test in a flash (or a blur). Test your design by letting someone to look at your page for just a quick second. Ask what the person saw. Was it the most important elements of the page? You can also test your page by squinting at it to identify the areas of high contrast. Are they what you intended?

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World junior 9-ball championships Day 3

Team Europe has already secured seven medals in World junior 9-ball championships so far and has a huge potential to win a gold with representatives in all three finals.

In the girls’ division, Kristina Tkach (Russia) needed her best against the USA rising start April Larson to secure her place in the final. The match between two good friends was very even and it was Larson who had an advantage most of the match with her rock-solid game. However, Kristina was not the first time in a position like this and she managed to turn things around to finish the match with 9:7 victory. In second semifinal the defending champion Chen Chia Hua (Chinese Taipei) struggled against Lee Woojin (South Korea). Nothing was going Chen’s way and she needed to accept a bitter defeat from the underdog Lee Woojin.

In the under 17 division it was Sanjin Pehlivanovic (Bosnia and Hercegovina) and Wiktor Zielinski (Poland) who took all the attention from the crowd. Both players have met each other in many finals so far and it was hard to predict who will win this time. For sure the match was worth to be a final match, but the fate connected both teen starts one round earlier. Again it was Wiktor’s who tried to be aggressive from very beginning and again the risk didn’t pay out. With his calm nerves, Sanjin capitalized every opportunity he got and quickly got the initiative which he kept till the very end the match. In another semifinal, Mustafa Alnar (North Cyprus) started very strong 6:2 against Robie James Capito (Hongkong). It seemed that nothing can stop Mustafa’s determination to play his dream final next day, but in the end, it was his break which started to struggle. Robbie James soon minimized the deficit then later found his rhythm which allowed him to finish the match with 9:7 victory.

Patrick Hofmann (GER)

In the under 19 division Jan van Lierop (Netherlands) couldn’t find his best game against Enkhbold Temuujin (Mongolia). Jan missed few balls in the beginning of the match which definitely affected his self-belief. Temuujin who played not so good in the start of the tournament seemed to be stronger with each win. He was able to keep his opponent behind all the time and secured his place in the final with 11:6 win. The other semifinal between Fedor Gorst (Russia) and Patrick Hofmann (Germany) was the total opposite to their first meeting in the winner’s qualification round. It was Fedor who missed a couple easy shots at the beginning of the set and allowed Patrick to gain the lead. It seemed that Patrick will be able to fulfil his revenge for the heavy loss against Fedor one day ago, but in the end, it was Patrick who created problems out of nothing. He couldn’t keep his nerves calm and didn’t use few easy opportunities to close the match. Somehow Fedor recovered and showed his best playing skills at the end of the match. It was very close 11:8 victory.

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Five Bronze Medals and one chance for Gold

Team Europe has conquered five Bronze Medals already with one chance for a Gold Medal left. That is the brilliant summary for Team Europe so far from the World Junior 9-Ball Championships in Shanghai, China.

Daniel Maciol

Day three started with loser’s round matches where Dina Fatikhova, Diana Khodjaeva and Fedor Gorst all tried to keep a foot in the door for a shot at the medal ranks. While Khodjaeva managed to win her match 7:4 over Kim Bogeon (KOR), her teammates both lost and were eliminated out of the Championships. That takes us to the quarter-final stages.

Maksim Dudanets

In the U17, Wiktor Zielinski played against Muhammad Almie bin Yakub (MAS) and easily won that match with 8:2. In the same round, Sanjin Pehlivanovic took down his opponent Martis Gyairon (BON) 8:6. That meant that two medals have already been secured for Team Europe. Kestutis Zadeikis also wanted one of them but his opponent Temuujin Enkhbold (MON) had other plans. Zadeikis trailed 1:6 after seven racks and things looked quite desperate for the young man from Lithuania. But he never gave in and fought his way back into the match to even tie the match after twelve racks at 6:6. Now the pressure was on Enkhbold. An unlucky safety shot from Zadeikis allowed Enkhbold to win rack 13 and get on the hill with a 7:6 lead. In rack 14, Enkhbold had the break shot and he used his chance to finish Zadeikis in the match with 8:6 after a tough fight.

In the U19, Patrick Hofmann, Daniel Maciol and Maksim Dudanets were carrying the European flag high in the quarter-finals. Hofmann deleted Nathan Dietrich (USA) 11:10 from the flowchart. Maciol captured Lo Ho Sum (HKG) 11:8 and Dudanets ended Jesus Atencio Blanco’s (VEN) hopes for a medal with 11:6. That took all three of them into the semi-final round with Dudanets and Maciol having to face one another.

In the girls division, Diana Khodjaeva was the only remaining player from Europe. She faced China’s She Tianqi. In the beginning of the match, she had a hard time finding her A-game. She was trailing 2:4 when she decided it would be better to go for a time out. When she came back, the time out seemed to have done its benefit for her since she started playing much better than before. Consequently, she took a 7:4 lead over Tianqi. But then she broke dry and her opponent took that rack plus another runout to come close to 7:6. However, Khodjaeva remained cool and also took her chances, taking the victory in the match with 9:6. Semi-final reached, mission „go for a medal“ accomplished!

Diana Khodjaeva

The semi-finals in the U17 brought disappointing results for Team Europe. Though both players gave their best, they could not make it to the final match since their opponents turned out to be better or have the better day at least. Pehlivanovic met Enkhbold and took a 4:2 lead. After that, nothing seemed to work anymore for Pehlivanovic. He could not get into the match and therefore lost 4:8 to win the Bronze Medal in the event. Even closer was Zielinski’s elimination from the Championships. He encountered China’s Zheng Xiao Huai who reached the final last year and lost to Maciol. Zielinski started well and got to a 4:1 lead. But also in this match, the opponent was very tough and never gave in so after 14 racks the match was hill-hill! It was Zielinski’s break and he opened the rack well with balls down. He had the chance to make it to the final but he fell out of position for the 2-ball. He decided to play a jump-shot on the 2-ball but he missed it, leaving an open table for Zheng who used this chance and ran the rack to win the match 8:7. Zielinski has to settle for the Bronze medal which is already a huge achievement.

Patrick Hofmann

In the U19, Hofmann was up against Kong De Jing (CHN). Kong proved to be too strong for Hofmann who had an intermediate lead of 7:5. However, his break shot did not work and Kong’s did so in the end Kong advance to the final match with an 11:8 victory over Hofmann. The other semi-final was the all-European affair between Dudanets and Maciol. Dudanets had a furious start, taking a comfortable 7:2 lead over Maciol. But last year’s World Champion U17 from Poland continued his fight and after having taken a time-out, he even took an 8:7 lead over his Russian teammate. Racks went back and forth and in the end, Maciol was able to win 11:10 since Dudanets executed an illegal break shot while the match was hill-hill. Bronze Medal win for Hofmann and Duanets while Maciol has a shot at the Gold Medal.

In the girls division, Khodjaeva had to play her fourth match that day since she came from the loser’s side. The semi-final against Chen Chia Hua (CHN) turned out to be too much of an obstacle for her today. The Chinese played almost without mistakes and rightfully deserved her 9:3 victory over Bronze Medallist Diana Khdjaeva.

Out of 6 Bronze Medals available in the event, Europe has taken 5 with one more medal to come. That is a pretty impressive result for our Junior Team and we will all keep out fingers crossed for Daniel Maciol in his final match against Kong De Jing from China. Go and get it, Daniel!

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Day one provides almost a clean slate

Team Europe has finished a very successful day one at the WPA World 9-Ball Championships for Juniors. Out of 11 matches, 10 victories were taken with only one defeat to be recorded.

In the U17, Sanjin Pehlivanovic (7:0), Fedor Gorst (7:1) and Wiktor Zielinski (7:2) were able to come up with clear victories that were never compromised. The results speak for themselves. Kestutis Zadeikis had some more work to do though. He had a hill-hill thriller with Zhang Fan from China. Zadeikis showed a lot of fighting spirit in his match.

Wiktor Zielinski

Kostas Koukiadakis

In the final rack, the pressure took its toll and Zadeikis missed an easy 6-ball. However, his Chinese opponent was also nervous and missed the 8-ball thereafter. With a bit of luck and a strong will, Zadeikis got back to the table and took the match with 9:8 in the end.

Patrick Hofmann

In the U19, things were not as clear as in the U17. Patrick Hofmann and Kostas Koukiadakis played their first World Championships ever. Hofmann could not find his peak performance in the beginning against his Canadian opponent Walleed Hashem. During the match however, he found his rhythm and took the match in the end with 9:5. Koukiadakis started quite impressively and got a comfortable 5:1 lead over China’s Ding Wei. Suddenly, Wei struck back and pulled rack after rack from Koukiadakis to tie the match after ten racks at 5:5. The pressure was on! Koukiadakis proved to be the one who handled the situation much better than his opponent and consequently overpowered him 9:6 after a tough fight. Maksim Dudanets had no problems with Wu Junjie from China and clearly advanced to the next winner’s round finishing the match 9:3 in his favour. Poland’s Daniel Maciol, last year’s World Champion in the U17 category, played his first match in the U19 today. His opponent, Mi Le from China, was a huge challenge but Maciol made it very clear that he came to Shanghai for a reason. In the early stage of the match, both players ran their respective racks and not many mistakes were committed by either side. As the match went on, Maciol got the upper hand over Le and came out as the deserved 9:5 winner, closing the book on the match.

In the girls division, Diana Khodjaeva had to fight against her opponent as well as her injured shoulder which handicapped her a bit. Despite the pain, Khodjaeva finished Michelle Jiang from the United States 7:4 with a decent performance. Kristina Tkach took no prisoners and destroyed her opponent Vivian Liu (USA) 7:2. The only European defeat of the day had to be accepted by Dina Fatikhova. She played against China’s Ma Jiao. The Chinese opened the match with a beautiful break-and-run and Fatikhova knew who she was up against. She did not let Jiao’s play impress her too much and demonstrated a strong will to come up with her best performance. To her disliking, she missed a makable 9-ball while trailing 3:5. Instead of closing the gap 4:5, she now trailed 3:6 with Jiao being on the hill. That mistake broke her neck in the match and allowed Jiao to snatch the match relatively easy with 7:4 from her. Fatikhova now needs to seek her fortune on the loser’s side while all other European players are still alive in the winner’s bracket.

Diana Khodjaeva

A great start into the World Championships from Team Europe! Carry on, guys and girls and award yourselves for the hard work you have put in over the last year!

Upcoming matches Friday November 18th:

Wiktor Zielinski (POL) v Kin Ling Yip (HKG)

Fedor Gorst (RUS) v Wang Guangyan (CHN)

Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) v Shen Shenyi (CHN)

Kestutis Zadeikis (LIT) v Luo Li Yuan (TPE)

Dina Fatikhova (RUS) v Emily Herpel (USA)

Diana Khodjaeva (BEL) v Tiangi Shi (CHN)

Kristina Tkach (RUS) v Chen Chia Hun (TPE)

Kostas Koukiadakis (GRE) v Patrick Hofmann (GER)

Daniel Maciol (POL) v Lo Ho Sum (HKG)

Maksim Dudanets (RUS) v Ivan Augustin Brasca (ARG)

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Hofmann, Pehlivanovic and Tkach strike again in 8-ball

Patrick Hofmann (GER), Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) and Kristina Tkach (RUS) took the crowns in 8-ball at the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth in Tirana, Albania.

Hofmann, Tkach and Pehlivanovic (left to right)

Daniel Maciol (POL) started the match with a break and run against his opponent Patrick Hofmann. But that did not impress Hofmann too much. He answered straight away with a break and run himself. Rack three saw Maciol coming off dry which brought Hofmann to the table. The German cleared the table, added another clearance and went ahead 3:1. In rack five, Maciol again could not get any ball on his break shot. That „mistake“ resulted in Hofmann snatching another two racks off Maciol, taking a 5:1 lead in the match. Maciol then took a time-out and tried to somehow find his way back into the match. But when he got back he still could not make any ball off his break shot. Hofmann again ran the rack and went on the hill 6:1. His entire body language screamed confidence at that point in time. But rack eight had Hofmann with no ball down on his break. That was probably the last chance for Maciol to try and go for a comeback. But he made a mistake when he pocketed the second-last ball of his group. He touched one of his opponent’s balls and closed the way for his last ball to the pocket. He attempted a one-rail shot but failed. The writing was on the wall. Hofmann cleared one more time and won the match and the title very convincingly with 7:1.

Top Eight Finishers

1. Patrick Hofmann (GER)

2. Daniel Maciol (POL)

3. Mark Mägi (EST) Taifun Teber (GER)

5. Michael Schneider (SUI)

Federico Amendola (ITA)

Kamin Szaszor (POL)

Krystian Cwikla (POL)

The match between Sanjin Pehlivanovic and Wiktor Zielinski (POL) was an exciting thriller – as always. In straight pool, Zielinski defeated Pehlivanovic in the semi-final and went on to claim the title. In 10-ball, Pehlivanovic won the final over Zielinski 6:5. And today, the score was again 5:5 after ten racks. Pehlivanovic had the break shot in rack eleven and he had a ball down. The pressure was almost unbearable for him but he kept calm. The layout was anything but easy. But Pehlivanovic mastered it in a Champion-like fashion and took the final rack with 6:5.

Top Eight Finishers

1. Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH)

2. Wiktor Zielinski (POL)

3. Leon Kohl (GER) Kasper Ostlund (SWE)

5. Jan van Lierop (NED) Mustafa Alnar (TNC)

Giulio D’Egido (ITA)

Mickey Krause (DEN)

The final match in the Girls division was once again a one man show. Kristina Tkach could not be stopped at anytime by her teammate Dina Fatikhova (RUS) and demonstrated her power in the match. 5:1 was the clear final result in favor of Tkach who claimed her second title this week.

Top Six Finishers

1. Kristina Tkach (RUS)

2. Dina Fatikhova (RUS)

3. Diana Khodjaeva (BEL) Pia Blaeser (GER)

5. Jana Peters (GER) Palina Chernik (BLR)

Medal table after 3 of 5 events:

The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the team competition. At 14:00 local time, event switches back to 9-ball individuals.

The Championships are played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.