Hotels near brandon fl

Hi everyone!! I'm staying in the Hotel Adeba on tour in the near future, and I'm looking to buy a (preferably handcrafted) spice pot - I have a lovely little pair of handmade ceramic salt/pepper shaker cows from Mexico, and I'm looking to get a spice pot from every place I go. Does anyone know of a shop I can go to for a non-massproduced little item? I will be walking and with a female group so please let me know of shops/stalls rather than people's homes!!

I’m visiting Greece soon and need a hotel for 1 night. Any recommendations on hotels near The Athens airport that have a shuttle that runs all hours of night? I get in at 1am.

I’m covering mania as media so it will be my first mania alone and first time in LA. Flying out Thursday night from KC. I have motel 6 booked near airport but always looking to save money. I usually go with groups of 4-6 people but since I’m doing media, I’m going alone. Won’t be at hotel except just to sleep but always looking to save money and hang with other good wrestling fans.

I was recently promoted to a very high stress job and no time at all for a personal life. I need a way to release this tension/stress and would like to see if there are any women, especially subs, that would like to be used for stress relief and freeuse on a regulaweekly basis. Very interested in an on-call dynamic that involves using you as a fleshlight or cumdump whenever we meet. Open to all kinds of scenarios. Women only please 18+. If you’re submissive/kinky that would be a huge plus.
About me: I’m a 37M, fit, attractive, living near NYC. Can’t host but able to travel to you or use a hotel or my office for our fun. Message to exchange pics and talk more. Looking for IRL only.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been to the valley before a big festival. I remember about 7-8 years ago having a couple of beers at a pub near the Tivoli with a mechanical bull that was pretty good(maybe the jubilee hotel?). Any recommendations on some where to grab some full strength beers and maybe a burger before I’m bound to middies for the rest of it?

A friend is leaving on Sunday and we’re heading out for a last night out Saturday and am wondering what are some of the best pubs for live music? Not from Dublin but would love some suggestions from the locals of places not too far from the bus stop to the airport as we’ll be staying at a hotel near there

Hi everyone,
I 'm a solo traveler from Italy and I'm kinda having nightmares about not being able to get back to my AirBnB during Mania week.
I would like to stay to the Wrestlecon hotel until around midnight on March 30 for the FTR thing. Now, my AirBnB is near Sofi Stadium and I was wondering: will I be able to catch a Lyft/Uber WITHOUT ANY DOUBT at that hour of the night to get back safely to my place? Also, I saw that both app allow you to schedule rides. Are those reliable?
I asked here before about Lyft/Uber since we do not have them in Italy and everybody told me that I'd be ok using them. But I'm not sure about doing that at 12am. I already got my FTR tickets but, if there is even the smallest chance that I could have troubles getting back to my AirBnb, I'll gladly waste my 40 bucks and get back home safely :)

On the app we met you can't browse profiles that haven't been active within the last hour. Unless you still have their messages or the contact in your favourites and I hadn't been active on the app for 48 hours. So that means she kept my messages and/or has me in her favourites. I still have my premium account so I can see viewed me. Maybe she doesn't know that. Maybe she does and she's deliberately trying to "hoover" me. Because one time I caught her viewing my profile twice back in early November and I messaged her "hey stranger" and she didn't reply.
I suspected since we first met that she might have Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). I had an online relationship with a woman in 2011 who had diagnosed BPD. And all my exes share similar characteristics to her. I attract crazy and am attracted to crazy. Though this woman in particular is the most sane person I've been romantically involved with. I've read that Quiet BPD is more mild and it's more common for people with this subtype to ghost and have a dismissive-avoidant attachment style. Whereas people with Classic BPD are more likely to be clingy or verbally abusive (I've dated women like this before). Which might be why I developed feelings for her I guess. She was just the right amount of crazy that I needed in my life. In terms of making me feel alive but not stressed.
In the beginning it was just sex. We made out and we blew each other in my car on the first "date." I have fuckboy tendencies admittedly and we were overcome with lust. After losing weight and hitting the gym last summer, I gained confidence and started to dress and cut my hair like "Chad" and embraced my inner fuckboy. She was the most passionate kisser and lover I had. She mentioned that I was a great kisser. I fed off her energy for me. The oxytocin just came at me fast when we kissed. I felt lust but also tenderness and affection towards her. I hadn't felt that way in 6 years. When I had a 8+ month relationship (this one IRL) with a woman whom I strongly suspect had BPD based on her behaviour.
I'm an autistic, socially awkward, introverted shy guy and she brought me out of my shell. She called me daddy (there was quite a bit of an age gap between us. She was 25 1/2 and I was about to turn 37). She was like a succubus but also the girl-next-door. I saw the hunger and desire she had for me in her eyes. She said that I was hot. And mentioned that when she saw my profile on the app, she showed her friend and was like "he's so hot." She made me feel like a Chad Incubus God. I loved the way I made her smile and laugh. When she asked about my major and said I had majored in Psychology, she asked me if I can tell that she has mental problems and she laughed. She was radiant. When I noticed how beautiful she looked in the moonlight about 20 minutes after she took my load in that dimly-lit parking lot, I thought to myself, "that's wifey right there" and held her hand.
She'd text me every day. Multiple times a day. She'd initiate most of the conversations actually. The next day she asked me to come see her again. lol. And I did. She was moving fast and this made me suspect she has BPD even more. But I thought, "If she does have BPD like my ex, I'm going to enjoy this ride while it lasts." The second "date" was great too. She remarked how passionate I was when we were making out. I said she was a bad girl while we were dirty talking. She said, "I'm bad, I'm bad, you like it." hnnggg. The third time I saw her, she was staying at a hotel for a friend's wedding. I went to go visit her. It was my birthday. I had an anxiety attack, I have generalized anxiety disorder. And she held my hand, kissed and cuddled me. And assisted me during my attack and calmed me down.
She talked about how mental health is important and said she's supportive of me. And in my head I was thinking, "Shit, I'm feeling exactly how I felt about my ex right now. But I know it's too soon to fall in love." I have been ghosted before for having an anxiety attack so that is a big thing for me. We held hands in public together. We practically made love all night. While we were in bed she said that I'm all yours, you're all mine. Your cock is all mine, mine is all yours. And I agreed. I literally stopped talking to other girls after I met her IRL and deleted the apps before the third. Yeah I know big mistake in hindsight. I told her that I was crazy about her and that she made me feel alive. And she said the same. I was afraid I'd come across as love bomby myself. I was like high as a kite on oxytocin. Thank God I wasn't rolling molly or anything like that because I'm afraid I would have dropped the L word if I had no inhibitions. The way that I felt relieved of my inhibitions when I was with her scared me. We didn't get much sleep. I stayed the night. Showered together. I left in the morning. Afterwards she talked about how romantic our night was.
Afterwards she said it would be nice for me to take her out for dinner sometime. I said I'd love to. Near the beginning of the first "date" she suggested being FWBs but I wanted more anyways and I was 100% confident that this is what she wanted. She had to cancel dinner plans because she had to stay late at work that week. But we had some time to get bubble tea later in the week. She talked about all these couple type activities she wanted to do with me in the future. Which in hindsight might have been future faking (which is what you see in people with BPD or NPD). But my mood was all 🥰 at the time. She said that she cared about me.
On the last date, she was in a downer mood because of work stress. I was keen to cheer her up. I might have said or did something that upset her on the last couple dates. But she pretended like everything was fine. The first tell that everything was not fine was when I caressed her haiface while stopped at a red light and she recoiled. I've done this before with her while we were making out and in bed. And given her energy up until now smiling and laughing with me and how she'd always send me selfies of her smiling and looking so happy, even I couldn't miss the shift in her energy and I'm autistic ffs. In bed while I was feeling really good I said, "you're my woman." She said, "say it again", I repeated myself. She said "say it again!" Haha. So I thought things were good with us again. Immediately after I came, she got dressed and I was thinking "bruh. I recognize that (right before I have been ghosted by other women before)."
I wanted to take her somewhere to eat. But she didn't want to get a sit-down meal, she wanted fast food. Man. After the date she sent me a nice selfie of her where she looked happy. So I figured all was well. But tomorrow, she doesn't hit me up. That is so unlike her. So I text her at 7pm. She's still working. We had a nice text conversation later that night. Maybe one thing I said in text upset her. But she didn't communicate that to me. I tried to do an experiment to see if she'd reach out to me if I don't reach out to her first. And for 48+ hours she didn't attempt to reach out to me. I also re-downloaded the app and lo and behold she was on there. Even though we had a verbal exclusivity agreement.
So I text her three days later early in the am (lol) because this was on my mind and I couldn't sleep saying I noticed a shift in her energy and asked her some other questions including why was she on the app and I repeated what she told me in bed verbatim with regards to exclusivity. What happened? She said that was just in the heat of the moment during sex and wasn't an exclusivity agreement. Bruh. She also said that we mostly just hooked up, she didn't know if it was serious or not between us. I replied saying thank you for clearing things up and apologized for making things awkward. I just thought that she was upset with me or got the ick.
And then I never heard from her again after that and I fully expected to be ghosted after that and I was right. I gave her 9 days of space to see if she'd reach out to me. I watched Bros in theatres and might have listened a bit too much of Marvin's Room, keshi and Weston Estate so I just said fuck it I'm going to text her anyway and reveal that I had caught feelings for her. What did I say or do, why her did her mood shift, what happened? No reply. I tried again a couple days later saying I regret upsetting her if I did. I didn't mean to. I regret losing her in my life. I told her that she made me feel alive (I previously said that to her before when we were seeing each other and she was elated then). No reply.
My black pill buddies on the internet warned me back when I was seeing her that this girl would break my heart and push me deep into the black pill given the circumstances in which we met. Because she gave me head in my car on the first "date" and therefore she's not a proper lady and such. And I told him, "nah man, that's slut shaming." I see that she's still on the app we met 6 months later. And my inner demon just flies me into black pilled rage. My demon conjures up images of her hooking up with all these Chads off the app like she did with me. My inner demon was telling me she doesn't even think about you, you're nothing to her, the memories you shared meant nothing to her, you're just another cock in a cock carousel to her. I had feelings for her and didn't treat her like a fetish like those chasers. And she never told me what I did wrong or if there was another guy.
But then when I looked at her IG (set to public) in search of answers I saw that there was a lot of mental health issues going on with her that she didn't disclose to me. She has Depression, insecurities (she did indirectly reveal one insecurity to me), doesn't love herself, says that she has the tendency to self-sabotage. She mentioned falling in love and out of love in the past year and feeling heart break. If I ever broke her heart, she didn't give me the memo. So my inner demon was like "I bet Chad broke her heart, you're not even a blip on her radar, hahahaha." She talked about how she will hold the memories dear to her heart forever. And my inner demon was, "is she talking about you or is she talking about Chad? hahahaha."
It's more comforting in a way for me to assume the worst and hate her because that would give me maximal closure. It's the fucking worst when I see that she still checks my profile. Because that gives me hope that she feels the same way about me. Like she says, she has a saboteur inside of her. Just like I do. People with BPD have a simultaneous fear of abandonment and fear of engulfment. And self-sabotage is definitely a characteristic of BPD.
I think when I caressed her haiface in that last date, shit got too real for her and she ran away. To avoid the potential for future abandonment. A lot of straight men on Grindr where we met are only interested in transwomen for casual sex. And would be embarrassed to be seen with a transwoman in public. Probably why she reads books like How To Date Men When You Hate Men. While I went on dates with her, held hands with her in public, etc. I also didn't disclose to her that I was mildly bisexual. She thought I was completely straight. I didn't disclose because some transwomen only date straight men.
It could also be she thought I was a love bombing narcissistic fuckboy who wasn't serious about her. But how could she not know how I felt about her when I made it clear? I've only felt this way about someone else twice, including the old ex with BPD. On Grindr when we first met she had on her profile she was looking for "right now" in addition to a relationship and dates. But then a month after she ghosted me, she removed the "right now" bit on her looking for. lol. So I gave thought to the possibility she thought I was on some fuckboy shit and broke her heart. If she does have BPD and I triggered her fear of abandonment, it is what it is. I can live with that, move on and heal. It's not about the fact that she isn't in my life anymore. It's the ambiguity of how things ended.
I've tried talking to my last therapist last summer about that old ex with BPD. And my therapist cut it short, told me just don't date women with BPD and basically changed the subject on me. lol. I definitely had a trauma bond with that past ex and this trauma bond has kind of transferred to this girl. In addition the two other dysfunctional relationships I had after her. Like yeah I have the common sense to know that untreated BPD is bad news. But the trauma bond is still there. The only women who I manage to connect with are women who have traumas. And it doesn't help that psychotherapy is expensive here and that I have to pay huge premiums to get psychotherapy coverage. My friends provided little emotional support and my father and sister provided no emotional support.
The trauma bond (for those who aren't familiar with them) works like this for me: I know 100% if she texts me out of the blue, I'm going to go see her and sleep with her, be emotionally involved and if she has untreated BPD it's not going to end well for me. It's like addictive behaviour. After she checked out my profile, I saw some old selfies of her she sent me in her messages. And I contrasted that with the dark stuff she posted on IG and thought to myself, "she was so happy when she was with me. I had no clue she suffered from mental health issues." And then I just started crying involuntarily. My casual sex experiences feel so hollow compared to how she made me feel. Even though it started with casual sex. When we first hooked up, I had no expectations. I was feeling depressed striking out on the apps. I gave it a go. I thought she was just going to be a cheap fuck for me to lay and then oxytocin came at me fast.

Hi Reddit! Wanted to get some thoughts on our 7 day Japan itinerary for this May. Group is 4 adults all around age 30 (2 couples). A few notes on our itinerary:

• We're theme park fans (lived in Orlando for a long while, used to work at theme parks, often plan trips around the US to visit theme parks) so our theme park days are non-negotiable:)
• The group is mostly interested in entertainment and food. We're also open to splitting up the group as needed to visit the things we're most interested in. We're happy to just stroll and explore, so you'll notice there aren't many specific "activities" on our plan yet.
• We'll be there from May 13-20.
• The only thing we have booked are our flights. We've narrowed down hotels and will be booking this weekend.
• You'll notice our plan to travel between cities often takes place at night; this seemed to make the most sense based on what we want to do.
• We're making the most of the time we have. We're going to be flexible on some things depending on how we're feeling. Also we recognize that we're not spending much time in Osaka or Kyoto - we absolutely wish we could spend more time in both! Hoping this is only our first trip of many and that we'll be back to Japan in the future.

With that, here's our (very rough) plan!

• Arrival Day - Tokyo (Saturday)
  • Arrive at HND by 2:30pm (separate incoming flights).
  • Check in to hotel, thinking city center or Akihabara areas.
  • Visit Akihabara in afternoon/evening.
• Day 1 - Tokyo/Osaka (Sunday)
  • Visit Asakusa in the morning - Senso-ji Temple, Nakamise-dori Street.
  • Mid-day in city center, trying to get a reservation at the Pokemon Cafe.
  • Late afternoon/early evening take train to Osaka.
  • Check in to hotel in Osaka (near Universal Studios).
• Day 2 - Osaka /Kyoto (Monday)
  • Spend day at Universal Studios. Planning to get express passes to get through everything quickly so we don't spend the entire day there, and going to skip rides that we have in the USA parks.
  • As time allows, might try to visit Osaka castle, but that's probably not likely based on our timeline.
  • In evening, take train to Kyoto.
  • Check in to hotel in Kyoto (location TBD).
• Day 3 - Kyoto/Tokyo (Tuesday)
  • Start day at Fishimi Inari Taisha.
  • Potentially do a mid-day food/culture tour in Gion area.
  • Visit Kiyomizu-dera.
  • In evening, take train back to Tokyo.
  • Check in to hotel at Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel.
• Day 4 - Tokyo (Wednesday)
  • Spend day at DisneySea.
  • That's it :)
• Day 5 - Tokyo (Thursday)
  • Spend day at Tokyo Disneyland (might swap and do disneyland the first day and disney sea the second).
  • In late afternoon/evening, leave Disney to head into Tokyo.
  • Check in to hotel - thinking we'll stay in Shibuya or Shinjuku.
• Day 6 - Tokyo (Friday)
  • Start day in Harajuku
  • Midday in Shibuya - Yoyogi Park, Imperial Palace East Garden, Disk Union Record Store, Mori Art Museum (just some ideas the group is interested in, may not hit them all)
  • End day in Shinjuku (depending on where we stay, likely will try to take a break at the hotel).
  • Same hotel as previous night.
• Day 7 - Tokyo/flight back home (Saturday)
  • The first flight of our group departs at 4:45 so planning to get to HND by 2pm.
  • Planning to make it an easy morning/early afternoon in the area we end up staying in.

Very eager to hear any thoughts/recommendations! This is a very rough plan - we want to know what we're missing, what we should cut, and any recommendations on the areas we've identified! Thanks so much!

(This is an update to an earlier post concerning the Ohio train derailment.)
Here's why it's hard to clean up toxic waste from the East Palestine train derailment
". . . More than 700 tons of contaminated soil and nearly two million gallons of liquid have been collected from the derailment site, Ohio officials say, with much more left to clean up under the order of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The effort to remove vast amounts of contaminated soil and water from the small town in eastern Ohio has involved at least seven different licensed hazardous waste disposal facilities across four states: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Texas. . .
. . . So far, more than 1.8 million gallons of wastewater have been collected from the derailment site, along with 700 tons of contaminated soil, according to the latest figures from the office of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Most of the water collected so far has already been transported to disposal facilities, officials say. . ."
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/03/1160481769/east-palestine-derailment-toxic-waste-cleanup
"The source of the cargo in Madison, Illinois, was a shut-down uranium-rod production facility of the infamous Dow Chemical company (of Agent Orange notoriety), more recently operating under the cover name of Spectrulite. Since the mid-1990s, the radioactive site, located across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, has been under a “clean-up” (toxic containment) effort by the EPA, which has resisted designating the huge mess as a permanent hazardous waste dump. The chlorine-based compound inside the five suspect tanker cars was falsely described by the EPA and Norfolk Rail as “vinyl chloride”, a rather innocuous substance, in a cover-up of the actual content of highly volatile vinylidene chloride. The latter, a powerful oxidizing agent also known as 1,1 Dichloroethene, was used by Dow to clean uranium fuel rods at the Madison facility, where it has since been stored in steel holding tanks."
https://www.raptureforums.com/forums/threads/chemical-weaponry-destined-for-ukraine-ignited-in-east-palestine-train-wreck.198985/
(That's what was spilled in Ohio when the train derailed. It contaminated the water and the soil. So they are sending it to different water treatment plants in different states.)
Wastewater from Ohio train derailment could be processed at Back River Waste Water Treatment Plant
" . . . Wastewater collected from the Ohio train derailment site could be treated in Maryland, Baltimore City and Baltimore County officials announced Friday afternoon.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said the city received a letter late Thursday from contractor Clean Harbors Environmental and Industrial Services, stating that the company has been selected by the Environmental Protection Agency to treat and discharge the wastewater collected from rain water at the city-run Back River Waste Water Treatment Plant in Dundalk. . ."
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-county-wastewater-ohio-train-derailment/43411860#
(Just recently there was an explosion at the plant - probably just a coincidence ; )
Repairs underway at Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant after explosion last week
"The Department of Public works announced repairs to the centrifuge machines at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant, after a gas-led fire caused an explosion inside a city-contracted building on the premises last week."
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/repairs-underway-at-back-river-wastewater-treatment-plant-after-explosion-last-week/
Be sure you know where your water comes from.

More than being creative, a good artist must also consider subtleties like composition, colors, size, what to include, and — perhaps more importantly — what to leave out. That’s no easy feat, which is why we hold the masters like da Vinci and Van Gogh in such high regard.
Web UI designers must do the same. A website is a form of visual art in its own right, and follows many of the same rules as more traditional artforms. It is the science of aesthetics, mixed with the principles of business, and an extraordinary website interface must feel effortless yet enticing. We’ll explain how to create a visual hierarchy and use UI patterns as a starting point.

“A website is the science of aesthetics mixed with the principles of busieness.”

Creating Visual Organization
In his paper Communicating with Visual Hierarchy, Luke Wroblewski, author and Senior Principal of Product Design at Yahoo!, explains that the visual presentation of a web interface is essential for:
Informing users — Like an invisible hand, the interface should guide users from one action to the next without feeling overbearing. For example, payment processor Square leads you through its value propositions as you scroll down, with relevant calls to action each step of the way.
Communicating content relationships — The interface should present content in a way that matches how users prioritize information. For example, popular design website Abduzeedo includes broad categories at the top, featured content in the middle, and detailed categories in the footer.
Creating emotional impact — People visit restaurants for more than just an edible meal. They want taste, texture, presentation, and a memorable ambiance. Interface design is no different, and people may actually be more prone to forgive your site’s shortcomings if you produce a positive emotional response. For example, Wufoo is a perfect example of a site with an interface that’s usable and pleasurable.
The end goal of your UI design is to answer three questions:

1. What is this? (Usefulness)
2. How do I use it? (Usability)
3. Why should I care? (Desirability)
   
4. Scanning Patterns: The Predictability of the Human Eye
   

Just as with a scurrying movement in the corner of your eye or a sexy walk from someone across the street, the human eye is drawn automatically to certain points of interest. While some of this depends on the person, the majority of people tend to follow definite trends — including how they view a web page.
In an article on visual principles, Alex Bigman, Design Writer for 99Designs, talks about the two predominant reading patterns for cultures who read left to right.
Photo: uixwithme

How Hierarchy Works in UI Design
1. F-Pattern
Typically for text-heavy websites like blogs, the F-Pattern comes from the reader first scanning a vertical line down the left side of the text looking for keywords or points of interest in the paragraph’s initial sentences. When the reader finds something they like, they begin reading normally, forming horizontal lines. The end result is something that looks like the letters F or E. As shown in Web UI Patterns 2014, CNN and NYTimes both use the F Pattern.
Jakob Nielson of the Nielson Norman Group conducted a readability study based on 232 users scanning thousands of websites and elaborates on the practical implications of the F-Pattern:

Users will rarely read every word of your text.

The first two paragraphs are the most important and should contain your hook.
Start paragraphs, subheads, and bullet points with enticing keywords.
How could this impact the interface design of your website? Take a look below.
You can see in the above image that the most important content can be seen in a few seconds, with more detailed content (and a call to action) presented immediately below for quick scanning. The F-pattern can be very helpful for sites that want to embed advertising or calls to action in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the content. Just remember that content is always king, and the sidebar exists to get users involved in a deeper level.
As with all patterns, the F-Pattern is a guideline — rather than a template — because the F-pattern can feel boring after the top rows of the “F”. As you’ll see below, Kickstarter adds in some widgets (laid out horizontally) to keep the design visually interesting beyond the first 1000 pixels.

1. Z-Pattern

Z-Pattern scanning occurs on pages that are not centered on the text. The reader first scans a horizontal line across the top of the page, whether because of the menu bar, or simply out of a habit of reading left-to-right from the top. When the eye reaches the end, it shoots down and left (again based on the reading habit), and repeats a horizontal search on the lower part of the page.
Photo: uixwithme
The Z-Pattern is applicable to almost any web interface since it addresses the core website requirements such as hierarchy, branding, and calls to action. The Z-pattern is perfect for interfaces where simplicity is a priority and the call to action is the main takeaway. Forcing a Z-pattern for a website with complex content may not work as well as the F-pattern, but a Z-pattern can help bring a sense of order to simpler layouts (and increase conversion rates). Here’s a few best practices to keep in mind:
Background — Separate the background to keep the user’s sight within your framework.
Point #1 — This is a prime location for your logo.
Point #2 — Adding a colorful secondary call to action can help guide users along the Z-pattern.
Center of Page — A Featured Image Slider in the center of the page will separate the top and bottom sections and guide the eyes along the Z path.
Point #3 — Adding icons that start here and move along the bottom axis can guide the users to the final call to action at Point #4.
Point #4 — This is the finish line, and an ideal place for your primary Call to Action.
Predicting where the user’s eye will go can be a huge advantage. Before arranging the elements on your page, prioritize the most and least important ones. Once you know what you want your users to see, it’s just a simple matter of placing them in the pattern’s “hot spots” for the right interactions.
You can even extend the Z Pattern throughout the entirety of the page, repeating Points 1-4 if you feel that more value propositions are needed before the call-toaction. As you’ll see below, this is exactly what Evernote does by starting with a “Sign Up Now” call-to-action, guiding users through a few selling points, and finishing their “repeated Z pattern” with payment option calls-to-action.

1. Contrast: Generating Interest

To best explain the use of contrast, let’s go back to Luke Wroblewski. Plainly put, contrast is the occurrence of two different elements positioned close together. In web UI design, these elements can be colors (more in Chapter 5), textures, shapes, direction, or size, to name the important ones.
Alternating between different sized fonts and colors creates an instant hierarchy to your interface. For instance, as you can see below for Constant Contact, changing from a light background to dark background immediately separates the primary call to action of “Try it FREE” from the navigation menu and secondary “Call Us” call to action. Combined with the Z-pattern of the site, the treatment provides a clear visual hierarchy that highlights the email submission form followed by the mid-page navigation menu.
Brandon Jones, looks at how the use of color and size affect first impressions of objects in an interface. Using the below image as an example, most people won’t just see two circles on first glance — instead, they’ll likely see “a black circle and a smaller red circle”. In this sense, contrast in interface items is very powerful since differentiation is the default human response.

“differentiation is a default human response.”

1. Tools of The Trade: Color, Size, and Space

When “painting” the web interface, don’t forget to use your most powerful visual tools: color, size, and space. Alex Bigman believes that colors and size manage attention, while spacing helps manage visual relationships.

1. Color

In a nutshell, bright colors stand out from muted colors. This may seem obvious, but the important takeaway is its application: you can exploit this to draw your user’s attention where you want. Additionally, certain colors can help set the mood of the entire site (blues are tranquil, reds are aggressive, etc.).
Psychology of Colors in UI Design
Fitbit’s use of color in their Z-pattern interface above is especially clever. The bright use of magenta immediately places the calls to action near the top of the visual hierarchy, but also matches the color of the “Get Active” button — subconsciously signaling that the two concepts are related. Similar shades of blue are also used in the fitness goals and product sections, which cleverly creates an association between the two (and draws clicks to the most valuable parts of the interface).

1. Size

Size, particularly for text, is a powerful tool in that it circumvents the traditional rules of left-to-right and up-to-down reading. That means a large word or phrase in the bottom right-hand corner might be the first thing a person reads. Moreover, size can add emphasis to the actual message or content, making it more significant.
Photo Credit: uixwithme
When it comes to the size of text, a typography study conducted by Smashing Magazine on 50 popular website interfaces found that headings usually stay between 18 and 29 pixels with body copy ranging between 12 and 14 pixels. Of course, this is just a guideline (and will apply more to content-heavy sites), but shows that you still want to maintain a sense of proportion.

1. Space

One of the most important tricks in making something pretty is the absolute absence of something pretty. Cluttering too many attractive images together is a quick way to ruin them all. It’s important that your web interface has breathing room and that you space everything out. Reducing the amount of “visual noise” will make the points you want to keep even stronger.

“One of the most tricks to making something pretty is the absence of somthing pretty.”

In fact, Dmitry Fadeyev, founder of Usaura, advises that white space actually improves comprehension. A 2004 study found that strategic use of white space improved comprehension by almost 20%. While spacing didn’t affect how people performed on the website, it did affect user satisfaction and experience (which is equally, if not more, important). As you can see above, the large content margin, padding, and paragraph spacing used by Houzz makes the content easier to read (and encourages interaction with links and sidebars).

1. Test Your Visual Hierarchy: Blur Technique

Now that we’ve discussed how different interface elements affect visual prioritization, let’s look at a simple way to test your hierarchy. Designer at Rackspace Lee Munroe offers a great method we’ll call the Blurring Technique.
Basically, look at a blurred version of your site and see what elements stand out. If it’s not what you want to stand out, it’s time to go back and make some revisions. The blurred version will present a bare bones representation of your visual hierarchy, allowing you to evaluate your interface fresh without any distractions. To spare your eyesight (or a trip to the bar), take a screenshot of your site and add a 5-10 px Gaussian blur in Photoshop.
Photo: uixwithme.com
Wufoo’s homepage passes the blur test because the prominent items are the sign up and product feature buttons, both of which should be priorities on any homepage. The shape of the sign up bar makes it stand out, while the white space around the features buttons draws the eye by creating “breathing room”.
Selecting and Applying Web UI Patterns
Once you’ve determined the overall visual hierarchy of the website, you still need to determine the fine details of your web interface such as how users can input data, how the site provides feedback, and many other functional and aesthetic factors. The best ways to consistently address these needs are UI patterns. You’ll rarely be able to create an interface just by stitching different patterns together, but they are a great foundation for customization.
In Web UI Design Patterns 2017, we explained the proper application of web UI patterns by looking at 63 examples from sites like Facebook or Pinterest. A UI design pattern is a reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem — not just a feature that can be plugged into your design or a finished design ready to be coded. It’s best to think of them as best practices for core site functions such as:

Getting Input — How will users provide you data, and how will the site give them feedback?
Navigation — What menus and tabs will guide the user along?
Content Structuring — How is your content presented and accessed?
Social Sharing — How can your site encourage more social sharing and interaction?
Photo: uixwithme
Anders Toxboe, designer at Benjamin Interactive in Copenhagen, theorizes that patterns can aid a site in three ways: context, flow, and implementation.
The broadest benefit of patterns, implementation, is the most cut-and-dry. A search box should be in the upper right-hand corner, form labels should be directly under the field box, etc. Instead of recreating the hierarchy for each page, a UI pattern ensures site-wide consistency.
When using patterns for flow, things get a bit more interesting. Patterns of this type force the designer to answer critical questions about their site. Would my site benefit more from lazy or account registration? What is the best way to get input from my users, given my target audience and the type of site? (Answering these questions will be easier by referencing your personas and scenarios from the previous chapter.)
Last (but in the grand scheme of things, first) we have patterns of context. This is basically choosing what type of site you want, and following patterns specific to that type. For example, let’s say you’re building a site for a professional entertainer: you’ll need to include things like an event calendar, biography, and portfolio. If you’re making a ecommerce site, you won’t get very far without a checkout system.

“UI Patterns help a site in 3 ways: context, flow, and implementation”

1. Selecting The Right UI Patterns

The process for selecting a UI pattern can be simplified as:

1. Figure out the problems that need to be solved.
   
2. Find out how others have solved it.
   
3. Examine a good example of its use on other sites.
   
4. Detail the patterns proper usage.
   

The criteria for determining the right pattern is elaborated on by Melissa Joy Kung, Editor-in-Chief of Technori, in her post about the topic. While the above process is focused on finding the right patterns, hers discusses how to decide whether or not a pattern is right for you. She illustrates her points through the example of a “ratings” style pattern used by Rotten Tomatoes:
1. Define the pattern — Understand what the pattern does. As shown above, the ratings patterns gives users quick feedback and allows their voice to be heard, plus it is useful in collecting user data.

1. Find a strong example — Search the web and find a site that uses the pattern well, in this case, Rotten Tomatoes.
   
2. List the problems the pattern solves — For the ratings example, it creates more reliable and direct feedback, it makes the site more interactive and fun, and it gives the users’ opinions more weight, which they appreciate.
   
3. Know when to use the pattern — Be aware of when the pattern is appropriate. A ratings pattern is used when your product requires additional feedback, or when you want to expand on existing feedback like a written review.
   
4. Know how to use the pattern — Know the technical details. A good use of the rating pattern will include an aggregated average of the user ratings, an option to change the rating later, a display that lights up when you hover on it, a cue to let the user know their rating is accepted, etc.
   

1. Pattern Libraries

Unless you’re a hardened UI designer with years of experience, it’s hard to keep track of all the patterns at your disposal. Missing out on a useful pattern can waste your time with finding a solution that others have thought of already. In order to stay up-to-date, below are some quick references for pattern libraries.
UI Patterns — A convenient web pattern library with patterns organized by category; however, it has not been updated recently.

Pattern Tap — A community of designers for web design education and resources.

Web UI Kit — Collection of 30 patterns compatible for Axure, Omnigraffle, Photoshop and Sketch.
For a comprehensive source of UI patterns, you can check out this listing of over 40 online pattern libraries from Smashing Magazine.
Takeaway
Understanding visual hierarchy and applying design patterns are two of the most important skills in good web UI design. They are fundamental and interconnected: once you know how to visually prioritize information, you’ll have a better grasp of how to apply existing design patterns.
Prioritize your interface based on how people scan for information. Then, apply color, contrast, color, size, and spacing for further accentuation. In the next chapter, we’ll delve deeper into design principles, specifically more of the “why” behind the hierarchies and patterns we’ve discussed.
Reference: uixwithme & Web UI Design Best Practice
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