Soflex Online: Sarasota Web Design & Development

There are fundamental differences between designing for the Web and print.  Print design is beautiful and fundamental.  There is a lovely physical quality to the final finished product.  A fine orchestration of design taste, color, photography, writing, and message.  But if you will allow me,  paper and ink hasn’t changed much in several hundred years. One must agree that it becomes more and more challenging to create Websites as technology changes faster and faster.  Designers and developers spend their days creating and coding extremely difficult projects, and spending their “spare time”  constantly learning and experimenting.  This is an absolute must.   There is always new software to learn, new coding to produce, new CSS styles, new standards that aren’t always so standard, and an ever growing plethora of browsers,  mobile devices, and contending with numerous “canvases” from extreme high resolution monitors to those who still surf at 800 x 600 pixels.   Recently I had the good fortune to work with a fine print designer, however we both would admit  it was indeed challenging to translate his print design to the Web.  

Although both of us had over 25 years of design experience each, we were indeed  speaking two different languages.  He spoke of “fit and finish” and agonized to great detail over photoshop renderings over kerning and line spacing, and the physical construction of the design.  Those who work on the Web everyday know that kerning is out the window, and  line spacing must be quite generous even for the viewer to be able to discern the type.   The science of perception on a Web screen is quite different than reading paragraphs of print type. 

Experienced Web designers are very conscientious and meticulous when it comes to what is best for the user.  Ornate bitmapped type, although certainly very beautiful in print will never translate that well on the Web.  Nor will the search engine even be able to read or detect it.  We study and work towards extreme ease of use, and consider human factors and the science of perception on the Web.  My lesson has been indeed learned.  When working with print and Web one must realize that they are indeed two different mediums with their own characteristics that must be given due consideration by all.  Not all print techniques will  translate at all on the Web.  Your Web designer will do their best to guide you to understanding this exciting medium.  But it takes patience for all in order to create true functional design that comunicates in both mediums and leaves both designers happy with the finished product.

Online communities present a magnificent opportunity to promote your group, company or organization.  Soflex Online.com specializes in creating online communities, and we hope our WikiZine will help you take your dreams to the next level.  These days user created content for the Web is creating terrific opportunities for collaboration, public relations and building a deeper more meaningful brand and experience for your users.

The Web is providing a richer experience for all of us these days, as millions of people gather together and share their ideas through their own personal blogs, Wikipedia, Podcasts, Twitter, Flicker, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook, My Space, Wikis, Moodle Online Learning, and countless other  bustling centers of information.   Social media on the Web is exploding with a vast diversity of subject matter and is bringing new ideas to individuals faster than ever before.  We all are learning and experiencing exponentially as our collective efforts provide fruitful inspiration, or just provide a welcome relief of humor or joy in these harsh economic times.

For example, what person hasn’t been touched by the incredible video of Susan Boyle on You-Tube?  Literally in one week’s time she’s touched the lives of millions of viewers  around the world on You-Tube.  This is far more people than actually were able to see the initial broadcast in Britian.   Her voice literally filled the Web on an international scale.  She lifted spirits, even pulled tears of amazement from many, and had a great emotional impact on all of us.  This shows the power of user-created content.  Sound, written words, and video can be shared at lightning speed from anywhere in the world by anyone who embraces the technology.

Sheer brilliance can be shared on an exponential basis by visiting Websites such as TED.com.  Magnificient people who are at the top of their fields, provide stimulating and thought provoking videos on the site.   Videos can be freely embedded from that Website to your own.  What a terrific idea if you are wanting to expand on a certain subject that your group or company is working on.

Diane Michel, a Senior Web Producer of Soflex Online.com, and founder of  Global Medical Research.org announced today that her group now has 155 noteworthy members from around the world.  Global Medical Research.org concentrates on enabling collaboration among medical researchers and computer scientists within critical health domains, as indicated by the World Health Organization. 

Interested medical researchers, and computer scientists  can join the collaboration group through linkedin.com.

AccucheckerLLC.com, a medical technology management firm, designed by Soflex Online of Sarasota, Florida has now gone live.  The Web design and custom software development company has recently expanded it’s client list to include global medical companies such as AccucheckerLLC.

Accuchecker LLC, Inc. develops and markets high quality healthcare reimbursement software systems and management services.  The company provides excellence in healthcare education, technology, software, community involvement and research.

Soflex Online is proud to announce it’s latest Website design project AnalyzerExpress.com has gone live.  The Website  features a powerful medical cost containment system, which carefully analyzes medical billing accuracy and adjudicates medical claims for private practice physicians.   Soflex developed the Website and built the programming  technology behind the medical software in collaboration with AccucheckerLLC, headquartered in Miami, Florida.

About AnalyzerExpress:

Analyzer Express is the only claims scrubber with healthcare industry and adjudication capabilities. (Adjudication is the process of judging a medical claim and indicating through careful analysis of rules and regulations what the accurate medical claim payment should be.) Analyzer Express implements advanced technology to scrub, analyze and re-price medical services. 

The software is state of the art, and to insure smooth user friendly support, the Website features an immediate 24 hour support ticketing and tracking to assist physicians and their medical practice personnel.

In today’s economic climate, all business owners should aim for getting the most return on their investment for advertising dollars.  If your business is feeling the pinch of the times, there are certain proactive steps you can certainly do to protect yourself and your wallet.  First, take full advantage of the free advertising power of the Internet.   It’s not always necessary or economically viable to pay for click advertising.  Through simple steps such as natural organic search optimization, your Website is sure to come up higher in search engine rankings.  All it takes is a strategy based on your keywords, and optimization experience to promote your Website.  Ranking for your specific industry’s keywords on the first page is a gift that keeps on giving to your company, livlihood, and your employees who count on you for a living.

These days consumers are now even more reluctant to go about and spend time, gas money and energy to go to traditional box stores.  More and more see the benefits of online shopping as a way to quickly and efficiently purchase what they need.  Those store owners and business owners who have practical, useful Websites for needed products will definitely see the results of this shift in consumer spending. 

Soflex Online has substantial experience in organic search campaigns.  With over 8 years experience in the Web industry, and 20 years in high end software development we do have the technology and know how to get your company perculating and busy with customers.  We can also build back end tracking and administrative systems that perfectly tie in to your existing company systems.  SEO experts claim to be everwhere and everyone, and so do Web designers.  But please  for your company’s sake do choose wisely.  Look for design and optimization companies with proven experience and reliability.  Our history speaks for itself withover 61 custom Websites designed, programmed  and marketed by our talented and professional staff.

Soflex Online recently completed the H.F. Michell’s Website design.  The Website’s graphic design was created by Soflex, and programming completed by MCS Technologies.

The Website was designed for professional growers and distributors of plant seed.  It features thousands of varieties of seed, a custom built inventory and sales system, and a new fast find feature.   The Website also contains numerous search filters which help identify seed by variety, color, coating, and other specifications. 

 Most volume seed buyers such as Home Depot, and Walmart, both customers of H.F. Michell’s, often purchase through numerous vendor sites within one session.  Therefore ease of use was of prime importance. 

Soflex Website Producer, Diane Michel created a new Fast Find Feature which allows users to quickly find areas of the site that are most useful to them.  Fast Find is coded in Javascript and quickly comes to the forefront throughout the site at the when the user needs it the most.

Soflex Online Quick Find

What makes for a great Website design as opposed to a mediocre one?  Every Web Design shop now has essentially the same software tools such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop etc.  However as with all things, it is not just the tool that creates a great design it is the talent and ideas behind it.  It is a concentrated and orchestrated effort to create a Web design that is highly usable, efficient, visually attractive and get’s it’s message across to the consumer.

It is unfortunate that many Website design companies tend to rely these days on stock templates that they merely change a bit for each customer.  This cheapens the craft and creates a large number of Websites that look practically the same.  The customer deserves a unique and custom Website design tailored specificially to their needs and their target audience in order to be truly effective.

For nine years Soflex Online has had the pleasure of creating  over 61 fully custom designed and programmed Websites.  Before we write one line of code, or produce a Webdesign mock-up; we take the time to throughly understand your Website target audience, and how to meet their needs in an efficient, satisfying and visually attractive manner.  We are members of the Human Factors Computing Group, and the Usability Professionals Association.  Our designers have worked specifically with Website customers  and have achieved a strong track record of professional excellence.  We take great pride in our design and development work and assure you that your Website design experience will be a successful one.

What defines usability?

1. Learnability: Is the system easy to learn so users can start working right away?

2. Efficiency: Is it efficient to use; can work be completed productively?

3. Memorability: Is it easy to remember how to use the system?

4. Errors: System should have low error rate, and users should be able to easily recover from them.

5. Satisfaction: Is the system pleasant to use? Do users like using the product; and is the experience satisfying?

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Ten Usability Heuristics of Jakob Nielsen

These are ten general principles for user interface design. They are called “heuristics” because they are more in the nature of rules of thumb than specific usability guidelines

Visibility of system status
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

Match between system and the real world
The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.

User control and freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.

Consistency and standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.
Follow platform conventions.

Error prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.

Recognition rather than recall
Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.

Flexibility and efficiency of use
Accelerators ”unseen by the novice user ”may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

Aesthetic and minimalist design
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

Help and documentation
Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

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References:
Barnum, C. (2002). Usability testing and research. Longman: New York.

Neilsen, J. (2003) Usability 101: Introduction to usability. Retrieved August 30, 2007, from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html

MedOne Surgical Instruments of Sarasota, Florida’s new Website design went live today on October 28, 2008.

MedOne develops, manufactures, markets and distributes high quality specialty surgical products worldwide. Their focus is on products for vitreoretinal surgery and special instrumentation for neurotology and skull base surgery.

MedOne’s Website redesign was created by Senior Web Producer, Diane Michel of Soflex Online.  The Website features a clean minimalist look.  The site was designed to provide fast clear information for surgical facilities and medical professionals worldwide.