Building a Dynamic Medical Device Web Site: An Industry Primer

Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry Magazine
MDDI Article Index

INTO THE INTERNET
Originally Published June 2000

Joe Dysart

Not long ago, a device company interested in creating a stellar Web site would have been obliged to hire a programming wizard who would then embark on seemingly unending, tedious coding. Recently, however, this scenario has improved considerably, as a veritable slew of new software tools have emerged that can help site designers simplify and automate the process. Eye-catching photography, audio/video streaming, 3-D imaging, and many other Web special effects are now within the grasp of any design-hungry PC user.

Indeed, given that every device firm with an on-line presence is continually seeking ways for its site to be more compelling than the competition, such tools are heavily in demand. What follows in this article is a representative sampling of tried-and-true programs that can catapult any company's site beyond the ordinary—along with a review of how such programs are being used on some of the industry's more-effective sites.

Not surprisingly, most device industry site designers are already using at least some of these tools; however, not many companies have yet leveraged a wide spectrum of these programs to create a truly distinctive Web presence. The best of the sites reflect a recognition that site design involves much more than merely planting a flag on the Internet or plastering a billboard in cyberspace. Instead, these sites are designed to be places of first contact, of information transmission, and of subsequent commerce— interactive tools where prospective and existing customers can learn about a company and conduct business, at least on a limited scale.

At the same time, these sites do not make the mistake of becoming technological homages to their creators. Such modern-day white elephants—showy, forever-to-download sites that may look flashy but are actually impediments to effective business—are an all-too-common sight on the Internet.

Generally speaking, all of the software tools detailed below will run easily on an entry-level Pentium or comparable computer with at least 32 Mbyte of RAM. However, anyone planning on devoting significant time to Web design will find life much easier with a slightly more-powerful machine—for example, a Pentium II or similar PC with 128-Mbyte RAM and at least a 10-Gbyte hard drive.

GENERAL SITE CONSTRUCTION

For a company serious about building a useful Web site, Dreamweaver 3.0 by Macromedia (San Francisco) is one industrial-strength package it will want to employ. The program allows a user to build Web pages using images rather than HTML text, and integrates well with related tools, such as Adobe Photoshop. DreamWeaver makes it possible for images to be selected and resized directly on the Web page being created. It also enables a firm to ensure that its site can be downloaded by visitors using older browsers and can be optimized so that it does not overwrite pages created with other programs. In short, it is a powerful, professional-level tool that is also accessible to the motivated beginner.

A good industry example of what can be achieved with a program like Dreamweaver is St. Louis–based Mallinckrodt's site (http://www.mallinckrodt.com). Insightfully operating under the notion that less is often more on the Web, Mallinckrodt's quick-load site features small but colorful photos and quick, intuitive jumps to key interest areas. The site of the Redmond, WA–based firm Procyt (http://www.procyt.com) uses a similar design theory, with excellent results.

SITE INTERACTIVITY

Generally available as a programming option in any good Web design package, interactivity enables visitors to a company's site to actually begin conducting business with the firm. Salt Lake City–based 3M Health Information Systems's site (http://www.3mhis.com), for example, uses a prominently featured search engine that visitors can use for quick navigation around the site. The site of Adeza Online (Sunnyvale, CA; http://www.adeza.com) offers a download domain where visitors can quickly retrieve product brochures, documentation, white papers, and the like. Another interesting application in interactivity can be found at Franklin Lakes, NJ–based Becton Dickinson's site (http://www.bd.com), where an effectively deployed search engine offers quick jumps to key interest areas.

Figure 1. DHD's dealer locator facilitates visitor searches.

Other interactive applications can be found at the sites of DHD Healthcare (Wampsville, NY; http://www.dhd.com) and FloMet (DeLand, FL; http://www.flomet.com) (Figures 1 and 2). DHD's site allows users to punch in their zip code to find the nearest dealer. Metal-injection molder FloMet offers an over-the-Net file-transfer service for existing clients.

Figure 2. FloMet's file-transfer service provides an example of a Web-based business transaction interface.

IMAGE CREATION AND MANAGEMENT

Although business users with only peripheral graphics needs can probably get away with a less-expensive program, for serious graphics aficionados nothing will suffice but Photoshop 5.5 from Adobe (San Jose). Virtually everything that can be done to an image—combining, painting, modifying, or applying nearly unlimited filtering effects—can be accomplished with Photoshop. New features include multiple levels of undo, text that is extremely customizable, and a magnetic pen and lasso.

The power of top-flight image creation can be seen on the sites of companies like the sterilization supplier MDS Nordion (Kanata, ON, Canada; http://www.mdsnordion.com) (Figure 3), which uses a dramatic photo collage on its home page to help symbolize the company's mission.

Figure 3. The photo collage on MDS Nordion's home page dramatizes the company's services.

Despite its versatility, there are some things Photoshop can't do, or can't do without considerable effort. Enter Eye Candy 3.0 from Alien Skin Software (Raleigh, NC), a Photoshop add-on that enables users to create graphic effects more easily and with arguably more-dramatic results. Eye Candy's latest version features 11 new filters, for a total of 21.

CONVERTING IMAGE FORMATS

DeBabelizer Pro 4.5 from Equilibrium (Sausalito, CA) may not be all things to all graphics formats, but it comes close. The program provides translations between more than 100 graphic file formats, enabling designers to essentially grab a computer graphic from anywhere and include it on their sites. The newest version of the program incorporates some serious new digital designer tools, including shave and outline features, for isolating objects digitized against blue screens and other backgrounds, and a pixel-shift function for creating sophisticated scrolling backgrounds.

ADDING ANIMATION

All too frequently, animation-creation software seems to be designed by "digerati" determined to make you pay your dues before you can uncover its secrets. Thankfully, this isn't the case with WebSpice Animations from DeMorgan Industries (Ridgefield, CT). Users can simply insert the CD-ROM, point-and-click four or five times, and lift the animation they want directly from the program to their Web page. Among the available design options are animated 3-D objects, letters, words, buttons, and arrows.

A number of device companies are employing animation to energize their sites. For example, Fullerton, CA–based Beckman Coulter's site (http://www.coulter.com) uses animated product photos on its home page (Figure 4), whereas Aerogen's site (Sunnyvale, CA; http://www.aerogen.com) uses a subtly animated aerosol logo to help create a livelier Web presence. Another impressive application of animation can be seen on the site of ChromaVision (San Juan Capistrano, CA; http://www.chromavision.com), where its advanced cellular-imaging system comes to life.

Figure 4. Beckman Coulter uses animated photos on its site to enhance graphics.

VIRTUAL REALITY

While considered fairly sophisticated, panoramic virtual reality is nevertheless being used by some sites to create 360° "walkarounds" or "walkthroughs" of products, company headquarters, and the like. The standard-bearer of panoramic virtual reality software is QuickTime VR by Cupertino, CA–based Apple. With QuickTime VR, users essentially construct virtual reality scenarios by photographing a product or facility from different angles and then "stitching" the scenes together with the software to create a 360°, navigable experience.

GOING 3-D

Too often, the use of three-dimensional images on the Web has resulted in bloated sites with difficult-to-create, slow-loading graphics that have little value for e-commerce. With the Canoma program from MetaCreations (Carpenteria, CA), however, site designers can quickly transform many of their 2-D photos and images to easily downloaded 3-D versions. The software's automatic graphics-distribution system renders the resolution of the 3-D image—from simple to complex—according to the bandwidth speed of each individual visitor's browser, further shortening download time. Another tool to foster smooth downloading of 3-D and other images—including animation—is WebRazor Pro by Ulead Systems (Los Angeles).

AUDIO/VIDEO STREAMING

An increasingly popular offering on many sites is the inclusion of streaming audio and/or video. The current industry-standard provider of these capabilities is Real Networks (Seattle), which produces the RealAudio and RealVideo Pro Bundle, which provides accessibility to the more than 115 million RealPlayer users. The program's video scaling feature allows video of any size to be imported and scaled down for use on the Web. Optimal-bandwidth programming enables the presentation to be adapted to the specific bandwidth of the individual user, whether that entails an underpowered 28.8 modem or a high-speed T-3 Internet connection.

Among device industry sites, that of Bayer Corp. (Pittsburgh; http://www.bayerus.com), presents both live and archived audio/video feeds of speeches by company executives and other events (Figure 5). The site of EMCLab 2000, an EMC test services firm (Mountain View, CA; http://www.emclab2000.com), offers an on-line streaming audio/video tour of its facility. And at Alameda, CA–based Calypte Biomedical's site (http://www.calypte.com), audio/video feeds are available of recent televised media coverage (Figure 6).

Figure 5. Bayer Corp.'s Web site features moving graphics and colorful images to enliven the user experience.

Figure 6. Calypte Biomedical provides live audio/video news feeds on its Web page.

SALES-TRANSACTION SOFTWARE

Even if a company's Web site features a fabulous, user-friendly design, it will fall short of achieving its bottom-line objective if potential customers are not comfortable with the purchasing process. One solution is Catalog 3.0 from Actinic (East Brunswick, NJ), a product that enables users to build a complete on-line Web store. Catalog offers 128-bit encryption for credit cards—the same encryption technology approved for use by many major banks—predesigned templates for quick e-commerce site design; autocalculation of delivery charges based on geography, weight, and other pertinent factors; and a number of additional performance features culled from existing user input.

A successful industry model of on-line ordering can be found at Palo Alto, CA–based Agilent's site (http://www.healthcare.agilent.com), which has an extremely efficient system featuring crisp product photos and error-proof checkout (Figure 7). Bio-Rad (Hercules, CA) also provides an effective purchasing system along with some dramatic product photography at its home page (http://www.bio-rad.com), as does the site of InnerDyne Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA; http://www.innerdyne.com).

Figure 7. To aid users, Agilent offers an efficient on-line ordering system on its site.

CREATING BANNER ADS

Like many indispensable software products, Headline Studio, also from MetaCreations, does one thing very well. Almost effortlessly, it creates Web banner ads—those eye-grabbing bursts of color and text that zip across some commercial Web sites. Headline Studio makes it possible for companies to design banners for their own sites (or to be run on other sites) featuring any number of fades, motion blurs, scalings, and similar effects. A major benefit of the program is that it can fashion banner ads with highly sophisticated effects that are nevertheless extremely quick to download.

Another tool for creating custom Web site banners, backgrounds, buttons, bullets, and the like is NetStudio 2000 by NetStudio (Berkeley, CA). Perhaps the best features of this easy-to-use program are the simple, no-nonsense, learn-by-doing tutorials.

SITE PROMOTION

The best-designed site is ineffectual if potential customers are unaware of its existence. Thus, an essential tool for any business with a new Web site is a program ensuring that word of the company's presence on the Internet gets around in a hurry. Web Site Traffic Builder from Intelliquis (Draper, UT) automatically registers a site with a list of more than 900 Internet search engines that is continually updated via the Web, and automatically places the business in the appropriate category for each search engine. A company can also check the position of its site on the eight most heavily frequented search engines.

TRACKING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR WEB DESIGN

Once a newly designed site is up and running, gauging its success too often represents the great unknown. Who's visiting the site, why are they visiting, and what interests them? Answers to these and other questions are provided by HitList Pro from Accrue Software (Seattle). Armed with all sorts of Web site sniffers and analyzers, the program generates up to 70 predefined reports and 375 tables and graphics. Benefits include information on most-visited pages, most-effective banners and ad campaigns, and current demographic and psychographic data compared with Web site browsing behavior.

CONCLUSION

Even the most technology-resistant holdouts have come to realize that the Internet is here to stay. In today's business environment, a well designed Web site can be as critical to a company's success as a well designed manufacturing facility. Medical product companies competing fiercely to design the best device would be well advised to put the same effort into the creation of the strongest possible on-line presence. The site design tools described in this article can help them achieve that goal.

Joe Dysart is a freelance technical writer based in Thousand Oaks, CA.

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