Sieena's Redesign of Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey's Website Connects the Hospital, its Visitors and Partners

LOS ANGELES, Jun. 14, 2011 / --Sieena (www.sieena.com), a leading nearshore software development firm specializing in Microsoft technologies, announces the launch of the upgraded website for Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey and Santos y De la Garza Evia Foundation, www.hsj.com.mx. The new site design greatly enhances navigation for users to easily find information from both institutions.

The former website contained valuable information, but the design and structure made it difficult for visitors to find the right information and to be aware of the connection between the two institutions. "Sieena is focused on helping us serve the needs of our visitors and partners," says Juan Eduardo Lopez Falconi, Director of Communications and Marketing, at Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey. "Our new website demonstrates that Sieena understands the hospital's needs, operations, and goals."

Sieena made sure to meet Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey's principal objectives:

• Integration -Unify the websites of the hospital and its partner without losing the unique essence of each one.
• Services Promotion -Create a website where the services of all institutions are clearly stated and promoted.
• Interaction- Provide visitors with a more intuitive and productive experience.
• Branding -Present a renovated website parallel to the services provided in the hospital.

About Sieena

Sieena is a nearshore software development firm specializing in Microsoft technologies. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Sieena builds and maintains business-critical web platforms and is a certified Microsoft Gold Partner. For more information, visit www.sieena.com or for media inquiries, contact Alice Gomez of DIALOGO at alice@dialogo.us.

About Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey

Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey is a world-class hospital accredited by the Joint Commission International in 2007 for its high quality and best-in-class patient care. Since 1969, the hospital has focused on the well-being of its patients by providing the right mix of cutting edge technology, warm and compassionate care, and the best medical professionals and procedures, in a cost effective way. For more information, visit www.hsj.com.mx.

Principles Of Design

By Guillermo Cedillo

There are four principles of design: balance, emphasis, rhythm, and unity. These principles of design help you to combine the visual elements into a good design.

Balance

Visual interest is what you balance in design. Different colors, shapes sizes, etc. create different degrees of interest. It is the distribution of this interest that you need to control.

Each element on a layout has visual weight that is determined by its size, darkness or lightness, and thickness of lines. There are two basic approaches to balance: symmetrical and asymmetrical.

Symmetrical balance is an arrangement of elements so that they are evenly distributed to the left and to the right of center. Symmetrical balance can communicate strength and stability and is appropriate for traditional and conservative publications, presentations, and web sites. Asymmetrical balance can imply contrast, variety, movement, surprise, and informality. It is appropriate for modern and entertaining publications, presentations, and web sites.

Symmetrical balance is achieved by placing elements in a very even fashion in the design. If you have a large, heavy element on the right side, you'll have a matching heavy element on the left. Centering is the easiest way to get a symmetrically balanced page. But be careful, as it can be difficult to create a centered design that doesn't look flat or boring. If you want a symmetrically balanced design, it's better to create the balance with different elements - such as an image on the left and a large block of heavier text to the right of it.

Asymmetrical balance is an arrangement of unlike objects of equal weight on each side of the page. Color, value, size, shape, and texture can be used as balancing elements. Asymmetrically balanced pages can be more challenging to design - as they don't have elements matched across the centerline of the design. For example, you might have a large element placed very close to the centerline of the design. To balance it asymmetrically, you might have a small element farther away from the centerline. If you think of your design as being on a teeter-totter or seesaw, a lighter element can balance a heavier one by being further away from the center of gravity. You can also use color or texture to balance an asymmetrical design.

Sometimes the purpose of the design makes an off-balance or discordant design work well. Designs that are off-balance suggest motion and action. They make people uncomfortable or uneasy. If the content of your design is also intended to be uncomfortable or make people think, a discordantly balanced design can work well.

Rhythm

Rhythm in design is also known asrepetition. Rhythm is a pattern created by repeating elements that are varied that allows your designs to develop an internal consistency that makes it easier for your customers to understand. Once the brain recognizes the pattern in the rhythm it can relax and understand the whole design.

Repetition (repeating similar elements in a consistent manner) and variation (a change in the form, size, or position of the elements) are the keys to visual rhythm. Placing elements in a layout at regular intervals creates a smooth, even rhythm and calm, relaxing mood. Sudden changes in the size and spacing of elements creates a fast, lively rhythm and an exciting mood.

Gestalt

Gestalt is a general description for the concepts that make unity and variety possible in design. It’s an ability of the mind to see unified “wholes” from the sum of complex visual parts. Some principles of gestalt are Proximity, Similarity, Continuance, Closure, Uniform Connectedness, and 1+1=3 Effects.

Emphasis

Emphasis (or dominance) in design provides the focal point for the piece. It is a way of making the element that is most important stand out in the design. Every layout needs a focal point to draw the reader’s eye to the important part of the layout. Generally, a focal point is created when one element is different from the rest but is necessary to avoid too many focal points, because it will defeat the purpose. When everything has equal emphasis at best it can make the piece appear busy, and at worst the design will be boring and unappealing.

Emphasis can be achieved by:

· Using semantic markup will provide some emphasis, even without any styles.

· Change the size of fonts or images to emphasize or de-emphasize them in the design. Use bold, black type for headings and subheads and much lighter text for all other text. Place a large picture next to a small bit of text.

· Using contrasting colors can provide emphasis. Use a series of evenly spaced, square photographs next to an outlined photograph with an unusual shape.

· Put an important piece of text on a curve or an angle while keeping all of the other type in straight columns.

· Use colored type or an unusual font for the most important information.

Unity

Unity (or proximity) helps all the elements look like they belong together. Readers need visual cues to let them know the piece is one unit-the text, headline, photographs, graphic images, and captions all go together. Elements that are positioned close to one another are related while elements that are farther apart are less related.

Unity can be accomplished by:

· Been consistent with the type font, sizes, and styles for headings, subheads, captions, headers, footers, etc. throughout the publication, presentation, or web site.

· Positioning elements that are to one another are related while elements that are farther apart are less related.

· Using only one or two typestyles and vary size or weight for contrast throughout the report.

· Repeat a color, shape, or texture in different areas throughout.

· Choose visuals that share a similar color, theme, or shape.

References

Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton.http://webstyleguide.com/

Gestalt psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_perception

Unity In Design: Creating Harmony Between Design Elements, by Steven Bradley
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/design-unity/

Art 104: Design and Composition
http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/Default.htm

The Basics of Graphic Design
http://www.online.tusc.k12.al.us/tutorials/grdesign/grdesign.htm

Sharepoint Designer 2010 – Removing Web Cache.

By Omar L.

Sometimes when we are working with SharePoint Designer 2010, some files are shown as “checked out” when we don’t have them clearly in that status. That generates conflicts in the source control and versioning.

This common problem can cause waste of time and losses of code.

The problem lies in the "local web cache.”

Solution.

With the following script in CMD, I will show how to solve this problem quickly. Which we will save as a file type .bat

1. Open Notepad
2. Copy the following script.

cd "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache"
del *.web /S /Q "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache"
cd "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache\"
rmdir /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache\."
mkdir "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache"
dir "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache"
dir "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache"
pause

3. Save it as .bat
4. Run the .bat

And with this we remove the local web cache in our Sharepoint Desinger 2010.

I hope you find this small tutorial helpful.

Regards.

Principles of Design

The four essential elements for creating captivating websites

The four principles of design are balance, rhythm, emphasis and unity. Each one of them is essential for bringing together the different visual elements that are necessary to achieving a strong design, which, in turn, is imperative for a website to succeed on any level. What follows is an examination of each principle, with insights about how to incorporate them into your own Web design for optimal results.

Balance — Different colors, shapes and sizes can create different degrees of what is called “visual interest” on a Web page. It is important that pages are designed to hold a user’s interest without overwhelming them or causing distraction away from the elements most important to conversion goals. As such, distribution of this interest needs to be controlled and balanced by considering each element in a layout and its “visual weight” — determined by its size, shade and thickness of lines.

Symmetrical balance is achieved by placing elements in the design evenly. If you place a large, heavy element on the right side, you will have a matching heavy element on the left. Centering is the easiest way to get a symmetrically balanced page. But be careful, as it can be difficult to create a centered design that doesn’t look flat. For symmetrically balanced design, it is better to create the balance with different elements — an image on the left and a large block of text to the right of it, for example.

Asymmetrical balance is an arrangement of unlike objects of equal weight on each side of the page. Color, value, size, shape and texture can be used as balancing elements. However, asymmetrically balanced pages can be more challenging to design, as elements are not matched across the centerline of the design.

For example, you might have a large element placed very close to the centerline of the design. To balance it asymmetrically, you could place a small element farther away from the centerline. If you think of your design as being on a teeter-totter or seesaw, a lighter element can balance a heavier one by being further away from the center of gravity. You can also use color or texture to balance an asymmetrical design.

Sometimes the purpose of the website itself makes an off-balance design the right choice. Designs that are off-balance suggest motion and action. They make people uncomfortable or uneasy. If the content of your design is also intended to be uncomfortable or make people think, a discordantly balanced design can work well.

Rhythm — Rhythm in design is also known as repetition — a pattern created by repeating elements that are varied, allowing your designs to develop an internal consistency that makes it easier for your customers to understand. Once the brain recognizes the pattern in the rhythm it can relax and understand the whole design.

Repetition (repeating similar elements in a consistent manner) and variation (a change in the form, size or position of the elements) are the keys to visual rhythm. Placing elements in a layout at regular intervals creates a smooth, even rhythm and calm, relaxing mood. Sudden changes in the size and spacing of elements creates a fast, lively rhythm and an exciting mood.

Gestalt is a general description for concepts that make unity and variety possible in design. The mind has the ability to see unified “wholes” from the sum of complex visual parts. Some principles of gestalt are proximity, similarity, continuance, closure, uniform connectedness and 1+1=3 effects.

Emphasis — Emphasis (or dominance) in design provides the focal point for the piece, enabling the most important design element to stand out. To draw the reader to the important part of the piece, every layout needs a focal point.

Generally, a focal point is created when one element is different from the rest. However, to maximize emphasis, it is necessary to avoid too many focal points, so as not to dilute the dominant effect. When all elements are given equal emphasis, it can make the piece appear busy, at best, or even boring and unappealing.

Emphasis can be achieved in the following ways:

• Using semantic markup to provide some emphasis, even without styles.
• Changing the size of fonts or images to emphasize or de-emphasize them in the design.
• Using bold, black type for headings and subheads and much lighter text for all other content. Placing a large picture next to a small bit of text.
• Using contrasting colors. For example, using a series of evenly spaced, square photographs next to an outlined photograph with an unusual shape.
• Placing an important piece of text on a curve or an angle while keeping all of the other type in straight columns.
• Using colored type or an unusual font for the most important information.

Unity — Unity (or proximity) helps all the elements look like they belong together. Readers need visual cues to let them know an article is one unit — the text, headline, photographs, graphic images and captions all go together. Elements that are positioned close to one another are related while elements that are farther apart are less so.

Unity can be accomplished through the following methods:

• Being consistent with the type font, sizes and styles for headings, subheads, captions, headers and footers throughout the website.
• Positioning elements so that those close to one another are related, while elements that are farther apart have less of a relationship.
• Using only one or two type styles and various size or weight for contrast throughout the site.
• Repeating a color, shape or texture in different areas throughout.
• Choosing visuals that share a similar color, theme or shape.

Web users rely heavily on visual clues when making decisions about a website — whether to click and explore, consider a purchase or sign up for a service. This is even more pronounced for first-time visitors when the decision to stay on-site or abandon is made in just a few seconds. Follow these four design principles and you can be sure that your users and new visitors will stay engaged with your website.

About the Author: Guillermo Cedillo is responsible for the design and implementation of modifications of different Web, desktop and mobile applications as a User Interface Designer for Sieena. Sieena is a Nearshore software development firm specializing in Microsoft technologies, with operations in Los Angeles and Monterrey, Mexico.