Tag: Search Functions

By Posted on Posted in PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,
This baby monkey has nothing to do with workers' compensation at all.
This baby monkey has nothing to do with workers compensation at all

This website was recently re-launched on July 6, 2008 in a “blog” style format using WordPress to power everything except the calculators. ((Photo courtesy of nycgeo.))

On July 23, 2008 this website was all of one year old.  That day I made a goal of posting something ((Admittedly, sometimes nonsense.)) every single weekday. ((Even on holiday-weekdays.))  Today is the 100th post on this site and I can’t help feeling somewhat accomplished. ((I’m not exactly ready for NaNoWriMo, but you need to walk before you can run.))

As any website regular can tell, I’m constantly tinkering with this site.  I fully understand constant change might be somewhat disorienting.  On the other hand, I’m making these changes in an effort to improve the appearance and usability of the website.

Most recently, I moved the Medical Provider Network and Links sub-pages to be their own ((Top level)) menu options.  These pages seem to be things people use a lot and really deserve their own spot at the top.  Then again, I don’t want the top menu to be too cluttered.  There’s really no one great solution to this dilemma.

Other changes I’m considering:

  1. Moving the EAMS and WCAB search functions to their own page.  Some users ((I suspect mostly non-attorneys.)) use these functions exclusively and probably don’t appreciate the dozen or so other calculators.
  2. Combining the Blog and Articles pages.  I haven’t done this so far because I doubt people want to sift through my technobabble to learn something about workers’ compensation.

While I have you here:

Drop me a line and let me know.

By Posted on Posted in Calculators, EAMS, PDRater, Website Updates No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

It was not very long ago I announced 100 registered users for this site.  Today there are more than 200 registered users of this website. ((Photo courtesy of Mark Strozier.))  Since that time:

Pass Go, Collect 200
Pass Go, Collect 200

Wikipedia has this to say about the number 200:

  • 200 MeV is the temperature of quark-gluon plasma phase transition.  ((Of course it is…))
  • An HTTP status code indicating a successful connection.
  • The sum of dollars given in the classical Monopoly game to a player passing Go.

By Posted on Posted in Author, Free, PDRater, Subscription Features, Website Updates No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Hands down, the most common question I get is some variation of “free as in FREE?” I was going to add this question to the “frequently asked questions” page, but it’s asked SO often I’ve got to post it here.

Q: Free as in FREE? WHY are these calculators free? Why would you do that?

A: I’ve got a lot of reasons for making these calculators free.

First, I made the decision to not charge for calculations. While this might change in the future, I don’t think it will. The pay-only features don’t give you more calculators or more reliable calculations. Instead, you get a lot of ways to make your calculations even quicker, easier, and convenient by improving the search functions and creating reports.

Second, there are other websites and programs that offer some of the same calculators I do. Some of those are free. No one would use this site unless it offered the same or better service at the same or better price (free).

Third, while you don’t have to pay me anything, I think the pay-only features are useful enough that people will want them. The pay-only features ((Better searching for body part codes, occupational codes, work restrictions, and e-mails with multiple side-by-side ratings, and more.)) are all designed to save you a lot of time and frustration. Most California workers’ compensation professionals have extremely high case loads. Shaving a few minutes off every case would save considerably more time and money than this website’s paltry monthly subscription.

Fourth, as the saying goes, “do what you love and the money will follow.” Heaven help me, I really enjoy working on this site. Over the last year I’ve invested a lot of time in this project.  ((Please please don’t ask me how much.))  Some people collect stamps, some people build things out of toothpicks. I design and program web based calculators for workers’ compensation professionals.