Ciao Chris,
I see some of the InterCity trains do indeed stop at Rifredi and not reach SMN. No matter! Buses and taxis go into traffic so the faster way is still to take the train. Have you bought your tickets yet? You don't have to.... you can wait and get them once you're in Bologna. You buy them at the station, the slow/regional trains don't have assigned seating so there is no need to book ahead of time.
When you buy your ticket to Firenze Rifredi, at the same time, at the train station ask the teller to make sure the train ends in Rifredi and if so, ask to buy the ticket
from Rifredi into
Santa Maria Novella! That way you don't have to go from the tracks down into the station to buy your ticket, you'll already have it in your hand. I've checked on
trenitalia.com and there are trains between Rifredi and SMN every 10-15 minutes throughout the day.
SMN is the central train station in Florence,
Rifredi is the first station out in the direction of Prato and then after that it splits between west and north lines. So if your train does not END in Rifredi, it is likely headed to SMN or to
Campo di Marte (that is the second train station from SMN but leaving to the east and south out of Florence - for example, you'd pass it on your way if you were then headed down to Rome).
If you want to try the buses, the orange ATAF buses have slowly changed colors to white/dark purple

You can buy tickets on the bus but they cost a little bit more. All newspaper agents and tobacco shops sell bus tickets, buy them there before getting on the bus and save a few cents that way.
Regional train and bus tickets in Italy are sold without a date on them - so you NEED TO STAMP them before getting on the train and as soon as you get on the bus to show you've "validated" them and are using them at that point. If caught with a ticket but no stamp on them, they think you're trying to reuse the ticket and will be fined! So definitely remember to stamp them - at the train station, look for yellow boxes in the station before the tracks - you'll see everyone else stamping them, so just follow their lead!
Hope you have a great time in Bologna and Florence! Where else are you headed to during your trip in Italy? Are you coming soon or in a few months time?
