Sators.com Internet Solutions, Inc.http://www.sators.comWeb Design, PHP Applications, E-Commerce, Web 2.0, XML, RSS, Flash, Hostingenhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1hourly1Ministry Essentialshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/vKkVmaSE-vc/PortfolioamazonanalyticsBlogcssfeedburnergooglegraphic designmicroformatsphpwordpresswordpressmuMatt SatoriusWed, 08 Apr 2009 14:36:44 PDThttp://www.sators.com/?p=232Ministry Essentials was Sators.com first international client.  While the organization is based in the Chicagoland area, the team leaders and point people for the project are international missionaries, based in Thailand.  Ministry Essentials was looking for a new face to their web presence as their ministry continues to grow.  The website is completely driven by WordpressMU on the backend as they not only needed a way to create and manage the content for their primary website, but they also wanted to be able to dynamically add and manage new blogs for additional members of their team.

Sators.com not only provided Ministry Essentials with the installation of WordpressMU, the hosting account and custom Apache modifications necessary for dynamic subdomains, but also custom Wordpress templates for the primary website and the user blogs.

Technologies:

]]><p>Ministry Essentials was Sators.com first international client.  While the organization is based in the Chicagoland area, the team leaders and point people for the project are international missionaries, based in Thailand.  Ministry Essentials was looking for a new face to&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/portfolio/ministry-essentials/feed/http://www.sators.com/portfolio/ministry-essentials/Content Management Systems Explainedhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/oDYlgF7gQp8/BlogcmsContent Management SystemJoomlamysqlOpen SourcephpwordpressMatt SatoriusWed, 11 Mar 2009 20:25:32 PDThttp://www.sators.com/blog/content-management-systems-explained/Recently in discussing website options with a client, the topic of Content Management Systems came up and they expressed that someone mentioned they should have one on their website, but they didn’t exactly know what it means or what the advantage is. To my fellow web designers, Content Management Systems, or “CMS” for short, have been a buzz word of the design and development world the past few years. For those looking to have a website built for them, by having a CMS implemented from the get-go will potentially save you headache in the future. Let’s dive in.

A Content Management System is pretty much exactly what the name implies. Typically, a CMS is a piece of software written in web server code that is installed into the background of your website. They often tie into a database such as MySQL to store the various amounts of data associated with the system. Better yet, you can find many Open Source CMS software packages, which in other words means they are free.

Once installed (which your web designer or host should tackle for you), you as a website owner are provided with a secret web address to access which allows you to log in and see an administration control panel where you can add, edit, or remove pages from your website. Some systems also allow you to adjust what elements are included on the sidebar of your site, replace logo images, adjust colors and images, etc. Once a page is altered through the CMS, the changes are then instantly displayed on the website. This is because as a part of the installation, the web designer creates the template of the site and defines certain areas of the page where the CMS can display the text entered by the owner.

Why should you look to have a CMS a part of your website? The advantages are rather simple. A common frustration for website owners is the process of updating and maintaining the information on their site. Without a CMS in place, an owner would either need to know HTML code or hire their designer to make simple changes. If the designer is required, this then brings a middle man into the process and a simple change to your website may then be delayed depending on their schedule. With having a CMS in place, you as a website owner can at any hour of the day log into your site and make changes instantly.

Can a CMS be added to an existing website that doesn’t have one installed? The answer is yes, however the process can be difficult depending on your website design. The process ultimately means that the structure of the website must be recreated as a template compatible with the CMS system you choose to use, then all of the existing content must then be populated into the administration system of the CMS. The process can be rather lengthy depending on the site detail of the site, however is definitely possible.

I chose one CMS, but I think I want to change to another one. Is this possible? Again, the answer is yes, however CMS systems are not necessarily compatible with each other. You should consult your designer for further details.

What Content Management Systems to you recommend? There are many to chose from and ultimately there may be one CMS that is better for one type of site and another that would be better for a different site. Some that we have used in the past are Wordpress and Joomla. However there are many other systems such as ModX, OpenSourceCMS, and many others.

Content Management Systems are a great tool that have and continue to be developed and built stronger and stronger as the days go by and web technology increases. For your next website project, ask your designer what the best CMS would be for your website project, and give it a try!

]]><p>Recently in discussing website options with a client, the topic of Content Management Systems came up and they expressed that someone mentioned they should have one on their website, but they didn&#8217;t exactly know what it means or what the&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/blog/content-management-systems-explained/feed/http://www.sators.com/blog/content-management-systems-explained/Icons? Fam Fam Famhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/lVBLrvB8P3Y/Blogdesigngraphic designiconsstockMatt SatoriusTue, 30 Dec 2008 09:40:50 PSThttp://www.sators.com/?p=225This post is short but sweet - it goes out to a quality designer, Mark James, whose website is www.famfamfam.com.  Why do you care?  Mark has developed a package of over 1000 freely distributable icons in returns for links back to his site and donations.

Here is an example of the icon set: http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/

Awesome contribution to the web community.  Thanks Mark!

]]><p>This post is short but sweet - it goes out to a quality designer, Mark James, whose website is <a href="http://www.famfamfam.com/">www.famfamfam.com</a>.  Why do you care?  Mark has developed a package of over 1000 freely distributable icons in returns for links back&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/blog/icons-fam-fam-fam/feed/http://www.sators.com/blog/icons-fam-fam-fam/Why is CSS better than Tables for web design?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/XxEzN6yAsEk/BlogbrowsercssdivhtmlspeedtablesMatt SatoriusWed, 15 Oct 2008 07:04:47 PDThttp://www.sators.com/?p=220Over the course of the past 5 years, a dramatic shift has been made in the web design community.  Up until this point, many web designers would rely on the use of HTML tables for creating their layout.  Tables would consist of many rows, many columns, and you could get your layout just right by having cells span multiple columns and set column and row widths and heights.  Designers could take it farhter by having tables within tables (called nested tables) that once mastered you could really fine tune your design.  This was fine and dandy, and ultimately it still works, but it’s definitely not the best.

Here’s the problem - by design, whenever a table is used in a webpage, every browser will not show that table to the user until everything, 100% of what is inside that table has loaded.  This means that if your entire layout is composed of one table with the whole pages content within it, or even nested tables, then the user is not going to see anything on the website until the page is 100% loaded.

In the fast paced world we live in, even with super lightning high speed internet, that just won’t cut it.

The answer?  CSS.  The highlight of CSS is that all of the design code for the whole website can be contained in one “style sheet” file, otherwise known as an external style sheet.  Then, every page in the site references this CSS file.  Why is this an advantage?  Browsers are designed to cache CSS files, meaning they don’t have to re-download them every time a user switches pages.  This is GREAT because that means the first time a user visits the site, they behind the scenes download the CSS file, then every page that they go to downloads quicker because they already have the CSS file cached.  (It’s also an advantage to the designer because if you need to make a change, edit one file and the whole site is updated!)

The other great advantage?  Browsers are designed to show DIV containers progressively, meaning that as the content loads, it is shown to the user.  This means a quicker response time, less waiting that the user has to endure, and ultimately a better experience that you can serve your surfers with.  CSS - learn it, master it, and your end users will thank you (even if they don’t know it!)

]]><p>Over the course of the past 5 years, a dramatic shift has been made in the web design community.  Up until this point, many web designers would rely on the use of HTML tables for creating their layout.  Tables would&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/blog/why-is-css-better-than-tables-for-web-design/feed/http://www.sators.com/blog/why-is-css-better-than-tables-for-web-design/DIV and SPAN tags: What’s the “div”ference?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/D4Mtkx1ma7w/BlogblockcssdivhtmlinlinespantagMatt SatoriusMon, 13 Oct 2008 08:09:17 PDThttp://www.sators.com/?p=217When using CSS instead of Tables as the basis for your designs (which CSS is STRONGLY recommended in order to increase speed and compatibility of your design), we use two main HTML tags for the formatting.  <DIV> and <SPAN>.  Understanding the fundamental difference (it is election season) between these two tags is critical to moving forward with a CSS based layout.

There are two main category types that nearly all HTML tags can fall into.  “Block” elements and “Inline” elements.  a <DIV> tag is considered a “Block” element, while a <SPAN> tag is an “Inline” element.

Common block elements are <table><ul><p><hr>, etc.  Block elements by default use 100% of the width available and any elements that follow their closing tag will begin on the next line.

Common inline elements are <strong><em><abbr>, etc.  Inline elements are different in that they are commonly applied to text and that they fall inline with the elements that precede and follow them.  Here are some examples:

This entire shaded area is a “DIV” tag.

However, only this shaded area is a “SPAN” tag.

Notice the difference?  By understanding the difference between SPAN and DIV tags, you can now begin applying formatting to specific areas of your layout!

]]><p>When using CSS instead of Tables as the basis for your designs (which CSS is STRONGLY recommended in order to increase speed and compatibility of your design), we use two main HTML tags for the formatting.  &#60;DIV&#62; and &#60;SPAN&#62;.  Understanding&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/blog/div-and-span-tags-whats-the-difference/feed/http://www.sators.com/blog/div-and-span-tags-whats-the-difference/Elixir Kitchen Spacehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/bO3mw4ckM_E/Portfoliocssdreamweaverfireworksgraphic designlogo designmysqlphpuser loginwordpressMatt SatoriusFri, 10 Oct 2008 22:31:36 PDThttp://www.sators.com/?p=174Elixir Enterprises needed 2 websites and logo designs for the launching of their brand new businesses, Elixir Kitchen Space and Elixir Bakery.  The two sites needed to have similar feel and design, but slightly different to the end user.  The client also desired the easy ability to update and maintain the site.  Elixir also took advantage of Sators.com custom application development for the design of a client login area where users can look up availability of kitchen rentals and create and confirm their reservations all through the website.

Technologies:

  • Custom Logo Design
  • Custom Graphic Design
  • Custom CSS Style Sheets
  • Adobe Dreamweaver
  • Adobe Fireworks
  • Wordpress
  • Custom PHP Programming
]]><p>Elixir Enterprises needed 2 websites and logo designs for the launching of their brand new businesses, <a href="http://www.elixirkitchenspace.com/" target="_blank">Elixir Kitchen Space</a> and <a href="http://www.elixirbakery.com/" target="_blank">Elixir Bakery</a>.  The two sites needed to have similar feel and design, but slightly different to the end user.  The client&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/portfolio/elixir-kitchen-space/feed/http://www.sators.com/portfolio/elixir-kitchen-space/New Sators.com Site Publishedhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/2CD2MNadXLs/Blogdesignsators.comwordpressMatt SatoriusFri, 10 Oct 2008 21:43:35 PDThttp://www.sators.com/?p=172A brand new overhaul and look to www.sators.com gives us excitement as we move into the fall season.  Our updated website features a new helpdesk and resources sections.  The site is driven by Wordpress and custom designed templates by our design team in order to have a seamless effect.  We welcome you to our site and look forward to assisting you in your next website project!

]]><p>A brand new overhaul and look to www.sators.com gives us excitement as we move into the fall season.  Our updated website features a new <a href="http://www.sators.com/help/">helpdesk</a> and <a href="http://www.sators.com/resources/">resources</a> sections.  The site is driven by <a href="http://www.wordpress.org/">Wordpress</a> and custom designed templates by our design team in&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/blog/new-satorscom-website-published/feed/http://www.sators.com/blog/new-satorscom-website-published/Google Chat on your Website: Google Talk Chatbackhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/9Im3OAGKYKg/Blogbadgechatbackgoogle talkMatt SatoriusFri, 10 Oct 2008 20:15:29 PDThttp://new.sators.com/?p=169Leave it to Google to create another handy tool.  This time it is the add on element to Google Talk called “Chatback”, or a chatback badge.  Perhaps you have been on a website and seen a link to “Chat with our support personnel” or some sort of image or link to that effect.  This is Google’s version of that implementation, except free. You can seen an example of this on the bottom of our website, the link to “Chat with Sators.com”.

The first step is that you must already be a Google Talk user.  Following that, you can go to their chatback page and create a new chatback badge for your site.  The options are somewhat limited, but once the code is copied and pasted to your website, you are live and ready!  When an user clicks the link, you get an IM from Google through your Google Talk account containing a link.  Clicking on the link takes you to a webpage notifying you that someone wishes to chat with you and a button to launch the chat.  After a few seconds, you are then connected with the awaiting user on the other end.  It’s as simple as that.

]]><p>Leave it to Google to create another handy tool.  This time it is the add on element to Google Talk called &#8220;Chatback&#8221;, or a chatback badge.  Perhaps you have been on a website and seen a link to &#8220;Chat with&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/blog/google-chat-on-your-website-google-talk-chatbac/feed/http://www.sators.com/blog/google-chat-on-your-website-google-talk-chatbac/R. A. Smith Law, Ltd.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/-BZMrsw33-U/Portfoliocssdreamweavergraphic designlogo designphpMatt SatoriusThu, 25 Sep 2008 06:02:25 PDThttp://new.sators.com/?p=166R. A. Smith Law, Ltd. had the desire to create all of the subpages of the website themselves, but needed help wtih the initial design.  Therefore, Sators.com provided them with a professional custom template and custom logo design for them to take and use to create the content pages of the website.

Technology:

  • Custom Logo Design
  • Custom Graphic Design
  • Adobe Dreamweaver
  • Custom CSS Style Sheets
  • PHP
]]><p>R. A. Smith Law, Ltd. had the desire to create all of the subpages of the website themselves, but needed help wtih the initial design.  Therefore, Sators.com provided them with a professional custom template and custom logo design for them&#8230;</p>http://www.sators.com/portfolio/r-a-smith-law-ltd/feed/http://www.sators.com/portfolio/r-a-smith-law-ltd/MarriageVine Ministrieshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sators/~3/S8zTBweATZk/Portfolioanalyticsarticle managercontributecssdreamweaverecommercegooglegraphic designjavascriptmarriagevineOpenXphprsswordpressMatt SatoriusSun, 21 Sep 2008 13:24:54 PDThttp://new.sators.com/?p=3Client Testimonial:
“The guys at Sators.com are awesome! They did a great job building our website….in fact, they continue to do a great job maintaining our site! Matt and the team were so easy to work with and responsive to my needs that I highly recommend them to anyone needing to build or maintain a website. Thank you Sators.com!” - Rick Pierce (MarriageVine.com)

Sators.com has provided MarriageVine Ministries with many website designs over the past several years. This most recent design was intended to build off of the continuing development and business growth of MarriageVine.  Historically, they have used their e-commerce system provided to them by Sators.com as a strong revenue generating tool.  This latest release of their website builds the functionality of advertising management, Google Maps, Article Manager, and Wordpress into the behind the scenes toolbox of the website, providing their users with strong RSS feeds and fresh dynamic content.

Technologies Involved:

]]><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Client Testimonial:<br /> </strong><em>&#8220;The guys at Sators.com are awesome! They did a great job building our website&#8230;.in fact, they continue to do a great job maintaining our site! Matt and the team were so easy to work with and responsive to my&#8230;</em></p>http://www.sators.com/portfolio/marriagevine-ministries/feed/http://www.sators.com/portfolio/marriagevine-ministries/