Agathon Group - "The Good Stuff"
Some More del.icio.us Links
by Morgan Foster on June 1, 2009 3:29 PM.
As some of you my know, we have a delicious account that we post on quite a bit. If you do follow us on there, then you can probably ignore this post, but I figured I’d highlight some of our recent links, as you may find them interesting.
Determining Browser Market Share - I found this interesting, especially since the questions about what browsers to code (and debug) for come up quite a bit with designing and implementing new sites. In other words, do we build on IE6 or Firefox 3, for example? This link is at least showing that FF3 has a greater market share in general, and is a whole lot easier to build on. Our general practice at Agathon is to start with the latest Firefox, ensure functionality in Safari (which is not difficult) then IE7 (this is more difficult), and then IE6 if needed (which is by far the most difficult).
Best UNIX commands on the web - Anyone using one of our grids could certainly find these handy.
10 Advanced PHP Tips - When are PHP tips not handy?
Donation Usability: Increasing Online Giving - Very useful research done on how donations are lost simply because ministries and charities don’t communicate what they are about and they don’t know how to use donations well. Great research and info in here for Non-Profits, Ministries, and Charities.
Modal Windows in Modern Web Design - Some nice tips on using Modal Windows in web design.
As always, if you’d like to see our other links, you can check out our full list on our delicious page.
We’re braving the depths of the internet, so you don’t have to go as deep! :-)
Memorial Day in Mexico
by Peter Green on May 26, 2009 12:12 PM.
My family and I decided that we would spend this long Memorial Day weekend volunteering at Door of Faith Orphanage south of Tijuana, Mexico. Aside from the puzzled looks that always accompany a decision like spending free time in a part of the world where 50% of the population lives on less than $5 per day, we got our share of concerned looks about threats of swine (er, “H1N1”) flu and drug-related violence in the area. We were undeterred — we had been looking forward to this long before any of the flu news broke — and we reassured the concerned parties as best we could. It was one of the more wonderful experiences my family and I have ever had in our lives. For me, just being able to hold and comfort babies, to watch my own children seamlessly integrate with their peers (rather than just trying to help “those people”), to work alongside gringos and Mexicans that have God’s own heart for the weak and helpless at the center of their ministry… this was all far more valuable than a weekend sitting on the couch and watching basketball.
The flu and violence reports turned out (as expected) to be blown way out of proportion by the US media. (To quote one of the workers, “The closest we’ve gotten to the swine flu here is San Diego.” Ha!) We never would have known that, though, without going down there and seeing things for ourselves.
There will always be people close to you that don’t have your vision or passion. Even with the best intentions, they will try to dissuade you from a decision that doesn’t make sense to them or that flies in the face of (their) logic. They will try to convince you that it’s much more comfortable or secure with them, that it’s best to just stay put. Don’t be deterred — follow your passion and reap the benefits of pushing through any discomfort once you realize that you are actually doing something you love, something you had thought about for a while, something everyone else thought was crazy.
Web Host for Web Hosts
by Alan Ritari on May 8, 2009 12:04 PM.
We didn’t start out targeting application and web hosting companies with our services, but they’ve come to us in surprising numbers. Web hosts, as much as anyone, understand the value of stable infrastructure (and the costs of getting that wrong).
One of our clients, Jay at Mediavangelist, recently wrote about their own experiences with handling web hosting internally and why they decided to move to Agathon Group instead. Please read it for yourself. In a nutshell, hosting is harder than you think it is, and distracts from your real passions.
Even if your passion is hosting, there’s a strong argument to be made for having someone else take responsibility for the hardware. These days, the only people who should really care about hardware are the guys who staff the data centers. For everyone else, it’s a means to a much more important end.
Some of our clients start modestly, placing a handful of their clients on one or more grid servers, others scale larger with our our LAMP clusters. For serious horsepower, we move people to dedicated grids of servers, complete with a sexy visual designer for provisioning and controlling virtual servers. The point of all this is that we provide entry points at all different levels/prices and that scratches the hosters’ itch.
We handle the hosting, freeing you to pursue your passions.
Launched: Scriptures From the Heart
by Joel Boonstra on April 21, 2009 11:55 AM.
The task, should we choose to accept it: build a site using Drupal that allows users to sign themselves up on a daily devotional track. Users get one devotional per day (via email or web) until they’ve completed the track; administers can add and modify devotional content quickly and easily.
The challenges: We have three weeks from project initiation to launch, and we have never used Drupal.
The result: Scriptures From The Heart recently launched, coming in on time and on budget.
Small Giants Illumination
by Alan Ritari on April 9, 2009 10:57 PM.
When I quoted yesterday from Small Giants
“I guess some people don’t feel [fabulous] about their business, but I don’t know how they manage. I think you need to feel in your gut that whatever you do is the most interesting, exciting, worthwhile thing you could be doing at that moment.” ~ Norm Brodsky, Records Storage
When Norm Brodsky talked about how he feels when working, he was juxtaposing it against the mindset of people for whom work is merely a means to an end; the motions you have to go through for a paycheck. For him, and us here at Agathon Group, the path from start to finish is often just as gratifying as crossing that finish line.
The quote resonates with me because it speaks to the heart of everything Agathon Group does. We’re not just in the business of turning a quick project buck, or reselling the same hosting packages as everyone else. We pursue things that make a difference in the world. Our unofficial motto is to Do Good, both in the value we create and the way we create it. It’s interesting, exciting, and worthwhile work.[1]
Please also note Mr. Brodsky’s essential qualifier, “at that moment.” He’s not trying to claim that today’s work is your life’s calling, everything you were made to be. Heck, he’s not even talking about six months from now. Is what you’re doing at this moment worthwhile? You’re allowed to change your mind next week, or even tomorrow. But today’s work is great, and that’s what gets me up each morning, ready to go.
[1] Not everything we do is flowers and rainbows, but a large enough percentage has that potential that I can make sweeping generalizations. Feel free to take it with a grain of salt.
Worthwhile Things
by Alan Ritari on April 8, 2009 2:03 PM.
I love this quote from Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
“I guess some people don’t feel [fabulous] about their business, but I don’t know how they manage. I think you need to feel in your gut that whatever you do is the most interesting, exciting, worthwhile thing you could be doing at that moment.” ~ Norm Brodsky, Records Storage
$datacenters++
by Alan Ritari on February 5, 2009 6:39 PM.
Agathon Group already offers both managed hosting and grid hosting in Los Angeles, Denver, Toronto and Vancouver. Now you can add Dallas, TX to the list, where we’re recently turned up several clients in a world-class SAS-70 Type II data center.
This new location offers the same security, reliability and high speed connectivity as our other locations, but with the added bonus of being in a place that has the nine-banded armadillo as the official state animal.
What We're Doing
by Alan Ritari on January 8, 2009 3:58 PM.
Happy New Year!
Yes, we realize those digits flipped more than a week ago, but we’ve had plenty to keep us busy during that time. Here’s a sampling of what Agathon Group is up to right now:
- Working with two different organizations to help them figure out how to move what they do from offline methods to the web. Same mission but new strategies as they reinvent themselves. Very cool stuff, because we’re able to do something that really matters.
- Expanding the capabilities of a major concert ticketing agency to handle “print at home” tickets.
- Rescuing a ski conditions website after their old webhost went bankrupt and refused to hand over the site code. We’ve had to reverse engineer functionality based only on the final display.
- Building out the final phases of a Bible search site, helping make it everything we’ve thought sites like these should be.
- Improving our grid hosting services and operations. This is a vital niche begging for someone like Agathon Group to deliver well.
All that makes for a full plate, but we like it that way—enough to keep us on our toes but not so much that we fail to deliver. Here’s hoping your 2009 is full as well!
Back from the Conference
by Morgan Foster on October 24, 2008 3:22 PM.
Well we are back in our respective cities, and much like everyone else who attended the Internet Ministry Conference, our hearts and heads are very full. It’s always a wonderful time to see all the ministries that we work with on a consistent basis, and even more so to see our fellow co-workers face to face (not all of us can live in Hawaii, unfortunately).
However, we knew this year would be a little different with the closing of conference organizer Gospel Communications fresh on the horizon. But I think we were all quite impressed that despite the frustrations and confusion people may have had, the attitude of the conference was not one of navel-gazing or somberness, but one of motivation and courage. There is always a sadness with the ending of a chapter, but an excitement and a hope with the beginning of the next, and that was never more true than at this conference.
As Agathon’s resident extrovert, I want to personally thank all of you who stopped by and talked with us. It was so good to see all of you, and while we’re sorry that we can’t give you all iPods, we hope that we can help you in other more practical ways in the future. :)
There are, of course, many more questions that float around out there unanswered, and if there’s any of those that we can help answer, don’t hesitate to contact us via email or phone any time. I got my fill of talking to people, and I miss it already, so feel free to just call and say hi if you must.
And if you all want autographs on your trading cards, I’m sure we could arrange something. :)
So a big thanks from us to Gospel Communications and all you incredible ministries that have made the Internet Ministry Conference what it is. Though it will probably never look the same as it has, I do hope that the community and the purpose will.
Cheers!
Next Week @ Bootcamp and IMC
by Morgan Foster on October 17, 2008 8:41 AM.
The Agathon Group team is all headed out next week to teach our annual Bootcamp conference, followed by several days of speaking and hanging out at the Internet Ministry Conference. If you’ll be at the Internet Ministry Conference, please stop by and say hi to us! Not only would we love to see you and chat, but we’re also raffling a free iPod touch, so make sure to stop by for your opportunity to win.
Since we all work around the country (spanning six time zones), this is our once a year opportunity to not only see a lot of our clients face to face, but to also see each other face to face. It’s a whirlwind every year, but it’s always a good time.
During both conferences, project work will be put on pause, however technical support will continue as normal.
If you’re at the IMC, we’ll see you soon! We wish you safe travels on the way!
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