Really Simple Databases

By Eric Leland, October 14, 2008
It just seems that too many databases are too complex to use. How many years have we had to develop simple databases, that just work? Most groups I work with can quickly list off the information they truly care about in their systems. Yet only a fraction of these groups manage to get it out of their systems in a way that does not induce fits of anger at the idiocy of the routines required to get it done.

I had the distinct pleasure recently of working again on a Kintera driven website. Kintera is a very comprehensive solution, and has lots of levers and dials to flip and turn to help drive it. My head begins to hurt as soon as I log in. It took me twelve clicks to navigate through the system to edit the first web page, and five clicks for subsequent pages. There are lots of terms, menus and buzzwords that remind me of those signposts with the 26 arrows pointing all different directions to different places. I don't mean to pick on Kintera - lots of systems are similarly maddening.

So where are the easy systems? There are no absolutes here, so much depends on who is using it, and for what purpose. However, some systems are just plain easy. Here are a few appealing examples:

Bento (filemaker.com/bento): From Filemaker, this is a personal database tool that really appeals to the side of me that does not want to work for a living. I have barely touched the demo for five minutes, and I had a simple donor management system ready to go using one of their many preset templates. Their latest version works well for folks moving from Excel, and ties into address books and mobile handhelds nicely. Of course, simple has its price. Its Macintosh only, and only one person can use it at a time, and you can't go crazy building complex relationships between your data.

DabbleDB (dabbledb.com): I created a demo account, and had a simple database of all my favorite chocolate shake places in the bay area created in 8 minutes and 38 seconds. That was just a little bit longer than their demo video, which very nicely explains the basic features. This is what someone should have done a long time ago, for folks just looking for basic contact management, accessible anywhere you and the web are. Apparently you can get a bit crazy developing charts, pivot tables and maps, but I expect this will take a fair bit longer than 8 minutes to work out, and I need some dessert.

Blogger (blogger.com) and TypePad (typepad.com): Two great programs for starting a blog or small website. This wonderful Idealware blog uses blogger, and makes posting a snap. While it did take me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to set up my first website using TypePad, most of this time was spent debating over the free templates I could use to make it pretty. Both systems remove any knowledge of web code and most technical jargon so you can get to work getting a website up and running, and change content quickly and easily.

What are your favorite, super-simple web & database systems?

Comments

Hello -I'm interested in how

by Mathew Johnson (not verified) - 2008-10-30 12:44

Hello -

I'm interested in how you would contrast blist - www.blist.com - against Dabble, Bento, et al.

Regards,
Mathew

Feel free to email me: mathew.johnson@blist.com

Good points. Thorough

by Eric Leland (not verified) - 2008-10-23 10:55

Good points. Thorough investigation of any system reveals how simple or not so simple it will be for a particular organization. As they say, you can have any two of the three: Fast, Cheap and Good.

Really, there are so few

by Jane McCarty (not verified) - 2008-10-23 06:53

Really, there are so few databases out there which are simple and not too cumbersome for non techie users. But, surprisingly, there are so many vendors crying out that it is so simple to use their system. Obviously, you can’t just take somebody’s word for it.
My point is it’s not enough to define the service as “good” and “effective” just creating the app form. Only further development and utilization can be a reliable proof of its simplicity and efficiency.
As this case with Dabble DB. I’ve been there and that’s true, created a demo account with no problem (of course, some systems fail even at this), but my tries to import large data volume
http://webappsatwork.blogspot.com/2008/09/viability-check-dabble-db.html
and check simultaneous record editing by multiple users
http://webappsatwork.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-are-dabble-db-odds-while-record.html
literally puzzled me. Furthermore, I asked their support guys to help me out, but to no effect. So, I’d be cautious here, estimating the real value of the service.

Simple does have a price -

by Charles B (not verified) - 2008-10-23 04:47

Simple does have a price - usability. I spend two years trying to convince UK charities etapestry was the answer, but so often the response was - yes it is easy to set up and simple to use, trouble is on our custom Access system we do x, y, z and we're not giving that up. Maybe that was English fussiness, and I'm not really a salesman, but you can't have it both ways. I'm still an etap fan by the way.

Great tool, thanks for

by Eric Leland (not verified) - 2008-10-22 23:46

Great tool, thanks for posting. And since its part of Google Docs (very easy and free office suite) it makes for a nice package of easy tools. As an alternative, I have used formsite (formsite.com) for quick form building and integration with databases in some more advanced cases.

Google Docs has a great Forms

by Sarah McL (not verified) - 2008-10-22 15:50

Google Docs has a great Forms application that can be emailed and embedded - I used it to set up a slightly weird playscript database that actually works pretty well.