Web Worker Daily

Years ago, I was involved with writing a book about Microsoft Excel, but soon after I started the book, whaddyaknow, my publishing company went under. Nevertheless, in doing some of the early footwork for that book, I asked a lot of people how they use Excel, and a shocking number of them turned out to use it like a database. They had database fear, so they loaded all their records into big Excel sheets, and used the spreadsheet essentially like a flat-file, non-relational database. This still continues today, and it’s too bad because there are many super easy databases to use. In this post, I’ll round up a couple that you and your web worker colleagues can start using together.

Blist, seen above, which is often referred to as a “cloud application,” is one of my favorite, free quirky software apps, and is a good answer to people with database fear. As you’ll see if you watch the five-minute introductory video demo for Blist, its developers are acutely aware of how many people reach for spreadsheets when they want database functions.

Blist takes an Excel-like user interface metaphor to the max. The application looks like a spreadsheet, but each cell has surprising features available. For example, you can store a list of infinite length within any Blist cell. You can also store pictures within individual cells, where they are represented as easy-to-scan thumbnail images when the cells are viewed all at once. This is a great way to manage an image library, and a better metaphor than many pure databases will present you.

As you would expect, there are robust search capabilities in Blist, whether you are searching across a whole sheet or searching, say, within a long list you have in one cell of a sheet. If you are an Excel jockey, you can also import functions from Excel into Blist.

Like Blist, Zoho DB & Reports is a database that you use online, and it’s especially well-liked for the variety of reports it can generate. You can create charts, pivot tables and take advantage of other spreadsheet-like features in it.

Many people who use Zoho DB & Reports also like to take advantage of the publishing features it offers. For example, the application will generate code that enables you to directly embed reports into a web page or blog page. Zoho DB & Reports is free for three users to share, and worth a look, especially if you suffer from any database fear.

Do you have any tips on easy-to-use database applications?