New Application Development Announcement

This AGPLv2 application will be designed to bring the control and data
management capabilities of an RDBMS to the average user in a simple, easy to
use OS independent application. The content will be delivered in an easy to
use and manipulate format within the convenience of a modern browser. The
initial focus of the application will be on cataloging a comic book
collection but the ability to catalog other collections can and will be
added at a later date as resources become available. If you want to catalog
or track a specific collectionit all that will needed is a SQL table
structure that follows simple guidlines to be discussed at a later time.
Once completed, the framework and templates written in PHP/AJAX, will be
capable of using interacting with this table sturcute with minimual changes.

The application will use Postgres for the storage of the necessary data
objects. Developers will interact with the data through the use of PHP, SQL,
and AJAX. The user will be provided with a web application allowing the
entering of values into the various tables, columns, and rows, with a
minimal amount of typing, to track the data and organize it graphically so
that they may be able to see the extent of or missing areas of, their
collection. Advanced users and developers will be able to manipulate the
structure of the database as well. Print, export, and import capabilities
will be available in a format compatible with other programs including
Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, Google Docs, or Open Office Calc as
development continues.

This will be available as a stand-alone application run from a hosted web
server or the user will have the ability to install it on their machine
through the use of a virtual appliance and access it locally or across a
network. If they wish to build the server themselves the code base for the
application and corrasponding website is also be available for download
under the same license.

There are other websites and programs that do these tasks quite well but
none function as both an on-line service and a standalone program that share
a common interface and have the ability to sync with each other and other
public databases. While many other sites are low cost or free and provide
other benefits such as a marketplace or forum, none provide the core
collection service as both a downloadable pre-configured application stack
and an on-line service with an Open Source license. The standalone programs
provide good functionality but none are released under an open source
license and most require a yearly fee to receive comic issue updates on top
of the fee charged for an upgraded version of the initial software. Many of
the interfaces to these programs are unnecessarily complicated as well, due
to their feature lists. This application will have a minimalist approach to
the user interface but without sacrificing the abilities inherent with a
database or the design. The goal is to keep the interface as clean and
simple as possible only allowing the average user as much control as the
need, more advanced users or those that desire more features will be able to
implement them on an as needed basis.

For infomation on how to help, suggestions, or the current state of
development you can check out the site http://collectablesdb.net or
github.com/CollectablesDB

Matt