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by mxuribe 2054 days ago
> something like Access, kind of, but on the web

I do a little tech consulting on the side (mostly web dev, but sometimes just regular "IT stuff" too)...and I've had clients who i know would be a pain if i conduct the usual process for developing an app/website for them...and often (to save myself from headaches) try to look for a solution for them that is something like Access (or super Excel) but for the web...and haven't found one that is nicely balanced yet. This kind of thing - if it evolves a little more on the ugliness side - might eventually fit the bill. (To clarify: i have no care about the ugly aspect, but the same annoying clients who would benefit from this paradigm are the same ones who criticize apps because they're not "pretty enough"...So, there's that to consider.)
2 comments
t0astbread 2054 days ago
Exactly! As for the visual aspect, you can do whatever you want on your own pages. Just the handful of pages that make the editor are "ugly" (unless you can smuggle something like a user stylesheet into your client's browser). The question is if your client would use the editor themselves in the first place. It's not rocket science but that templating language might be a bit more daunting to a general audience than Access.
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akrymski 2052 days ago
Have you tried AirTable?
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t0astbread 2051 days ago
I have noticed AirTable but I've never tried it. Maybe it's good but on the spectrum of customization AirTable seems closer to Excel or Google Sheets than Access or something custom-made.

Another important aspect is data protection. For my last "just CRUD" project I had to implement at-rest encryption where PII is only accessible with the user's password[1]. Something like that would be possible in JavaScript in an ugliest.app but if I'm not mistaken not in AirTable. Most businesses would probably be fine with it but I'm always a bit uncomfortable entrusting someone else with any unencrypted customer data, especially PII. (But I'm not saying AirTable doesn't do its job protecting customer data.)

[1] It just so happens that this was part of my undergrad thesis project so you can read up on the encryption scheme: https://github.com/T0astBread/thesis/releases/latest/downloa... (section 4.4.2 "Personally Identifiable Information").

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mxuribe 2051 days ago
I've heard the name but never tried it. I'll give it a go; thanks!
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