Teach42

I’m a fan.  I think that’s the simplest way to sum up how I feel about DabbleDB right now.  I think it rates somewhere between the lava lamp and sliced bread.

It’s a little hard to explain.  Much better to see it in action.  Thankfully, there’s a few ways to do that.  The short video can be found on the DabbleDB website, or if you have some time there’s a 40 minute screencast that you can find here. 

The short version is that DabbleDB is a web based application that blurs the lines between spreadsheets and databases.  It will take any spreadsheet and turn it into a dynamic, relational database, entirely managed online.

I have to admit, one reason I like it is that it’s just cool.  I mean, really cool.  The interface is slick, it is pretty speedy even when your records get into the thousands.  And the fact that it’s webased means that multiple people can work on it simultaneously, regardless of browser or OS.  Pretty sweet.

What really distinguishes it though is the way it allows you to relate data between multiple tables together on the fly.  If you have a set of data that exists in more than one table, with just a few clicks you can align the two.  If some of your data contains dates, with a single click you can see it all displayed in a calendar format. 

It’s incredibly simple to add or hide columns, add on filters, search within results and at any time you can save the current view so you can come back to it later with a single click.  Got a view you really like and need to share it with some other people?  Every single page has an "Export" link that will export JUST the information you’re currently looking at.  What format?  Well, what format do you want it in?  Right now they support exporting your data in RSS, PDF, CSV, ICAL, HTML, OPML, TXT and JSON.  That should just about cover it methinks.

Not only that, but saved views have their own permalink.  So you can actually repurpose that data into other websites, or give somebody a direct URL to that view, which will always be live and updated with the most current information.  Of course, that view won’t have any password protection on it, so you’d need to be careful, but that’s an extremely powerful function!

If I had to identify any problems, I’d say that it isn’t nearly as feature rich as Excel, Access or Filemaker.  There’s been quite a few times already that I struggled to find a feature that quite simply didn’t exist in the software yet.  However, they seem really open to feedback and will hopefully continue to add in new features.  The one other thing that is that since it’s web based, there’s definitely times where it can be frustrating to have to wait for the page to refresh after every change.  It’s quick for a web application, but slow compared to Excel.  On the plus side though, you can always export your data into excel at any given time to massage it there. 

One other problem is that there is just about no documentation at all right now.  There’s a quick reference guide and a few introductory videos, but nothing more in depth.  However, there is a message board and they do seem pretty quick to respond, which does help make up for it.

There’s a ton of times in education that people create a spreadsheet to keep track a few things and before they know it it becomes a couple of spreadsheets and spins out of control.  DabbleDB could be a great way to manage data like that. From something as simple as an inservice day registration, all the way up to managing a fund raiser could be handled within the application, and it certainly seems to be almost infinitely expandable.  It takes a static spreadsheet and turns it into something dynamic and flexible in just a few clicks.  And you can always go back to your spreadsheet if you want.

Unfortunately it’s either still in Beta or it’s going through a very slow roll out.  What that means is you have to put in your email address to sign up for a trial, and then wait for them to contact you.  I waited about a month or so to get my 30 day free trial.  I have to admit though, that it was definitely worth the wait.  This is by far one of my favorite ‘Office 2.0′ applications.

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