Thursday, July 03, 2008

Web Database and Revit Inside

I'm writing this here because I don't want to muddy the waters at the Revit Inside blog with a new post. First, thanks to every firm that has asked to be on the list. It has grown steadily and even more so lately. The number of requests has tripled in the last few weeks. Which brings me to the point of this post.

I lack the knowledge and time to take the Revit Inside list to the next logical level. I'd like to be able to provide a searchable list that provides more information to visitors and even makes the process of getting added more automatic.

I've received a number of suggestions lately that indicate to me that the list has reached the tipping point where it ought to become a bit more mature and informative. Let's face it I was selfish, I made it easy for me, sort of. It is just a list of hyperlinks to web pages. The burden is completely on the visitor to do the research. I still believe that responsibility remains with the visitor but I could do a lot more to make it easier to do that research.

For example a firm could provide: (based on some suggestions)
How long have they been using Revit?
How many active projects?
How many Revit users?
How many completed projects?
How many projects involving other Revit firms? (collaboration experience)

These are just a few of the possibilities. I don't want to get into judging a firm myself and thereby possibly insult or alienate a firm and its staff. So the site would permit each firm to do their own "talking" through various criteria.

The first step toward doing this is using a database. That's "easy", I know how to make databases. What I lack is the web side of making it accessible. Currently the blog is easy, it is free and hosted by Google's Blogger. Making it a web application means hosting elsewhere and that means cost. To avoid advertising or other funding approaches I'd like to first look at economical approaches. I could use "kindred spirit" help with the web development side. Are "you" interested? Let me know via steve at aecadvantage dot com.

Thanks to those who have contributed ideas, thanks for caring enough to do so.

Cheers!

P.S. Thanks to Chuck, the inspiration for it (Revit Inside) in the first place.

1 comment:

Steve said...

During a lunch conversation today with my old boss Jim Balding he mentioned that he and WATG used to put a "Revit Inside" sticker on each Revit user's computer so the "Revit Inside" idea tracks back to them. It predate me so I can innocently and honestly claim that I didn't know... Chuck threw a few name ideas at me including "Revit Inside" and I liked it and well...the rest is history.