Database Publishing

[zebsurfer]

Hey everyone - I'm new here, and would like your opinion on a venture I'm planning in database publishing. It's similar to desktop publishing, but I would build the documents from structured data (like spreadsheets, databases, or marked up files). I would feed the source data (from different file types) into custom-designed page templates with graphics, pictures, styling, cross references, indexes, etc. to make the data more readable and presentable. The documents can be for print, the web, or mobile devices.

I think this would be really good for those needing regular reports on anything from financial statements to inventory, or technical writing, or just about anyone needing relief from spreadsheets and complicated database files.

What do you think?

[vangogh]

It makes sense to me. I think more and more we're going to see all our different data, whether it's text or media, number or words, stored in custom databases so the information could be combined and recombined and presented in different ways across different devices.

As far as how successful you can be with this as a business I think it'll come down more to the implementation of the idea. The basic idea seems sound to me.

[zebsurfer]

vangogh, thank you for your feedback!

Yes, I am trying very much to get a market-tested idea off the ground. I've been thinking of focusing on technical documentation (product sheets, manuals, catalogs) or reports (financial reports, price listings, insurance tables, etc.) that rely on structured source data. I'm trying not to be all over the place, though.

If available, would you use such a service for your own documentation/reporting needs? Either for updating your current documents, or making them more flexible across different media?

I appreciate any of your comments--good or bad! I don't want to venture out with an idea that may not sell.

[vangogh]

I don't really have a lot of documentation or reporting needs. It's not how my business works.

You might be interested in a post I wrote not too long ago about modular and flexible content (http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/modular-responsive-content/). I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're thinking about doing, but it's why I thought about when reading your first post in this thread. There are 2 videos in the post (the first and second half) of the same presentation that talks all about storing data (specifically content) in different ways in order to present it easily in different places. The term structured data comes up a few times I think, which is what made me connect your post and the videos.

A question for you. Is your idea to give me a way to store my data which you then also help me present in different ways? Or are you thinking of creating presentations for me based on data you collect elsewhere? I'm assuming the former, but thought I'd check.

[zebsurfer]

vangogh - yes, your business doesn't fall into my target market. That question wasn't to you specifically, but to the forum in general.

You're exactly right about modular and flexible content. My plan is to help customers separate content publishing from content creation. Structuring data is key here. I didn't want to bombard you with the technical aspects.

To answer your question, yes, I'd only publish out your source data; combine your spreadsheets, database files, CSV files, XML files, etc. and create published products based on them (like reports, web pages, product sheets, catalogs, etc.). You'd have the data and I'd run a conversion process on a copy of the data to get them in a desired presentation format. I never change your data.

Although your second question has given me other thoughts . . .

[vangogh]

I may not be your target market, but I am one who would be interested in the technical details so feel free to share if you want.

It might be interesting to combine the data your customer stores with data collected elsewhere. I guess it would depend on the data. Another thing you might want to consider is creating the data storage software. Maybe you already are planning this. I think the hardest part about finding customers who want data published is finding customers who've taken the time to store their data in a way that could be published in a number of ways. I'd bet most people aren't doing the greatest job with that and the money here might be in helping them store the data easily and with minimal effort.

[jimr451]

zebsurfer:

You might want to focus on a specific industry / market to get started - then find someone in that industry to work with. Maybe offer them free use of the product if they help during the design / testing. The reason I say this is that it's hard to create a new product without input from the potential users.

It's easy to put a lot of time into something, only to find out that your target market already has a solution for that, or they use proprietary solutions, etc.

Another question to ask yourself is this - Why doesn't this product / service exist already? If it doesn't, then you are either a visionary, or the market doesn't exist for that product.

Just some things to consider before throwing a lot of energy into developing your services.

-Jim

[zebsurfer]

jim, vangogh - Thank you for your feedback! This is very good for my research. I'm focusing on a specific industry.

[painperdu]

Isn't this what XML is for? Are you talking about using documents that are already in XML standards and creating different views for them ala XSLT?

[zebsurfer]

painperdu - yes, exactly. Whatever data is used would be converted into XML and using XSLT (among other tools and techniques), I would create an end product with the data in whatever format is desirable.

Do you do XSLT programming?