Last Updated: February 25, 2016
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664
· dylan_k

A Database Writers Can Use to Track Submissions

disclaimer: this is less of a tip and more of a brainstormed-idea and an appeal for help/suggestions.

I’m interested in building an open source, cross-platform tool that writers can use to track their submissions to publications.

Ideally, I would like to build this as an HTML5 application. If my understanding is correct, this could then be compiled, using something like TideSDK, to run on various platforms. Is that feasible?

The trouble for me is that I am just a lowly HTML/CSS developer, with only basic knowledge of SQL. My abilities with PHP or Javascript are such that it would take me forever to build this on my own, so I'm appealing for help. I'm not even sure how to appeal for help, so I'm appealing for help.

To begin with, I started with LibreOffice Base. After a long and somewhat difficult search I settled on Base because it meets my initial criteria: it's open source, it runs on both Windows and OS X, it allows portability (via Dropbox), and it allows me to edit both the database and the forms for users. I'm not thrilled with Base, but I could learn how to use it quickly.

I've posted my results to a GitHub project.

There, you can see a write-up of the data structure and the Base Forms, which can serve as a wireframe/prototype (although they're buggy).

Any/all interested parties are welcome to chime in.