Tembo is coming
What’s the easiest way to build relational database applications for the web?
Answer: so far, there is no easy way.
If you want to build a database application for the desktop – well, there’s Microsoft Access. Access gets no respect. Developers tend to treat it as grandpa technology. (Why is that? Excel is even older, and we all use Excel.) In truth, Access is relatively easy to use and very powerful. But Access never worked well on the web.
For several years I’ve wanted to create a tool that would let average-skilled users create quick’n’easy web database applications. My idea was to leverage the magic of WordPress to build this tool. For one thing, every WordPress site has a mySQL database sitting in the background, waiting to be used as the back end for any relational application you might want.
But building a user-friendly development environment to harness that mySQL database? That’s a big job.
To my surprise & delight, Grant for the Web recently awarded me a grant to develop Tembo, a WordPress plug-in that lets you build web database applications. Install Tembo, walk through its easy-to-follow design process, and you’ll have an application that you can mount immediately for web-based data entry and access. Even better, you can package up your new application as a plug-in for others to use, even without Tembo. Tembo is open source, and with any luck we’ll build a community to keep improving the software and adding new features.
Looking toward a pre-release this spring.
Interested in using Tembo? Or – even better – interested in being part of the open source team that develops, documents and promotes it? For more information, have a look at the Tembo site: https://www.tembo-plugin.com/
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