SW List Archives, plus new SW web databases in the Fall...

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
August 4, 2003

Dan Parvaz wrote:
>> Does anyone have suggestions as to what we should do?
> What about the physical machine where signwriting.org is located? Does
> that have enough available space to be an archive site? Dan

Dear SW List, and Bill, and Dan!
Thank you for this excellent suggestion, which helps me lead into an
important topic that I want to share with all of you...

As you know, FileMaker is "database software". When we use SignBank, we
are accessing the FileMaker database engine on our own, personal
computers...But FileMaker also has another program for web database
servers...That software makes it possible to create web databases, that
are searchable directly on the web, for anyone who has web access...and
it does not require that the web-visitor owns FileMaker ...in fact
there would be no way for the user to know that FileMaker is the
structure of the web database, unless we tell them...

Developing web databases is a different skill than basic web design,
which I have done for years myself...but I don't have a clue how to
publish an actual database on the web!

But Todd Duell, our programmer for SignBank, does have that expertise,
and he already designed our first FileMaker database on the web...It is
our new shopping cart...which is serving the web 24 hours a day from a
Macintosh duel-processor computer in my own home. Sometimes I look at
that computer and I am amazed to think that people are accessing it
from all over the world...

If you click on this url:
http://www.SuttonShop.com

You are accessing a computer in my home!

So I am slowly moving into the world of serving our FileMaker web
databases from our own server here in my home-office...

This week, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Todd will be here,
setting up the following web databases for us...

1. SymbolBank Web Database
2. Lessons Web Database
3. Literature Web Database
4. SW Forums Web Database, which I hope will become the SW List
Archives of the future... (I am not sure yet, since at the moment I
will have to literally copy and then paste each message from the
SignWriting List manually into the Forums Database. Once we get this
basically running, I can then find out if it would be possible to
automatically access the ListServe messages...but if not..I am happy to
store them manually one by one for now...

Someday I hope to have a SignBank Database on the web too...but
frankly, the above web databases will keep us busy for the Fall...and I
will need more funding to do that...so that will have to wait until
2004...

So Dan, or anyone else, if you have knowledge of how the ListServe can
be funneled into our new Forums Database, please tell me and I will
communicate this to Todd...

By the way, I spoke with Cecilia Flood yesterday on the phone and I
understand that you moved to Florida, Dan?! - What a surprise! I
thought you were still in New Mexico...Are you still developing
software?...

Val ;-)