Looking for database to organize home plans to be able to look them up by size, etc. for clients. advice?
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M$2 Answers
I would add the following advice:
If you have to ask which database to use, your knowlege of databases is not sufficient to use one without a significant learning curve.
I believe you are more interested in organizing data than learning to use a real database. A spreadsheet is the easiest way to do that. If you do not have Excel and do not want to buy it, take a look at Sun Open Office. It includes a word processor and a spreadsheet that are compatible with Microsoft Office documents. AND, it is free. I use it every day.
http://www.openoffice.org/
At some point in the future you could add a MySQL database to your web site and let your users do searches for themselves.
The data record for each plan could include a link to a graphic file containing a floor plan ( with limited detail, you obviously don't want to post a useable plan for download. )
Personal experience.
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M$
To know whether Excel would be sufficient, or you need something more complicated, I'd need to know how much data you need to store, what that data would be, and how exactly you'd need to access and update it.
However, from what you've said there is a good chance Excel would do the job for you. Some intros on how to get started with using Excel for creating databases are here:
http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/datamanagementinexcel/ss/excel_database.htm
http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/cndtrain/Excel/database.pdf
Another advantage of giving Excel a try first is that most database systems will happily import Excel data, if you do need something a bit more fancy later on.
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M$
Very good point. If you are not proficient in database-speak, that is an even stronger reason to try Excel first.
I've never used Open Office, so don't know if has the same database functions as Excel. But as it's free, you have nothing to lose by checking it out if you don't already have Excel.
Yes, If you already have Excel, by all means use it. The OpenOffice spreadsheet is very similar but not identical to Excel. You should always use the software you are familiar with until you outgrow it and must move up to something more powerful.
Every hour you spend learning a new program is an hour you are not being productive in your real job ( home design ).