Here's one use case: i tried importing a 500+ row wine spreadsheet into it (it has columns like type, producer, name, vintage, rating, source etc).<p>I had to save the file as CSV and import it -- or at least that's what I thought, but filepicker seems to support picking from google drive. I don't know if it would have accepted a spreadsheet.<p>Your app seems sluggish to scroll compared to Google Docs at that size, and the record density seems low (I see 29 records per page vs 50 on Google Docs). This is using Chrome 38 on Linux.<p>The "link to another table" seems interesting, but my data came denormalized so I have a column with e.g. 10 different repeated values on 500 rows. Maybe it would be nice to automatically clean that up somehow. For example, I could Copy the column and have a some Paste (unique values only) option. Maybe the dialogue that comes up (suggesting to expand the spreadsheet) could even tell you about that. Or maybe there could be an option to convert a text field to a separated linked table.<p>I had some conditional formatting set up via Google Docs, which could be nice to have here; e.g. red wines have a red background in that wine type table.<p>I don't have a simple primary key -- it's really a composite of {wine producer, wine name, vintage}. The app didn't mind importing non-unique values into that first column. I don't know what the alternative might have been -- an auto-generated primary key?<p>Having said all of the above, I really like Google Docs and it will take some amazing features to make me switch to anything else. Multi-user planning and documentation via docs is great -- I have a shopping list everyone can update and I can see it change real time on the phone in the shop while someone is changing it from their desktop, and it's always up to date.
This looks like a nice product. Software companies have been struggling to make a mass-market database program ever since Lotus 1-2-3 (the "3" was a database), but the spreadsheet remains king, despite the fact that for storing structured data, it is almost as bad as a Word document with macros. So I'll be rooting for you.<p>One complaint: Referring to your Basic plan as being "Free forever" is a bit disingenuous. In my opinion, the FTC ought to prohibit use of this term by tech companies located in the 650 and 415 area codes.
This looks fantastic! I was drooling during the demo video - you've improved on so many things from the standard spreadsheet at once.<p>If I could make a request for the API: it's almost impossible to get a simple JSON serialization of a table in Google Spreadsheets. There are so many times where I just want to make a really simple MVP with a backend data source, but don't want a full-fledged Firebase database. If I could just stick my data in an Airtable sheet and point my Javascript to load it and create the page dynamically, that would be ideal.
Ah, another DabbleDB! I hope you stick around longer. :)<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabble_DB" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabble_DB</a>
FYI, we require that you oauth in via a Google account purely for authentication right now. We don't request permissions for your email, calendar, contacts, or other data--only your name, email, and profile picture (which is used in the UI). We're working on support for email/password based signup, as well as oauth support for other services.
Congrats! I got very excited when I first saw the video. Then I signed in to use it, but got stuck.<p>For me the UI seems a bit heavy. Not sure what it is about the UI, but it feels very constrained for me. It could just be the color, the size of the fields or something. But I think with a small amount of UI tweak it'll feel more welcoming and happy.<p>I know I'll use it for sure, but now I just don't see a reason to reach out for it over Google Apps. Which is a challenge you'll face.<p>For example, your demo apps are all great, but for anyone who is hiring or sales leads are a pain, there is already a fully integrated product out there. For the rest, Google Apps might just work fine.<p>Basically, I think it comes down to fining your product-market fit and going after that segment.
I don't suppose they've considered making IEEE 754-2008 decimal floating point numbers the default number representation. It's a shame Intel didn't consult Dr. William Kahan earlier in their design of the x87 floating point unit. At this point, binary floating point is deeply entrenched despite most uses outside of scientific modeling being better suited to decimal floating point.<p>Most spreadsheet calculations are better suited to decimal floating point, and decimal floating point numbers are more intuitive for most users. A surprising number of the "Excel bugs" you find online are people misunderstanding binary floating point numbers, or some of the display hacks Excel uses to hide binary artifacts.
Looks pretty great. I'm not sure if I have a use case personally, but seems quite well-executed. Any plans for an Android app?<p>Also, minor note. On the fifth step of the tour, the word "seperate" is misspelled.
The "instantly syncs updates with all users" bit caught my eye. I always wonder how people go about implementing that.<p>Asana works that way, and they have their own framework named Luna that does some functional reactive magic. Meteor, which I've been working with a lot lately and have really enjoyed using, was also created by some ex-Asana people, and enables the same type of real-time synced updates.<p>I was just wondering if you could share anything about your technology stack or how you accomplish the real-time updates. Are you using Meteor?
Very impressed.<p>Spreadsheets have never quite "clicked" with me, but this did. It exposes a lot of functionality that your average person would want out of a spreadsheet in a much friendlier way.<p>I am really curious on the "database" side though, can this handle a couple of tables with 10k rows linking to one another? Maybe an API that allows me to return JSON with some query language? If so, would be a great tool for CRM like tools and any small/medium data set where a nice UI for editing would come in handy
This looks great - actually it could be exactly what we need to manage our overbearing CRM spreadsheet. Looking forward to that account invite - would start using it today!
At first I thought it was just a prettier, easier to use version of Excel. Then you showed me the filtering and I had an "Aha" moment. Excel is quick and easy, but it's hard to ask questions about your data. Databases make it easy to ask questions, but it's not quick and easy. You guys seem to have taken the best of both worlds, added in some super simple short-cuts, and there's a mobile app to boot. Kudos!
This really looks very nice!<p>After defining 3 tables with related records, some thoughts:<p>- Trying to enter some records, I pressed space in the checkbox column, "zoom view" appeared instead of changing the value (enter changes the value), I understand that this is a convention in your system, but what's the point of the zoome checkbox? :)<p>- Detail view shows checkbox columns, as checkbox - name and another value-changing checkbox below, waste of space - record with 4 column takes almost all modal window.<p>- Changing value of checkbox with enter, disallows submitting detail view, so there is no submit, but then I cannot simply discard changes made in the detail view, when I press ESC - data still changes. To revert changes, I had to press ctrl-z several times.<p>- I noticed that of the entered characters changed to ?, I'm not shure how cannot replicate it, but entering some strange character, and clicking around does the trick.<p>- I think you should consider adding standard spreadsheet/browser keyboard shortcuts: F2, alt+down.<p>- Make page up / page down work.<p>- Adding related record, could automatically open new detail window - creating unnamed row seem pointless.<p>Good luck!
Great execution! I wonder if this is what Paul Graham was envisioning when he wrote about a "web-based excel/database hybrid" in his post "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"[1] in 2008.<p>> 22. A web-based Excel/database hybrid. People often use Excel as a lightweight database. I suspect there's an opportunity to create the program such users wish existed, and that there are new things you could do if it were web-based. Like make it easier to get data into it, through forms or scraping.<p>> Don't make it feel like a database. That frightens people. The question to ask is: how much can I let people do without defining structure? You want the database equivalent of a language that makes its easy to keep data in linked lists. (Which means you probably want to write it in one.)<p>[1] <a href="http://old.ycombinator.com/ideas.html" rel="nofollow">http://old.ycombinator.com/ideas.html</a>
Great concept, implementation look very nice, change your intro video. You're giving me a product tutorial when what I want is to understand the use cases and benefits. I don't care about how to use it (yet), I want to know why to use it. Also, please lose the background music - very distracting in a tutorial.
Really interesting product - one use case I don't see you attacking is stock or financial data. A typical use case would be as follows:
- I want to load up a bunch of stock data - Daily open/close/high/low for a bunch of stocks.
- I'd like to have the tool automatically pull this data from Yahoo Finance or Google Finance.
- Then I'd run formulas on the data - so a simple example is PercentRank on the 50 day moving average.
- Present a summary table with all the other data hidden away.<p>Right now, I can do this in Google Spreadsheets but it is a lot of work, and I can do this in Excel but it requires manually pulling down the data and then painstaking updating formulas and making sure nothing breaks. I could also do this in R but it's too complex for me.<p>Thanks for sharing and good luck!
I read hacker news for a long time and decided to join just to congratulate you for this!
I'm a developer and truly like the database aspect of the app. Linking tables is super easy and I like to organize some things in a certain way. Google Docs is not enough most of the time.
Right now only need it for personal use and totally loving it! One thing I haven't figured out yet is how to do auto increment in keys.
I'm also looking forward for the android version.
I also have a suggestion but not sure if the direction you're going for. I'd love to be able to do stats. Being able to query the data in a certain way (besides filters), building the select statement.
Any chance you could get the mobile app not lose its cache when 'closed' (or rather 'crashed'/'restarted')?<p>At the moment, offline support works fine unless the app closes or crashes, at which point it loses all of its data until next connect.<p>I'd love to use this app frequently and for data I need constant access to, but have a nightmare scenario of it losing its cache just as I walk into a room without internet (London Tube, many offices, ...).<p>Totally happy for better offline support to go in a paid plan. :)
This looks beautiful! Love the database model, which reminds me of Salesforce's flexibility with an AWESOME front end. Really excited to see how people use it.
I like the presentation. Very easy to follow along in the beginning, but you kinda lose me at 1:59. I think you can do a better job explaining this. Really think that the phone view next to the website view is a great touch.<p>With todoist if you complete a task it crosses it out, which really looks great visually if you are checking off a list. maybe if you check one of the rows, finished column, it crosses out everything in that row.
I will look into this more so good job.<p>The tour seems a little broken in that the callouts sometimes appear in locations for "menu items" before the menu appears but is still very informative.<p>See image before menu: <a href="http://bit.ly/1xq1XYI" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/1xq1XYI</a>
And image after menu: <a href="http://bit.ly/1rprJrk" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/1rprJrk</a>
Congrats this looks awesome!<p>Have you thought much about automation? For example, it would be awesome if every email I send/receive could create or update a row anchored on the recipient/source email.<p>Seems niche, but building that means I could completely automate what RelateIQ does best. That's just one example, and the point of this kind of automation is that it enables any workflow I need.
This UI would make a fantastic database admin interface.<p>If this were a JavaScript library that let me use MySQL/PostgreSQL on the back-end, I would be the first to buy a license, even if pricey. I could even live with a reduced feature set, such as no revisions.<p>Alas, companies can only focus on so many business plans at once. :)
I have been looking for an easy-to-use cloud database and this looks like it!!!! I am kept being amazed at the lack of an app equivalent for MS Access. That is a very useful tool but not fit for the cloud/collaboration age. Kudos!!I think there are tons of people that will use it.
First off, love it!<p>Second, when modifying the properties of a multiple options column you can't see text past a certain point, even though the row is clearly big enough: <a href="http://i.imgur.com/6ju4vCe.png" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/6ju4vCe.png</a>
Native mobile SDKs would be fantastic. We often have to develop mobile apps for clients where there is a need for a relational db in the cloud that the client can maintain with data. The app has to access that data to displayed, as well as add new data.
Gorgeous work — and from poking around in the console a bit, it looks as though you're using the latest version of Backbone.js.<p>Any interest in having Airtable featured on the list of example apps on the Backbone homepage? If yes, drop me a line...
This could be really nice for hobbyist usage for tabletop RPGs, but to fully fit that niche it really needs (a) anonymous sharing (with a read-only mode), and (b) a way to copy a shared 'app' to your own account.
I just imported a movie list with the names and year into a table. I want to automagically import the description from IMDB. What would be the best way to do that without going fully into manual mode?
Awesome homepage and video! Bloody well done. All the best. It looks quite useful and easy to use. Have good export functionalities and handle different OSes and you have a winner!
Well-polished product.. can you u talk a little bit about the design and the front end. what did you use for the UI design and front end. it is clean..
The classical music is a nice touch. It already makes me feel sophisticated and smart. Everyone copies Apple's music causes seizure amongst hipsters.<p>Quick question about the technology used here. How do you sync the data entered from mobile app to the web app? What did you use to create such a beautiful UI?