What's a cool idea for a website with a database?

May 31, 2011 6:55 AM

Asking-for-a-friend-filter: my friend is doing Bachelor's in Computer Science and has a final year project to the tune of 'website with database'. He doesn't want to make something as generic as a regular shopping website; so any interesting, offbeat ideas for database websites would be more than welcome. Catch: Shouldn't be very difficult. And should be SFW.
posted by Senza Volto to Computers & Internet (22 answers total)

Rec Sports league management with team pages and scores. (There's very few GOOD solutions out there, most places by this time have custom coded theirs.)
posted by SpecialK at 7:07 AM on May 31, 2011

Look for interesting open data sets. Bonus points for taking two and mashing them up.

Random example: I know there's a data set listing archaeological finds in the UK out there somewhere. If I had time I'd slice it by period and plot it in Google Maps.

Oh, and don't get sucked in to the RDF snake oil.
posted by Leon at 7:11 AM on May 31, 2011

How long does he have? The ones that are on my list of personal projects are:

• Personal Twitter feed archive
• Delicious replacement
• URL shortener/image posting system
• Personal project management system
• Personal library system (this would be especially useful if it could work with MARC standards
• Personal movie database (list all the movies and shows you have and have seen with reviews)

Some of these are easier than others, but the really interesting part is coming up with good UIs for different devices.
posted by thebestsophist at 7:20 AM on May 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

I've always thought someone should create a lost mitten exchange or lost tupperware lid exchange, so you could list the partnerless and browse for partners and even bid to recomplete the pair.
posted by advicepig at 7:34 AM on May 31, 2011

I'd love a system that acted like tinyURL, but for email.

Users would enter one or more email addresses into the system, and would get a unique URL and email address back. Incoming mail would be routed to the list of email addresses, and hitting the unique URL would bring up a form for sending people info.

This would help folks in school or who are changing jobs, so they can create an indirect email address ([e-mail]) that they can later update with a web UI so they can keep in contact with their friends after they've left.
posted by jenkinsEar at 7:40 AM on May 31, 2011

I spent some time messing around with Twilio and it's a pretty fun and easy way to hook up phone and SMS functionality to a website. Having something like a phone menu interface and voice recordings and whatnot would be a fairly simple way to make a simple database-driven website more interesting.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:42 AM on May 31, 2011

A person-to-person lending library system, including approximate geographical location (to protect anonymity before people establish personal contact), history notes on borrowers (he cleaned my tiller before returning it!! Would loan to him again!!!), and maybe some kind of policy for breakage, etc.

If this exists already, I want to know about it!
posted by amtho at 8:43 AM on May 31, 2011 [3 favorites]

I've always wanted to create a personal recipe database that I could search by title, ingredients, and method of cooking. Having an easy input method would be important. Having it on the web is awesome because then I could pull up a recipe while at a friend's house or make a grocery list when I'm at my parents' place.

A more simple database might just be users and passwords, along with a small database of content that displays differently depending on who is logged in. Knowing how to do proper database security for passwords (i.e. not storing them as plain text in the database) would be a good experience for someone who will likely be hunting for a job soon.
posted by vytae at 9:04 AM on May 31, 2011

I like amtho's suggestion. I was thinking of doing something similar myself, just for the learning experience. For books, though. Each person could have a profile with a list of books, categorized by "read it"/"own it" with rating. For the books they own, they could indicate if they're willing to lend it, sell it, or give it away.

Other people could browse the combined list, and then ... somehow make arrangements to borrow or buy books craigslist-style.

It probably exists already, but it would be a neat project anyhow.
posted by ctmf at 10:09 AM on May 31, 2011

I'm more of a data nerd than a comp sci, so maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but the way I read your question was what databases would be fun to play with. The two that immediately came to mind are the latest U.S. Census, and whatever data your local city makes available. Local cities often collect and make available really unusual data, like sewer usage or fire hydrant maintenance schedules.

cmtf, the place to start would be goodreads. I imagine some smart person could figure out how to create a lending interface that pulls profiles.
posted by postel's law at 10:15 AM on May 31, 2011

ctmf, even.
posted by postel's law at 10:15 AM on May 31, 2011

A dynamic (lots of javascript/ajax fun) habit judo site that is slick and clean and mobile-friendly.
posted by jsturgill at 10:16 AM on May 31, 2011

Jukebox with free online music and has login/password access control. Also has randomize, playlist, comment options depending on how much time he has.
posted by meepmeow at 11:01 AM on May 31, 2011

Concert gigography? Venue. Set list, ability to search by track played, etc. For one artist or a bunch of artists.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:26 AM on May 31, 2011

thebestsophist: your delicious clone is ready: http://sourceforge.net/projects/scuttle/

one app i would have used over and over if i ever found it: a generic template for a website that accepts user registrations, done well (security, password hashes, email checks, user levels etc etc)

Or maybe something for sending timed e-mail messages ; send this message to xxx@yyy at hh:mm of day dd-mm-yyyy
posted by 3mendo at 11:27 AM on May 31, 2011

@3mendo: awesome, I've only started on doing UI for my own, I'll have to check that out. thanks!
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posted by thebestsophist at 11:44 AM on May 31, 2011

How about a personal music organizing app. Like itunes but better, for people who hate itunes.
posted by txmon at 12:07 PM on May 31, 2011

a replacement for where is george.com cash tracking system. I came up with a lot of vulgar stories about where I got the bills I entered on that site and they kicked me off because "children" might read them. Children!
posted by gregg at 12:25 PM on May 31, 2011

I want an ocean freight shipping calculator that takes into account current pricing, volume of goods, whether to use a 40 or 20 foot container, duty rates and classification, etc. so that I can give accurate quotes to my clients.
posted by PSB at 2:00 PM on May 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

My senior year I created the registration website for a school golf tournament. Teams could co register or give their characteristics to match teams. Probably could add payment methods now (this was 7 years ago). Enormously succesful, and a ton of fun. Talked about it alot of interviews.
posted by sandmanwv at 2:36 PM on May 31, 2011

I always had an idea for a kind of trust-based book sharing site. You'd post whatever books you had to trade and other users would do the same. The idea would be to write in the margins so you had this kind of community book experience.
posted by GilloD at 3:52 PM on May 31, 2011

An e-book lending library. People could post the books they have available for lending, along with the format, then use the site to find people to exchange with.
posted by Dr. Eigenvariable at 5:24 AM on June 1, 2011