Access as a Client-Side CMS
In this post, the author discusses the concept of using Access as a client-side content management system (CMS). They explore the strengths of Access in managing data and how it can be integrated with web technologies. The post highlights techniques for leveraging Access to create dynamic web applications and emphasizes the benefits of a familiar interface for content creators while addressing potential limitations.
Generated by Azure AI on June 24, 2024How about Microsoft Access as a client-side content management tool? After playing around with Radio UserLand and CityDesk, I’m finding more and more utility in a client-side apps. They’re responsive, they don’t need to be connected (great for laptops or dial-up), and you can do a lot more with a client-side user interface than a browser-based interface.
So, I got to thinking the other day, how about hot-rodding Microsoft Access into a client-based CMS? Microsoft VBA is a very competent language, and it essentially gives you a fully-functional Windows interface inside of an Access file.
You could easily develop a set of VBA forms that allowed WYSIWYG entry, category assignment, publishing management, etc. These forms would just modify underlying Access tables in that same file. Everything would be self-contained and it could generate and FTP files to a remote server (or file-copy, if you were on the same network as your server).
For all its faults, Access is an extremely mature data storage app, so you get all the functionality of a true, relational database backend with the full functionality of a Visual Basic application interface.
I’m not going to write this, but I wish someone would.