Quote Originally Posted by ViperSRT3g View Post
So I keep seeing the occasional thread pop up about reptile software. And I want to get some feed back on this. What features do you seek in these programs, and what are some popular choices? I'm a programmer, and the thought that people pay money for these things when they can be provided for free intrigues me. So I'm asking for serious feedback, what key features do you use these programs for, and what would you like to see in them? I'd like to take a shot at developing something people can use easily as part of their lives for tracking stats about their reptiles.
Submit as much info as you'd like, even including examples, screenshots, or even mock ups of how you'd like to see a program laid out for you. All feedback is appreciated!
Hey, are you talking desktop tracking or web based app tracking? I have actually been very very quietly, until now obviously (My wife did not even know) working on a very large web based project for about a year. I have been watching and listening to what people have been wanting in a tracking app for over the last year now, and have compiled from pretty good information.

Some of this could be a bit biased, as I am a web dev, but here is my take:

From what I have gathered, a desktop only app (sorry to be blunt, and like I said, I could be wrong here) is pretty much out. Web is in. Which has already been done pretty well, by iHerp, except (no offense to iHerp, I love iHerp and use it alot) I feel that it is missing a few things, like the power of databases. As a business in the reptile industry, I want to generate reports based on the tracking information... let me manipulate that data, much like Degei does. I can enter the cost of different actions, but never can I actually see totals for anything, just seems a bit silly. On top of that, a one-stop shop is what I see being the most beneficial, which also makes this a very large project.

My vision is to take the best of the tracking abilities/features of iHerp & Degei combine them with the classifieds of iHerp, Fauna and Kingsnake, add ebay like auctions, and then some tricks of my own that will make people think, "why was this never thought of until now", which I will of course, keep to myself for the time being.

I know this is very ambitious, especially as I am building everything from the ground up, which if you think about it has very many projects rolled into one: you have a image gallery, tracking, classifieds, auctions, generating reports, and many more and they have to all work together. To top it off, I am just one person, this scale of thing is usually the work of a team, which I am really starting to think that I should assemble one, so I can actually finish this in a reasonable time.

I apologize if this steps on some toes, which is why I have been keeping this quiet for some time, that and I was waiting until I was sure this would be a reality and was near completion, which it is definitely not, but maybe talking about it will keep me on task as I think this is something the industry really needs.