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I think this would totally alienate a lot of users. I know many who are capable of downloading a .csv or .xlsx, clicking on it, and looking through MS Excel. Bu

I think this would totally alienate a lot of users. I know many who are capable of downloading a .csv or .xlsx, clicking on it, and looking through MS Excel. But a lot of them would start reading this and then ask me "What is an SQLite?" The only real winners here would be programmers and the like. If you're looking for programmers to win, why not say something like "Websites should offer nice APIs" or "Programmers should use APIs when the data from a CSV simply won't cut it"

dgudkov 10y ago
One doesn't exclude the other. Websites can keep offering CSV dumps for less technically savvy users. >The only real winners here would be programmers and the like. Not only programmers would benefit from it -- there are many rather advanced users who would pull data into Tableau or a similar tool rather than into Excel. UPDATE: Probably a better title would be "... in addition to CSV dumps".
- jamescostian 10y ago
  It's the word "instead" that I am most strongly against. Offering more ways to get data always sounds good, however that also means more work for developers on things that may not really be used. Personally, when I see something about exporting data to a format my parents (average technical abilities) would not be able to work with, I usually deprioritize it quite a bit. In my opinion, giving users access to a .xlsx file should be perfect for the 99% and having an API allows other devs to fill in gaps. But I suppose if your website is big enough (e.g. PayPal) then you will run into more of those people that need more info but can't/won't use an API, and at that point if you receive enough requests from users, you ought to add some more export options.
  - dgudkov 10y ago
    I agree that "instead" is too strict. Although, I disagree about accessing everything else besides CSVs through APIs because it usually requires a non-trivial amount of reading documentation and coding. It's a no-go for advanced non-technical users that I mentioned earlier. At the same time working with a multi-table SQLite dump is trivial with many data analysis tools.

dgudkov 10y ago

One doesn't exclude the other. Websites can keep offering CSV dumps for less technically savvy users. >The only real winners here would be programmers and the like. Not only programmers would benefit from it -- there are many rather advanced users who would pull data into Tableau or a similar tool rather than into Excel. UPDATE: Probably a better title would be "... in addition to CSV dumps".

jamescostian 10y ago
It's the word "instead" that I am most strongly against. Offering more ways to get data always sounds good, however that also means more work for developers on things that may not really be used. Personally, when I see something about exporting data to a format my parents (average technical abilities) would not be able to work with, I usually deprioritize it quite a bit. In my opinion, giving users access to a .xlsx file should be perfect for the 99% and having an API allows other devs to fill in gaps. But I suppose if your website is big enough (e.g. PayPal) then you will run into more of those people that need more info but can't/won't use an API, and at that point if you receive enough requests from users, you ought to add some more export options.
- dgudkov 10y ago
  I agree that "instead" is too strict. Although, I disagree about accessing everything else besides CSVs through APIs because it usually requires a non-trivial amount of reading documentation and coding. It's a no-go for advanced non-technical users that I mentioned earlier. At the same time working with a multi-table SQLite dump is trivial with many data analysis tools.