While the backend data architecture is very important to the success of a website, so too is an intuitive and helpful front-end that guides users through their data requests. Often times, organizations spend a lot of time on their data architecture and neglect to answer the fundamental question of “can our users use our website” to answer the questions that they need to answer.
Yesterday, while assessing a new client site, we ran across a technology we have not seen before: Sphinx Search.
If you've used a web ontology before, or any other large-scale data repository, you're likely familiar with one of the chief concerns facing anyone in such a position: how do you get your data into the system? Moreover, how do you get large amounts of data into the system with (relative) ease? And if you've used a content management system before, you've likely faced a similar, albeit inverted problem: how do you get your data out?
If you can accomplish these preliminary items without a good deal of effort, you're finally left with the task of transforming the data from one, and allowing it to be recognizable by the other.
If, instead, you haven't used either of these, you're likely wondering why on Earth you would want to.
