Thoughts on Design, FileMaker, DevCon, Pause on Error, ROI (Return on Investment), and anything else related to what The Alchemy Group does on a daily basis. We care, so we share whatever we can with you. We are a full-featured FileMaker Pro development shop, with years of experience building systems for businesses, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations exactly like yours. Your unique processes will be exactly mirrored by the custom software we write for you, whether it’s for mobile or desktop.
New: FileMaker 15!
FileMaker, Inc., a subsidiary of Apple, has released its latest version of the powerful FileMaker platform. With FileMaker 15, lots of new possibilities arise, from managing inventory more efficiently with iBeacon and making it easier to log in using TouchID, to...
Alchemy Promoted to FBA Platinum
SAN DIMAS, California — October 1, 2015 — Alchemy Consulting Group LLC, a leading FileMaker Platform developer, today announced that it has been designated as a Platinum Level FileMaker Business Alliance (FBA) member. Partners who reach the FBA Platinum level are...
FileMaker Security: Be Afraid
We in the FileMaker community have enjoyed a period of relative calm when it comes to data breaches; our platform is not widely noticed among professional hackers (but also not completely unnoticed). This is called, by some, "security by obscurity," and it's a really,...
FileMaker: 20 & 30 – Wow!
FileMaker has reached two important milestones: The platform is now 30 years old, and still going strong. No longer a mom and pop database product, but a well-positioned, immensely powerful development platform to help anyone solve a host of difficult problems....
14 Points for Glyphindor!
FileMaker Pro 14 offers us an exciting new database design feature: the ability to use SVG glyphs. As described below, this is a great advancement, equal in weight to the new Script Workspace and mobile browser support, IMO. But with a measly 147 default glyphs in the...
Upward Mobility
Mobile Computing has become a commonly used term among software developers and consumers, business owners and their customers. But what, exactly, does it mean for you? If you have a business to run, chances are it does not all happen inside the walls of your office....
Bug Logic: we all have issues
Whenever we roll out a new system to a client, there are two kinds of training we need to perform to get them up to speed. The first is what you would expect, the basics of how to operate their brand new software; but the second kind might not seem so obvious: how to...
Typeface Challenges in Database Design
A new article by Jason Pamental in the TNW blog addresses some of the concerns designers face in attempting to design good, readable interfaces. One thing I like about this article is that he pays attention to something very close to my heart: typographic hierarchy....
Getting Started with Design 2: Type
In part 2a of my series, "Getting Started with Design," I outlined in detail the differences between the various fonts available to FileMaker developers. In this article, I will describe how to use type effectively, using information hierarchy and differentiation....
Ruggedized iPad Case with Swiper
I thought I would share a quick note on an interesting project for a client. We are deploying a FileMaker solution on some iPad Air 2s, using FileMaker Go. This is an invoicing/POS system for plumbers to accept on-site payment from customers at the close of a job. We...