What is a
relational database?

Ten databases
work together to create dictionaries in SignBank.

Think of SignBank as a village of houses. All of the houses in the SignBank Village are used as office buildings for the same company, called the “SignBank Dictionary Publishers”.

1. SignBank Portal
The first house is open to visitors. It is a SignBank reading room, where all dictionaries can be read, researched and printed. In database terminology, this is called a Portal. It is like a window that lets you view the database without making changes. In the Portal, there is no fear of losing data.

2. SignBank Editor
For advanced users, the second house is for dictionary editing. The SignBank Editor is used to create new dictionaries and change existing ones. Dictionaries created in the Editor are read, printed and searched in the Portal.

3. SymbolBank
SymbolBank is important. It stores all the symbols used by the other databases. It is the foundation. Without SymbolBank, no dictionary can be sorted or searched. It holds the symbols and also the sequence for sorting those symbols (the SSS).

4. SignBank International
The International House, or database, is used to create multi-lingual dictionaries.