Abstract: A database which consists of HTML, XML or other standard-format, hypertext documents is disclosed. For each “record” in the database there is a master document and multiple related documents, called “view documents.” The view documents are related to the master document and may have a subset of the data of the master document. The view documents are generally created at the same time as the master document. The master document and view documents are revised by the DBMS together. The view documents are based upon pre-defined templates. The view documents provide alternative views of the data in the master document, and may be tailored to the user or class of user. Thus, each “record” in the database is actually one or more files. The “database” is formed from a directory tree of these files, structured in a pre-defined and controlled manner.