New Features, Part 1
Dan Russell
| Oct 17, 2012
So what's new with the new PhagesDB? The first in a two part series...
Instead of the Phage List and Cluster List being simply lists of names, they're now sortable/searchable tables that contain more information. To quickly find a phage in the phage list, simply begin typing its name into the box at the top of the screen. Which phage has the smallest genome yet? Sort the Phage List by genome size. Want to know which clusters have the highest GC content? Sort the Cluster List by GC %. What's the largest cluster that hasn't been divided into subclusters? Cluster E!
We now have a blog, a Twitter feed, and a Facebook page. These were created because we've never had a good way to communicate with the mycobacteriophage community at large, other than periodic website updates. We'll use these tools to let you know about meetings, papers, news, announcements, and more that we think you might be interested in.
Both the Add Phage and Modify Phage forms have been improved with more fields and better usability. For example, we've made it tougher to accidentally switch GPS latitude and longitude.
We've also improved our behind-the-scenes data request processing. In the past, some of your add or modify requests may have taken quite a while to appear on the site. Now, not only should they be processed much faster, but you have the option to be notified by email when the changes have been made, so you no longer have to guess or wait or periodically refresh pages.
Improved Phage and Cluster Lists
Instead of the Phage List and Cluster List being simply lists of names, they're now sortable/searchable tables that contain more information. To quickly find a phage in the phage list, simply begin typing its name into the box at the top of the screen. Which phage has the smallest genome yet? Sort the Phage List by genome size. Want to know which clusters have the highest GC content? Sort the Cluster List by GC %. What's the largest cluster that hasn't been divided into subclusters? Cluster E!
Communication
We now have a blog, a Twitter feed, and a Facebook page. These were created because we've never had a good way to communicate with the mycobacteriophage community at large, other than periodic website updates. We'll use these tools to let you know about meetings, papers, news, announcements, and more that we think you might be interested in.
Forms and Request Processing
Both the Add Phage and Modify Phage forms have been improved with more fields and better usability. For example, we've made it tougher to accidentally switch GPS latitude and longitude.
We've also improved our behind-the-scenes data request processing. In the past, some of your add or modify requests may have taken quite a while to appear on the site. Now, not only should they be processed much faster, but you have the option to be notified by email when the changes have been made, so you no longer have to guess or wait or periodically refresh pages.