From smb@smb.chem.niu.edu Wed Apr 3 11:20:35 1996 Received: from mp.cs.niu.edu for smb@smb.chem.niu.edu by www.ccl.net (8.7.1/950822.1) id KAA28809; Wed, 3 Apr 1996 10:36:54 -0500 (EST) Received: from cz2.chem.niu.edu by mp.cs.niu.edu with SMTP id AA16228 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for <@mp.cs.niu.edu.chem.niu.edu:chemistry@www.ccl.net>); Wed, 3 Apr 1996 09:36:55 -0600 Received: from smb.chem.niu.edu by cz2.chem.niu.edu via SMTP (920330.SGI/890607.SGI) (for @mp.cs.niu.edu.chem.niu.edu:chemistry@www.ccl.net) id AA05884; Wed, 3 Apr 96 07:40:50 -0600 Received: by smb.chem.niu.edu (920330.SGI/890607.SGI) (for @cz2.chem.niu.edu:chemistry@www.ccl.net) id AA08084; Wed, 3 Apr 96 07:40:49 -0600 Date: Wed, 3 Apr 96 07:40:49 -0600 From: smb@smb.chem.niu.edu (Steven Bachrach) Message-Id: <9604031340.AA08084@smb.chem.niu.edu> To: chemistry@www.ccl.net Subject: WWW developments I will probably get flamed for bringing up this subject as being too far removed from comp chem but here goes.. I have been very impressed with a number of web developments like the Tripos fetch and sketch, and the molecular inventor work of SGI. (If you missed the demo of this at the ACS meeting, make sure to get your SGI rep or an MSI rep to show it to you!). I would like to use the plug-in Chime from MDL, but I'm not a windows user. Anyways, I would like to poll the community towards their attitudes and desires in terms of how they would like to see chemical displays develop on the web. The "old" technology was to provide a compound in one of a variety of formats (pdb, xyz, etc), attach a MIME type, and then allow the user to provide the molecular viewer locally (like Xmol or RasMol). With the development of Netscape 2, we now have the Java option (like "fetch and sketch") and the plug-in option (like chime). These latter options remove the user from selecting the visualization tool. While this has advantages: everyone now views the structure in the identical way, no need for the user to have the appropriate viewer; it also removes the freedom to choose - what if you don't like the Java applet provided? Before we all go and reinvent the wheel, and we have 30 different java applets to rotate a molecule, can we discuss what's the "best" way to provide the data to the general community? Steve Steven Bachrach Department of Chemistry Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Il 60115 Phone: (815)753-6863 smb@smb.chem.niu.edu Fax: (815)753-4802 From smb@smb.chem.niu.edu Wed Apr 3 15:20:33 1996 Received: from mp.cs.niu.edu for smb@smb.chem.niu.edu by www.ccl.net (8.7.1/950822.1) id OAA02563; Wed, 3 Apr 1996 14:37:07 -0500 (EST) Received: from cz2.chem.niu.edu by mp.cs.niu.edu with SMTP id AA26623 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for <@mp.cs.niu.edu.chem.niu.edu:CHEMISTRY@www.ccl.net>); Wed, 3 Apr 1996 13:37:08 -0600 Received: from smb.chem.niu.edu by cz2.chem.niu.edu via SMTP (920330.SGI/890607.SGI) (for @mp.cs.niu.edu.chem.niu.edu:CHEMISTRY@www.ccl.net) id AA06505; Wed, 3 Apr 96 11:40:38 -0600 Received: by smb.chem.niu.edu (920330.SGI/890607.SGI) (for @cz2.chem.niu.edu:CHEMISTRY@www.ccl.net) id AA09097; Wed, 3 Apr 96 11:40:37 -0600 Date: Wed, 3 Apr 96 11:40:37 -0600 From: smb@smb.chem.niu.edu (Steven Bachrach) Message-Id: <9604031740.AA09097@smb.chem.niu.edu> To: CHEMISTRY@www.ccl.net Subject: WWW developments Cc: smb@smb.chem.niu.edu I will probably get flamed for bringing up this subject as being too far removed from comp chem but here goes.. I have been very impressed with a number of web developments like the Tripos fetch and sketch, and the molecular inventor work of SGI. (If you missed the demo of this at the ACS meeting, make sure to get your SGI rep or an MSI rep to show it to you!). I would like to use the plug-in Chime from MDL, but I'm not a windows user. Anyways, I would like to poll the community towards their attitudes and desires in terms of how they would like to see chemical displays develop on the web. The "old" technology was to provide a compound in one of a variety of formats (pdb, xyz, etc), attach a MIME type, and then allow the user to provide the molecular viewer locally (like Xmol or RasMol). With the development of Netscape 2, we now have the Java option (like "fetch and sketch") and the plug-in option (like chime). These latter options remove the user from selecting the visualization tool. While this has advantages: everyone now views the structure in the identical way, no need for the user to have the appropriate viewer; it also removes the freedom to choose - what if you don't like the Java applet provided? Before we all go and reinvent the wheel, and we have 30 different java applets to rotate a molecule, can we discuss what's the "best" way to provide the data to the general community? Steve Steven Bachrach Department of Chemistry Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Il 60115 Phone: (815)753-6863 smb@smb.chem.niu.edu Fax: (815)753-4802