The great thing about putting data files up on a public web site is that data consumers can download the data with a point and a click. Unfortunately, when lots of individual data files are involved, the consumer of data must point and click … and then point and click again … then point and click … and point and click … and point … and … and … and …
This post describes how 11 lines of python code can take the human eyes and fingers out of the equation and speed things up a bit. read more …
For the last three years our desktop work environment has consisted of a 14″ IBM ThinkPad running Ubuntu Linux. We loved the mobility, reliability and no-nonsense work ethic of this combination. Sadly, we realized that things had to change when we began contemplating our first purchase of reading glasses.
We’re pleased to inform you that we managed to postpone the reading glasses by purchasing a brand new 27″ iMac instead. However, we can’t imagine working without access to a real Unix/Linux system and this post will cover the simple steps needed to run the latest Ubuntu release as a virtual machine on your Mac. read more …
We’re keeping an eye on the Plone content management system (CMS) as a tool for science and recently attended the 2009 Plone conference in Budapest. Here is a short report on how some companies are using Plone in support of science. read more …
Working with data from varied sources can be frustrating — some data will be in CSV format; some in XML; some available as HTML pages; other data as relational databases or MS Excel spreadsheets.
This post will cover the UNIX tools that every data manager needs to be familiar with in order to work with varied data sources. read more …
User interface design is tricky business.
When working with scientific data, UI designers often try to pack too much functionality into too little space, resulting in interfaces that are neither simple nor intuitive. Users end up spending too much time learning how to navigate the interface, rather than interrogating the data. One small part of the solution is to provide detailed tooltips on how to use the interface. This post describes a jQuery tooltip plugin and how it can be used to improve web based interfaces to scientific analysis. read more …
