[BiO BB] Advanced web query interfaces for biological databases

Mike Marchywka marchywka at hotmail.com
Mon Apr 14 13:16:16 EDT 2008


> our database as it will be some time before we have a sizable pool of
> users, letalone developers.

And what kind of interface will your few developers use? I guess my point is that if you have
a compelling data set, developers will come out of the wood work to support it.

> Also, I might not be clear on what you mean by "programmatically," but
> I think it is a bit short-sighted to limit the scope of web-based
> interfaces to only casual queries.

I'm not advocating intentional limitations, just expressing the problem with a GUI. You
end up guessing how a user wants to work ( or you are omniscient). For examples
or introductory material that is great and even important for proof of concept if
nothing else. To let motivated users exploit the full capabilities of most data sources,
however, you need to let them ( or their machines ) interact with existing tools.

Further, if you define a machine usable interface (API) you better document your features
without having to worry about modal dialogs and button colors.



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> Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:23:30 -0700
> From: keithcallenberg at gmail.com
> To: bbb at bioinformatics.org
> Subject: Re: [BiO BB] Advanced web query interfaces for biological databases
>
> Thanks for your suggestion, Mike. As a developer I also value the
> concept of an open and freely available API, and I wish that more
> sites would provide these, but I am not sure it is yet appropriate for
> our database as it will be some time before we have a sizable pool of
> users, letalone developers.
>
> Also, I might not be clear on what you mean by "programmatically," but
> I think it is a bit short-sighted to limit the scope of web-based
> interfaces to only casual queries. I am not usually a supporter of the
> term "Web 2.0" because I think it has lately signified little more
> than colorful buttons, but I do believe more and more tasks can be
> accomplished from within the browser. I believe energy should be put
> into moving more advanced tasks online because it removes learning
> curves and hardware restrictions, thereby increasing your base of
> users.
>
> I think it is not easy to develop an intuitive web-based UI that is
> not fairly restrictive, but that does not mean it should not be
> pursued.
>
> Keith
>
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