Monday 15 February 2010

NCBI pubmed 'enhanced' web site with java script is pretty but is [a bit] wrong!

At least is wrong not to have the previous interface for no-javascript browsers.

[update] the interface seems better now, but still have some issues like:
  • - In the display settings, after selecting the options, the 'return key' goes to the search field not the apply button!!
  • - The same for the 'send to'. Also here the interface is a slow two steps. You need to click in the option and some extra info appears at the bottom.


  • - The thing that really needs to be improved is the 'collections' interface:
    • After selecting some entries, and 'send to collections' you go to the following interface:




    • You need to go to 'append to an existing collection' and select one. All this is a bit time consuming. I would prefer to have the collection integrated in the pubmed pages


The usability (quick access and no mouse access) is low with the new javascript interface. It has nice effects but the animations slow things and you cannot use tab/arrow to select things.


Also the myNCBI is a nice idea, but it is very slow to add entries to your libraries it is faster to use citeulike with the doi/pubmed selector bookmarklet. The send-to/collections is unusable if you want to add more than two references. You can spent the whole day waiting for pages and selecting things. It should have a list of my collections and send directly there (as when you send to the clipboard).


It could be an awesome enhancement for newbies surfers, but a bit of a hassle for power users.

The new interface is 'modern' but not yet very efficient.

I agree also with this post:
http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lang.perl.bio.general/21519

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