Jim Higson wrote:
Is there a policy on client-side code (such as applets)
on the wiki when doing
something that can't be done on the server.
For example, visit any of the links from here
http://jmol.sourceforge.net/preview/
I find this kind of thing simply stunning, and the kind of thing an electronic
encyclopedia should use to take advantage of over paper ones.
IMO a 3D, rotatable view of a molecule gives far greater and easier
understanding of the structure, especially to a newcomer.
I think plug-ins are bad; they limit software choices, which should be
left to the client. However, in addition to generating a nice simple 2D
picture, the SMILES-processor mentioned above should be able to output
any of a number of different chemical-markup representations, which
could then be made available via a link, so that your favourite
chemical-computing software can be launched (in the same way that you
might launch a viewer for any other external content). Then you can do
_far_ more than just spin it: you can calculate energies, visualise
orbitals....
Are there any chemists here with an opinion on this?
-- Neil