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ExploreTree (Read 1238 times)
Chris Ball
ExploreTree
Jul 5th, 2009, 11:37am  
Hi!

ExploreTree is a sketch for visualizing and searching large tree structures, such as the evolutionary tree of life.  There's full source code and an applet available at:

http exploretree . org

(Sorry, can't post real links yet.)

Enjoy, we'd be happy to get feedback on it,

- Madeleine and Chris Ball.
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Catherine
Re: ExploreTree
Reply #1 - Jul 6th, 2009, 9:08am  
Hey guys,

I have some suggestions - feel free to ignore them.

You should use a font which looks the same on Mac and Windows. It looks a bit hideous on my windows xp but beautiful on Mac.

It's not immediately obvious that if you type it will appear in the search box. Perhaps put a blinking cursor? It's also not obvious that if you click on one of the results it will take you there - perhaps you should use underlines?

Using ellipses instead of rectangles for selection is a little weird. Because of the way fonts are displaying on windows, the ellipses are sort of hovering above the words.

I sent this to a bioinformaticist, and he said that your tree information is a little weird - the bacteria classifications aren't as in depth as the eukaryota, they don't have their full latin names... I don't know if you're using your own tree data or if this is a concern for you.
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Madeleine Ball
Re: ExploreTree
Reply #2 - Jul 6th, 2009, 7:46pm  
Catherine wrote on Jul 6th, 2009, 9:08am:
Hey guys,

You should use a font which looks the same on Mac and Windows. It looks a bit hideous on my windows xp but beautiful on Mac.

Thanks for the heads-up! I've changed "Helvetica" to "Arial" and recentered things accordingly, hopefully this looks the same on a windows machine (it seems to look fine on our Mac & Linux).

Catherine wrote on Jul 6th, 2009, 9:08am:
It's not immediately obvious that if you type it will appear in the search box. Perhaps put a blinking cursor It's also not obvious that if you click on one of the results it will take you there - perhaps you should use underlines

I've added "focus" that makes the text search line black if you click on it because people seem to want some indication of focus (even though it's not needed). I haven't disabled functionality though, you can still type and search without focus, it's purely cosmetic.

Catherine wrote on Jul 6th, 2009, 9:08am:
I sent this to a bioinformaticist, and he said that your tree information is a little weird - the bacteria classifications aren't as in depth as the eukaryota, they don't have their full latin names... I don't know if you're using your own tree data or if this is a concern for you.

I'm familiar with scientific phylogenetic trees, but this one is meant to be fun for a non-scientist to explore (or for a scientist just having fun) -- and so I've filled it with familiar organisms rather than scientific ones and using common names wherever possible (eg. "Domestic cat" instead of "Felis catus"). This program was inspired by a comic I made a while back: sphericalcow.org/?p=16

Many thanks for the feedback!

- Madeleine
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Bill
Re: ExploreTree
Reply #3 - Aug 2nd, 2009, 2:36pm  
Hey! I just wanted to say I thought this was cool!! Nice explorer.

Usability points though (I showed it to my dad): it would be good to show a little faded out line where the tree would continue, and/or maybe a circle where it terminates.

Also, the layout where you have a couple of small nodes, and a huge load of branches sometimes lays out the ones close to the current node with quite a narrow angle and doesn't make full use of the space....

but .... it's really cool! I like the way it moves. Simple Smiley

Thanks!
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