The BioGPS team is very excited to announce the public release of BioGPS version 2.0! There are a bunch of changes included in this update:
1. New logo
As mentioned in a previous blog post the BioGPS team decided that it was time for a new logo. After considering the many great submissions from our logo contest we are happy to officially unveil the winner, which is now being used site-wide.
2. New Plugin Library page
The Plugin Library home page received a major face-lift and now provides quick access to categories of plugins. Categories are collections of plugins that have been tagged similarly. On this page you will also continue to see the most popular and newest plugins registered at BioGPS, so you’ll never be out of touch with the community.
3. Plugin search is faster than ever
In getting version 2.0 ready for our users, we evaluated multiple solutions to searching across BioGPS’s ever-expanding collection of plugin resources. We ultimately chose Elastic Search and have been very happy with its performance and features. What does this mean for you, the BioGPS user? You get accurate search results, blazingly fast.
4. Search filtering
Quickly finding the search results you’re most interested in was another goal we had in mind while working on version 2.0. Let’s say you want to search specifically for cancer-related plugins. In the search bar it’s as easy as typing in:
in:plugin cancer
That’s a great start, but what if you’re really interested in plugins that deal with specific species or have a particular tag? On the left-hand side of the page, you will find the tags and species that pertain to your search results:
Clicking on tags and species will further filter your search results, allowing you to quickly and easily find what you’re looking for.
5. Comments and ratings for plugins
But wait, there’s more! With version 2.0 we’ve added public comments and ratings to plugins. Have a common question about a plugin or want to tell your favorite plugin’s developer thank you? Leave a comment! Ratings on plugins are also new and are another great way to give feedback. Plugin ratings are displayed in search results as well, allowing you to quickly find the best plugins for viewing your data:
6. Improved site navigation
The BioGPS team has also been busy conducting user interviews and received a lot of great feedback in the process. The result is our new page layout used for the Plugin Library and individual plugin pages, with more on the way. This new look and feel was designed to improve user navigation throughout the site and be more visually appealing.
7. More ways to access data
Want all available information for a plugin, but in a non-HTML format like JSON or XML? Done! On the right-hand side of each plugin page is an “Other Formats” section with links to the JSON and XML equivalents of that plugin:
Getting plugin data in the format you want is easier than ever.
We hope that you find all of these new features helpful and are as excited about BioGPS 2.0 as we are. If you have further questions contact us, and remember to sign up for the BioGPS email, subscribe to our RSS feed, or follow us on Twitter to get the latest.
