Tools for Scientific Contributors: What's New?

Coming Soon

• Independent publication of different page elements; e. g., publish individual page sections while withholding other sections in progress.
• Summary reports for people's work in progress.
• TreeGrow: new tools for uploading large taxon lists and tree structures.
• New tools for branch coordinators: create and manage accounts for contributors to your assigned branch of the ToL.

14 October 2005

There's now a Tree of Life Contributors TWiki where contributors can participate in discussions about the technical development of the project.

13 October 2005

Release of version 2.0 of the ToL data entry tools:

• The editing of ToL branch and leaf pages is now done using the new ToL Web Tools, a simple, user-friendly interface that is accessed through your web browser. Once a registered ToL contributor is logged into the ToL Development Site, web pages for which the contributor has editing privileges feature edit ... links next to each section of the page.
• Clicking on an edit ... link will open a form where the contributor can enter text and other information for the web page. Editing forms for text sections feature an Easy Mode text editor that provides a wysiwyg interface and allows authors to format their text without knowledge of HTML.
• TreeGrow is now used only for the creation of the tree structure, for the establishment of page boundaries (new pages can be created either in TreeGrow or in the ToL Web Tools), and for the assignment of taxon properties.
• Contributions that are ready for publication are now submitted from a web page interface that allows contributors to pick which pages should be published and which should be withheld from publication pending further revisions.

2 September 2005

New batch uploading tools for media files. Media contributors can now upload batches of images in a zipped folder, accompanied by an XML file containing the image data. Instructions are available on the Batch Uploading Media Files page (log-in required).

11 May 2005

We have added a new level to our page status classification: tol-reviewed. This category will be applied to pages that have been reviewed by ToL coordinators. In the past, these contributions were simply marked as complete, a label that did not do justice to the fact that these pages had actually undergone scrutiny by professional experts. We are maintaining the complete category for pages that have been reviewed by ToL editorial staff. For more information about ToL pages status levels, see Status of Tree of Life Pages.

The process of adding, revising and publishing title illustrations for branch and leaf pages has been simplified even further. When you now use the Add a New Image to the ToL Database form that's integrated in the Edit Title Illustrations tools, any new images you upload will automatically be placed in the title illustrations array of the page you are working on. See Tutorial Lesson 9: Title Illustrations for more information.

9 May 2005

We have expanded our tools for media contributors to include forms for uploading and annotating movies, sounds, animations, and documents (pdf files, ebooks, etc.)

Authors of branch and leaf pages can now edit title illustration arrays online and submit them for publication independently. The title illustrations will get published immediately on the live ToL site, while other work in progress (tree structures, text sections, etc.) will not be affected by the submission.

26 April 2005

Release of a new version of the Edit Image Data form featuring among other things a new layout, a creative commons licensing option, fields for additional, optional metadata.

19 April 2005

First generation of in situ editing tools implemented. Contributors who are logged in, either through TreeGrow or the online data entry tools, will now find links to the Edit Title Illustrations form on their pages on the ToL development site. We will gradually introduce more shortcuts to data entry forms on the development site.

4 April 2005

TreeGrow 1.1 released along with a suite on new online data entry tools for scientific contributors. This version features a number of improvements/bug fixes as well as several new features.

New Features

• Images are now automatically resized for use on ToL pages; i.e., ToL authors can set the size at which an image should be displayed in a given context (e.g., as a title illustration or as an illustration in a text section), and the ToL system will then create a suitable image file from the master image in the ToL database.
• When submitting a branch for publication, authors can now exclude certain pages/subtrees. See Tutorial Lesson 15: Submitting Your Work for Publication for instructions. Also, authors can now select Submit For Publication from the File menu while a file is open.
• There's a new Scientific Materials Manager that provides scientific contributors access to ToL online data entry tools. There are links to these tools in TreeGrow's Window menu under Online Tools. Registered scientific contributors can also access these pages after signing in here: Scientific Contributors Log-In.
• Articles and notes are now edited and published independent of the branch or leaf pages they are attached to.
• TreeGrow's Help menu now features links to the most important pages in the online documentation for scientific contributors.
• There's a new Mark Terminals As Leaves tool in the TreeGrow's Tree Window that lets authors mark a set of leaf nodes with one click.

Changed Features/Procedures

• New code for communication between TreeGrow and the ToL server provides for quicker and less error prone downloading, uploading, and submission of materials.
• TreeGrow 1.1 does not feature any tools for uploading new images or editing image data. All these functions are now handled through the web interface. Various TreeGrow panels contain links to relevant pages on the ToL web site.
• Title illustration arrays for branch & leaf pages are now put together in an online form. TreeGrow's Title Illustrations panel has a link to the Edit Title Illustrations form on the ToL web site.
• Materials for articles & notes are now entered in an online form. The Accessory Pages panel has been replaced by the Other Pages panel which provides links to online forms for the management and composition of articles and notes.
• TreeGrow's Add Multiple Subgroups tool now has its own toolbar button, so it's easier for people to discover this important feature.
• TreeGrow's Move Page Content and Copy Page Content tools now work properly.
• Options to undo an upload, revert a branch to the public version, or upload materials for a subtree only have been removed, because they were rarely used, were commonly misunderstood, or impeded the development of other features.