Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Why are Genome Browsers Stuck on Web1.0??


I was wondering when will we see the latest advances in javascript performance, local storage APIs and improvements in the HTML5 standards start to make in impact on the main online genome browsers out there?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mapview
http://genome.ucsc.edu
http://www.ensembl.org/index.html

I use UCSC genome browser more than the other two because of the great customization and collaboration features they provide, but like the others ... these websites are still stuck in the last century when it comes to web technologies!

Could you image a USCS genome browser with pan and dynamic zoom capabilities similar to Google maps, With annotations tracks that adjust dynamically to the level of zoom and show only the appropriate level of details? Couple that with great collaboration features and easy import of custom annotation tracks (drag and drop files similar to what you can do with gmail attachments interface) and you would have an amazingly powerful platform.

#genomebrowsers #genomicresearch   #web20   #ajax   #ngs  #nextgenerationsequencing