SYNOPSIS

G3L or Google Gateway to Genomics Literature is a website, which provides access to recent scientific data and research articles in a visual manner, that focuses on a clear representation of what is new and what is popular among the users - all without scrolling.

BENEFIT & PROJECT DETAILS

Inspired by Newsmap (http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm), G3L immediately attracts attention by its visual appearance. Items on the website are arranged over the whole screen, taking advantage of current high-resolution or widescreen displays, while assuring readability and a clear design. Depending on the popularity among the readers and on its age, items are be highlighted, e.g. by increasing the font size of the heading or applying different colours.

The data for the website is collected by spiders, that retrieve and parse web content from various relevant internet sources. The different sources are used to provide the grouping for the articles.

The website is developed using the Ruby on Rails (RoR) framework and a MySQL database. This allows for an open and modular style of programming, while using AJAX techniques to provide an easy and attractive user experience. This is, in particular, used to load details for a particular item on the screen upon request by the user.