Talk:Main Page

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This is the Discussion page of the Main Page. Please, feel free to add your own remarks and contributions below, under the horizontal line.


Jmol wiki structure

Ok, so I started not so much restructuring, but more trying to add structure. Who would have thought that the information of one "little" ;) program is so difficult to structure. Just shifting around the information that is already there seems to do the trick quite nicely.

I've added some extra templates and sections, and made sure that the "main" templates are the most prominent ones (i.e. biggest box), and put in a logical order (I hope). So first you download it, then install, then you run it, then you need the documentation. I think that this is the most used order in any kind of software documentation.

There is still information missing on installing the applet for a web page. I read on the mailing list that the jar files are now separable for smaller download size, this is all useful info to put in a special page. I myself never did used jmol online, so I didn't make a wikipage for this (yet). -- Pimpim 18:01, 30 May 2007 (CEST)


Good work, Pimpim. A new look with fresh eyes is always helpful. I think that "Java Web Start" is probably more a "Running Jmol" subsection than a "Development" one. I can probably find some time to write something about "installing" the applet for a web page, as that's my main way to use Jmol. --AngelHerraez 21:57, 3 June 2007 (CEST)

Mailing lists

the sourceforge mail list websites don't work for me, I always end up with 'internal server error' or 'no forum'. Therefore I added links to some the mail-archive.com mailing list mirror which seems reasonable enough and not overloaded with advertisements. -- Pimpim 19:11, 6 June 2007 (CEST)

New randomly-named user edits

What's up with those? I checked the diffs and they are not so much spam, as more random vandalism (deleting the last bit of a page in the middle of a url) or changing "ctrl + del" into "ctrl del". Actually this is all pretty silly, what is happening there? -- Pimpim 10:48, 8 June 2007 (CEST)

Java Web Start

I see this more as a way to deliver Jmol than to install it, so I vote for putting it under "Running Jmol", not "Installing Jmol". And it's the app, not the applet. (I'm no expert at this technology, though) -- AngelHerraez 18:48, 27 June 2007 (CEST)

Just a guess, since an applet runs in a container where the gui is handled by the program it runs in, installing the app on a web server makes it an applet as soon as it is opened in the web browser of the user :) I think that the difference between app and applet will wash away in time anyway, even though doing Molecular Dynamics inside a web browser might remain impractical for the following few years at least ;)
Also, on reconsideration I think that the separation between installing and running a program might be artificial, maybe just make one big box? If we want to keep the division, than what should happen with the Jmol Applet page, or these fundamentally different? Since I actually use Jmol as a stand-alone app only, I would be happy if someone more knowledgeable than me would organize the info on the web-based stuff. -- Pimpim 10:31, 28 June 2007 (CEST)
Ok, so I think I understand what Java Web Start does now. It runs the application as an external program, though initiated by the web browser. Not in a container? Still I think the description on the wiki page here about it is more about installing it, since it mentions all the things that have to be done only once, at the moment of install :) Running the Java Web start application is just a matter of clicking the link. -- Pimpim 12:31, 28 June 2007 (CEST)

Main page and section templates

Do we really need these two templates to be separate entities? The content needs to be the same, so I end up needing to write everything twice, which is not what templates are for :) Problem is that maybe they need special layout properties (in the sections you want them top right, on the main page they need to fit in the table. Is there a way to separate layout from content in the wiki? -- Pimpim 11:49, 9 July 2007 (CEST)

I think you can use the section templates in the Main page simply by putting them inside div in the Main page. I haven't tried it but it should work --NicolasVervelle 21:05, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
Yes that works! Thanks! I fixed the bottom row, will do the top row afterwards. Also had to fix some parts that missed links (that is the problem if you keep two pages to present the same content, can't happen anymore now). When I'm finished and all the menus have the nice light blue look :), the Main Page templates can be dumped, just to be sure no one uses them anymore. I'm not sure how to do that. -- Pimpim 11:29, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
Great! :) Just give me the list of pages we should dump, and we will do it (it requires sysop rights to delete pages) --NicolasVervelle 11:58, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
Finished! The following pages are now obsolete:
I've tried to delete these pages, but at the moment of doing so, the system assigns me an IP (194.146.224.100) that is in the blacklist (used by spammer MxoU9n); that is not my IP. --AngelHerraez 16:49, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
I have changed the above links to be internal links before deleting the pages, and had no problems. --NicolasVervelle 17:15, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
Again, I like the color scheme that was already in the section template and now is also on the main page much better, it's very consistent this way. The only thing that bothers me is the Jmol Community title link, maybe it should have the same background color as the other titles but be underlined, or the link should just be mentioned as a separate link inside the box with the rest of the community links. -- Pimpim 15:02, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
I've fixed Jmol Community title, removing the link and adding it in a new sub-entry. --AngelHerraez 16:09, 10 July 2007 (CEST)

There's just one thing strange: the blank line above Jmol Tutorials. --NicolasVervelle 17:17, 10 July 2007 (CEST)

Not strange: it's a < br > tag introduced on purpose by Pim; the separation is too high for my taste, but removing it smashes the two frames together, ugly. Uhm, maybe it can be done with CSS; will try. --AngelHerraez 21:12, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
Good solution Angel! It's really pretty now! I'll remember your CSS trick if I ever need a smaller space than BR somewhere else :) -- Pimpim 22:33, 26 July 2007 (CEST)

Can I edit the section templates? I cannot find where they are accessed. I just added a link to my tutorial on using the Export to web function and thought it should appear as a separate item in the section template for tutorials and for documentation.--Gutow 16:57, 22 July 2008 (CEST)

Yes, be bold, if it's not ok it will simply be reverted ;) --NicolasVervelle 20:19, 22 July 2008 (CEST)
I also find it hard always to remember where to edit the templates, so I'll write it here (I see that Gutow already found his way): go to main page, click on Edit at the top, then go to the bottom of the page, and there are the links to all templates used; go to the template you want and edit it. -- AngelHerraez 22:33, 28 July 2008 (CEST)

A New Way Of Looking At The Atom

I have developed a new way of looking at the atom and invite constructive criticism. If it is found useful I would like to explore implementing it in Jmol. You can review this concept at: https://sites.google.com/site/fowlersatom/an-intuituve-visualization-of-atomic-structure Pcfjr9 18:51, 3 March 2011 (CET)