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Tools for Scientific Contributors: What's New?

Coming Soon

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
Changed Features/Procedures

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