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:
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.
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.
4 April 2005