October 15, 2006 (Vol. 26, No. 18)
URL:
http://www.proteomecommons.org
Rating:
Strong Points: Wealth of information
Weak Points: Confusing in places
Summary:
If you’re looking for a cute metaphor, check out ProteomeCommons with its delicious looking chocolate cake on the opening page, the selected pieces titled News, Tools, Data, and More. The icing on the cake for this one is the text at the bottom proclaiming, “You can have your cake and eat it too.” While I’m not clear how the metaphor extends to the site itself, it certainly is an eye-catcher. ProteomeCommons is a public repository for proteomics digital content. The news feeds are impressive and up to date, though a bit chaotic in organization. Visitors can download data sets and open-source software relating mostly to mass spectrometry. While the idea for this site is solid and the pages provide much useful information, I must quibble with the overly simplistic scheme. A bit more attention to organization would be welcome.
