This question is vaguely related to the following pull request put
together by Gert Hulselmans.

https://bitbucket.org/galaxy/galaxy-central/pull-request/171/avoid-corruption-of-binary-files-embedded/diff

I think it makes sense to add this option. But I also I think the
upload form is getting quite complicated and it only promises to get
more complicated (looking ahead to things like advanced handling of
compressed datasets or dataset collections). So I have the outline of
a plan that could potentially address some of this that I would be
interested in feedback on:

1) We merge this pull request.

2) Rename (or re-describe I guess): "Upload File from your computer"
to "Advanced Upload Tool" (still with id upload1 to keep things as
simple as possible).

3) We then create several news tools, which would appear before
"Advanced Upload Tool" in the "Get Data" section:

"Upload file from your computer"
"Import files from the web via URLs"
"Import FTP uploaded files"
"Paste file contents"

Each of these has just the form element they need (upload box,
textbox, or FTP selector) as well for genome selection box. They also
have a checkbox conditional for advanced options for "Convert tabs to
spaces", the new "Posix lines", and perhaps "File format" (we could
default to *auto* and make specification an advanced option).

More thought should be given to what is considered a advanced option
in each of these cases. If you are pasting content, you do not need
the new "posix lines" option, but replace spaces with tabs might be a
very common option. Whereas for uploaded files the inverse is sort of
true.

4) To further streamline things, we could replace "Your history is
empty. Click 'Get Data' on the left pane to start" in the empty
history section with something with links: "Your history is empty. To
get started, import data from [your computer], [web links], [your
clipboard], [FTP], or by choosing an external data source from the
'Get Data' section in the left panel".

I kind of find the big upload form daunting and I consider myself
something of a Galaxy expert, I assume new users must find it even
more so. I have no data to back this however, so let me know if you
think I am way off base here. I would be really interested for
perspectives from people who work closely with new users.

Also it is potentially confusing that to upload data via URLs for
instance you click a link that says "Upload File from your computer".
This could simplify that as well.

Thoughts?

Thanks for your time,
-John
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