On 21/04/12 17:07, emw wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm in the process of developing a media handling extension for MediaWiki
> that will allow users with WebGL-enabled browsers to manipulate 3D models
> of large biological molecules, like proteins and DNA.  I'm new to MediaWiki
> development, and I've got some questions about how I should go forward with
> development of this extension if I want to ultimately get it into official
> Wikimedia MediaWiki deployments.
(...)
> Given that, my initial plan for handling browsers without WebGL enabled is
> to fall back to a static image of the corresponding protein/DNA structure.
Seems the appropiate thing to do.

> Would requiring Python, GIMP and PyMOL to be installed on the server be
> workable for a WMF MediaWiki deployment? 

Not ideal, but is probably workable. Still much better than relying (and
potentially DDOSing) on a third party.
If you could drop GIMP requirement, that'd be even better (why is it
needed?).



>     1. Once I get the prototype more fully developed, what would be the
> best next step to presenting it and getting it code reviewed?  Should I set
> up a demo on a random domain/third-party VPN, or maybe something like
> http://deployment.wikimedia.beta.wmflabs.org/wiki/Main_Page?  Or maybe the
> former would come before the latter?

I'd go directly on labs.


>     2. PDB (.pdb) is a niche file type that has a non-standard MIME type of
> "chemical/x-pdb".  See
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_Data_Bank_%28file_format%29 for more.

We could detect the format. Don't worry about that.


>     3. If at all possible, I'd like to have the molecular models be
> interactive by default, 
> Does having model interactivity by default for WebGL-enabled users
sound feasible?

Maybe, maybe not. Needs testing. I'd wait after having the prototype for
deciding that default.


Thanks for your contributions!


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