Monday, 15 February 2010
Changes to IEEE Xplore Interface
After many months of anticipation, IEEE, the professional association for electrical and computer science and related disciplines, has finally released the overhaul of its 
Xplore Digital Library interface.
The new interface looks like a number of other websites which have gotten an overhaul (including the recently updated Safari Books and the forthcoming RefWorks 2.0 site); these sites are seemingly simpler and lighter and for some reason feature a predominantly blue or silver on white palette, often with an orange accent.
The new Xplore’s home page opens to a simple Google-like search field. If this seems too broad an option, the Advanced Search link provides tabs for Advanced Keyword/Phrases, Publication Quick Search, and searching via CrossRef and Scitopia.org. Search results show facets for meta data such as author, content type, and affiliation, and publication title and links to Application Notes (product specifications, white papers and other literature from Global Spec) are provided. Other “Web 2.0″-like features include personalization options such as setting preferences, RSS feeds, and alerts. More abstract content is available to non-subscribers.
A summary of Xplore’s new features is available from IEEE’s website.