Keith Scollick (NASA/GSFC/CSC ), Thomas A. McGlynn (NASA/GSFC/USRA), Nicholas E. White (NASA/GSFC)
The World Wide Web provides convenient, quick access to astronomical data with a trade-off between functionality and ease-of-use. We present a new design where the two are not mutually exclusive--treating SkyView as a series of customizable objects that can be manipulated, or ignored altogether, making it possible for both experienced and novice users to obtain data in an easy, efficient manner.
We compare current and proposed SkyView designs concentrating mostly on Java though with some discussion of how our approach can be applied to HTML. Key to this approach is the use of a distributed object protocol which also allows for additional non-SkyView interface components and end-user functionality. The result is a custom interface which gets the user closer to the data and only adding complexity when requested.
We encourage comments, questions, and/or suggestions.