Thomas A. McGlynn, Saima Zobair, and Nicholas E. White (NASA/GSFC)
Reference URL: http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse
During the past several years it has become standard for research institutions to provide increasingly sophisticated catalog and archival information on-line. We discuss how the High Energy Astronomy Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at NASA/GSFC has balanced conflicting requirements for such systems: greater power versus usability and simplicity, genericity of queries versus the ability to query specific elements in detail, and the need for seamless integration of distinct elements versus the dangers of creating monolithic and inflexible structures. These issues are made more complex by desires to access outside resources over which the HEASARC may have little control and to not confuse existing users by frequent modifications to the interfaces with which they are familiar.
There are no `correct' solutions to the problems listed here. We discuss the rationale for the choices the HEASARC has made and compare them with those made at other major astronomy archive sites.