We’re now just days away from the biggest change to Nature Network since its launch over three years ago. As well as a major redesign, we’re looking forward to unleashing several new features.

Your Workbench

Perhaps the most radical is called Workbench. This section of the site will house various modules (known as apps) that allow you to create your own lens on the scientific web. You’ll be able to add new apps from a catalogue, drag and drop them to wherever on the page you want to display them, and, in future, even create your own. Workbench functions much like services such as iGoogle and Netvibes, but is specially designed for scientists. If there’s an app that you’d like to see, or even help to develop, please feel free to contact us with your suggestions.

Top: Screengrab of a Workbench page. Each of the rectangular modules can be repositioned, deleted or swapped for an alternative app. Bottom: The Nature Network App selection area.

Q&A

A new Questions and Answers section will allow users to ask for expert advice from other scientists as well as submitting answers of their own. The service builds on the success of the Nature Protocols discussion forum by targeting questions to the community and allowing users to rate alternative answers and nominate subject experts.

The main Q&A page, showing number of answers (light bulb symbol) and number of ‘thumbs up’.

Other new features

The relaunched site will also have a greatly improved personal profile page, better software for tracking the online activity of contacts (both on Nature Network and in the wider web), and a cleaner, updated look.

Sneak peek at the enhanced profile pages which include the ability to add your updates from external sites such as Twitter and FriendFeed.

The new site is scheduled to launch next week. Further updates will follow here, including advice on how to get the most out of the new features, so don’t forget to check back regularly.

We look forward to showing you the new Nature Network!

The Nature Network Team