I was discussing the following idea with Hoglahoo
I would love to be able to drag out two different designs with shapedata from the same lab. I think it would improve the quality of the designs we do, because it will make the job of analysis easier. I think it will make the learning process easier too. I can better see what is an improvement and what is not.
Eg. I would like to be able to see one of Hogla’s good design along side with a mod of the same design.
Also it would be nice to compare a good design having one bad area, with other designs that do well in that area. That will make it easier to improve the troubled area.
We should be able to compare the designs and drag them out from the lab results page, by simply ticking a box with two marks. Or as Hogla said “drag up to X designs to this comparison window for side by side analysis”
Or even better, I would like to hover over a lab list with designs in one side of the screen and then be able to compare to the design I have on the other side. They should just pop up. It would make the thinking process and intuitive part of catching a slight difference much easier, less is lost in the thought process while one is clicking back and forth between different lab designs.
Wow. That’s an awesome idea. We’re in the process of redesigning the lab interface. We should definitely keep this mind. I’ll let Jee add this feature to the feature tracker.
Hi Eli
This has been added to our issue tracker with ticker number #29
You can check all player proposed issues at
https://github.com/EteRNAgame/EteRNA-…
Thanks for your idea!
EteRNA team
I don’t know if you are familiar with the “threading” part of the FoldIT interface, but it came to mind in this context. Perhaps a spin on it might be useful as a starting point?
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Pick multiple examples from the lab page and have them show up in a list/table at the bottom of the screen. Perhaps somehow emphasize areas that are different between (adjacent?) rows, say by showing them brighter or a drawing a highlighted box around the column or a highlighted bar between bases that differ in adjacent rows. Allow the user to control the row ordering.
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Ctrl-clicking on a column could toggle a highlight of the column and matching bases like the ctrl-clicking on a base now turns a black marker circle on and off.
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Select different rows to have them displayed. It should ideally be possible to quickly switch back and forth between two rows to have a “blink” effect for those familiar with comet/asteroid hunting by switching between images.
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Selecting a sub-range to “thread” could change just that region of the current working design, allowing a contextual copy/paste from one design into another.
Hi JL!
I originally just intended this for the analysis part of the lab results.
Do you mean for lab?
I could see how this could be useful when making lab designs too. As for when there is more than one round. I wouldn’t mind if it got extended into lab too. 
As it is now, I simply look through all designs if I hunt for how a certain element can be made working. And check shapedata too.
So you are basicly saying we should be able to search in the lab results for a certain sequence/element/area.
The lab results and lab design tools are not that far apart in my mind. The main difference is that there is SHAPE data and estimated shapes for the results but not for the designs.
Yes, I guess I was conflating the two modes in my mind. After all, part of the reason for looking at lab results is to design an alternative candidate. In that respect I would see the design tool as a sub-“mode” of the lab results tool or vice versa, where you could view selected results (or other candidates/designs) and copy elements out of them to paste into your design.
You begin by selecting one or more designs with or without results which then appear in a table at the bottom of the design/analysis tool.
A) When you select a design that *has* been synthesized you would get the extra knobs/buttons to view the results as well as “copy” options. If you switch back and forth between synthesized designs, the display modes remain the same, so that if you flip between two designs in “target” mode, the bases and colors change, but not the shape; in “natural/estimated” mode, the shape might change too.
B) When you select a submitted design that has not been synthesized you get the “copy” options and target/natural modes, but no shape/color mode and no estimated shape.
C) And one line (the top?) is the “edit” buffer, where you get full edit/copy/paste functionality, also with no shape mode.
Pattern search would be good too! (But that’s another topic.)
As it is now, I simply look through all designs if I hunt for how a certain element can be made working. And check shapedata too.