I think plug-ins are bad; they limit software choices, which should be left to the client.
In general I agree, but I think if sensibly aproached they can enhance the wiki. For example those without a JRE installed could be sent a prerendered png, and those with could be sent the applet.
IMO plugins aimed at a specific purpose are bad - ie the user having to install software *just* to view molecules, but well supported, general purpose plugins like java and flash are accpetable provided those who don't have them aren't given 'broken' pages.
However, in addition to generating a nice simple 2D picture, the SMILES-processor mentioned above should be able to output any of a number of different chemical-markup representations, which could then be made available via a link, so that your favourite chemical-computing software can be launched (in the same way that you might launch a viewer for any other external content). Then you can do _far_ more than just spin it: you can calculate energies, visualise orbitals....
Are there any chemists here with an opinion on this?
-- Neil
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