The first major upgrade since the launch of the IEEE Xplore™ Web site in 2000 was implemented last July. The new features include:
Users can find hyperlinks within the reference section of select abstracts (published since 1996) to the corresponding source, provided the source is in the IEEE Xplore database. Now users can easily navigate between articles and papers to follow an author's research. Links cross society publications and conferences. Access to the referenced document is dependent upon the user's subscription rights. No other publisher has such depth of linking within its own content.
This linking is the same that SSCS members have available within the DVD of the new Solid-State Circuits Digital Archive 2000 (JD3755). The DVD includes all the articles in PDF for all issues of the JSSC since it began publication in 1966, and for the International Solid-State Circuits Conference from its inception in 1955.
In an effort to help end-users get user information about IEEE Xplore, online context-sensitive help as well as the equivalent content in a PDF file format is available for users. A link from the top navigation bar makes the help instantly accessible. This provides users with quick references for designing search strategies. The online version is context-sensitive so that users get help for the specific page they are on. The PDF version is printable with an orderly organization of content.
The PDF file size indicator in IEEE Xplore indicates the file size (in KB) for each PDF file in the database. Anywhere there is a link to a PDF file, the size of that file is indicated. This enables users to estimate the time to download a PDF file based on its size.
A redesign of the welcome page includes an article counter, contacts, links to product information, news, and IEEE Spectrum Online. Better formatting of the information allows easier understanding of access rules. Also, visitors now know the size of the database on a weekly updated basis. These revisions keep users informed of new updates to the site through the section of release notes. The IEEE Xplore development team uses member committees and institutional library focus groups to determine important areas for improvement as well as to test new user functions. Watch for continued release announcements with more improvements over the coming months at www.ieeexplore.org.