New Pubmed Interface: A Pediatrician’s Perspective
We all woke up to the new PubMed interface in late
October, 2009. The interface of the Pubmed has now been simplified, while
still maintaining its functionalities. Major changes include (a)
Limits, Preview/Index, History and Details tabs are consolidated in
Advanced Search; (b) Display, Show and Sort By drop-down menus have
been consolidated into Display Settings; (c) Links, such as
Clinical Queries, Single Citation Matcher, Journals database, and MeSH,
are now at the bottom of the Advanced Search screen. Help is located at
the top of every page; (d) Limits Indicator and Results filters
have been moved to the right side of results pages; (e) For
printing, we now need to use our browser print function; and (f)
display formats are modified to now include: Summary, Abstract, Abstract
Text, MEDLINE and XML. Brief, Citation, and AbstractPlus formats are no
longer available. One of the most helpful new features is the
auto-suggestions when entering search terms. This can help with spelling,
give search term ideas, and save time by reducing the amount of typing.
Find Related Data has replaced the database "Links" selections
previously available on the Display pull-down menu on the right lower
side.
Summary of changes from National Library of Medicine is
available from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so09/so09_pm_redesign.html.
An instructive video on the newer interface can be viewed at
http://www.shockmd.com/2009/10/25/instructive-video-about-pubmed-redesign/.
There is still a general feeling that the new interface has not completely
used the available Web 2.0 technologies and a user designed personal
default page option is still missing.