We're excited to announce the release of a new version of Figlinq. This release includes a number of new features and improvements to the platform. We hope you'll find them useful and we'd love to hear your feedback.

Dramatically improved loading times 🚀​

We have split the various parts of the application into smaller code chunks, which means that the different apps load much faster. This is especially noticeable when you open the datavis area: loading time went from 3-4 seconds to ~1.5 second. All other areas of Figlinq now load in under a second!

Data analysis worksheet improvements 📊​

In the datavis area, we have added a number of new features:

• You can now add existing worksheets to the currently open plot.
• We added a status bar to the spreadsheet that shows the currently selected cells and provides some useful information (e.g. average, sum, count). The status bar also allows you to quickly add new columns and rows to the worksheet.
• We have fixd a number of bugs related to the undo/redo functionality of the spreadsheet and their connection to the charts, as well as to adding/removing columns.

Plotly.js v2 📈​

We have upgraded to Plotly.js v2, which means that you can now use the latest and greatest features of Plotly.js in your plots, which also render faster.

As always, we appreciate your feedback and suggestions for further improvements at info@figlinq.com.

Hello, Figlinq users!

We are thrilled to announce the release of Figlinq 2.0, which comes packed with exciting new features and improvements to enhance your data analysis, visualization and publishing experience. Here's a rundown of what you can expect in our new release.

New spreadsheet for data analysis​

Firstly, we've integrated a new data grid - JSpreadsheet - into Figlinq. JSpreadsheet now allows you to perform data analysis using Excel-like formulas, making it easier to work with complex data sets. In the near future, the grid will also allow performing statistical analysis! This feature will undoubtedly save time and improve efficiency, especially for users who are already familiar with Excel's functionality.

New app - text editor​

We've also introduced a brand new text editor that allows you to create documents that include data-connected, interactive plots and figures, resulting in smart (student) reports with engaging content.

Improved user experience​

Our latest release also includes drag-and-drop functionality, making it more intuitive and user-friendly. This feature allows you to easily move files around, including in the file management area and file popups throughout the application. This function dramatically improves the overall user experience, allowing you to work with large amounts of data more efficiently.

Improved data visualization​

To further enhance the user experience, we have given Figlinq a complete redesign, including a new data visualization theme created in collaboration with Professor Maarten Boers from the Free University of Amsterdam. Our new theme gives the data visualizations a modern and fresh look, while ensuring optimal readability and clarity.

New app - figure editor​

Finally, we've added a new figure editor based on the open-source project SVGEdit, which allows you to create and edit vector graphics directly within Figlinq. This is a powerful addition for users who work with complex visualizations and who need to create customized graphics to present their data in smart publications and reports.

We hope you're as excited as we are about these new features and improvements to Figlinq. We're confident that they will help you analyze, present and publish your data more effectively and efficiently. As always, we appreciate your feedback and suggestions for further improvements at info@figlinq.com.

We are delighted to announce that Figlinq has been awarded the prestigious Take Off grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) - the most important science funding body in the Netherlands that promotes quality and innovation in science and technology. The NWO Take Off grant is a highly competitive program that provides critical resources and mentorship to early-stage companies with high potential for commercialization. This grant is a significant validation of our commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in data science and technology. We are thrilled to have this recognition, and we look forward to using the funding to grow our impact, build new partnerships, and create more innovative data solutions for our clients and partners.

See this link for more information about the Take Off grants and other awardees.

In our previous post we described the first (Nature!) publication that used Figlinq for creating interactive, data-connected figures and charts, which were included via a single hyperlink. This is easy, convenient and, importantly, 100% compatible with current academic publishing workflows.

But we can do much better than this.

Enter smart manuscript - an ever-evolving, liquid concept of a manuscript containing more than just text, pictures and videos. While a few individual scientists have been including links to interactive charts in their publications for over half a decade, F1000 Research was perhaps the first academic publisher to embrace this within its workflow. F1000 also enabled readers to control parameters for some of the charts, and even introduced the first living figure, which (still) enables scientists to add new versions of the presented data.

A few years have passed since these pioneering attempts, and with the recent advancements of interconnected digital (web) technology, the potential of smart manuscripts has become essentially limitless. One illuminating illustration of this potential is the Executable Research Article (ERA), introduced by eLife, in collaboration with Stencila. ERA allows inclusion of executable code blocks which can, for instance, ingest source data, process it and spit out a chart or table (but imagine what else it could do, given some extra code!). These blocks can then be examined and re-run, in real-time, by those readers who wish to adjust the analysis steps and/or parameters. Alas, for the time being, the flexibility and scope of ERAs and similar solutions demand some serious effort, as well as programming skills that may be beyond the reach of most scientists.

So, we created our own version of a smart manuscript! We based it on the same Nature paper described in our previous post, but now all 126 panels are embedded directly in the online document, where they can be interacted with, edited, forked, shared, etc. As all Figlinq's charts, they are permanently data-connected. And as we learned to expect, the manuscript behaves well on large as well as small screens, with charts maintaining their interactivity via touch on a mobile device or tablet.

Right now, this is just a technology preview - a sneak peek at what's inevitably around the corner. What's next? We're exploring possibilities to provide such next-generation manuscripts at scale (we will likely need help from academic publishers!). We are also reaching out to forward-looking organizations (such as eLife or F1000) to see whether Figlinq's interactive figures can become building blocks for the future smart manuscripts. Please let us know if you have any suggestions and - stay tuned!

Even though stil in beta phase, Figlinq has been used to create and publish interactive, data-connected figures for a major publication in the high-impact journal Nature. In this paper, Sanne van Neerven and colleagues explore the molecular mechanisms driving initiation of intestinal tumors and discover that lithium chloride - a drug already used for treatment of depression - inhibits the growth of these tumors in mice.

Nature publications tend to be data-heavy beasts, and this one is no different: 14 figures, composed of 126 panels, including 46 images and 117 individual charts, if we count correctly. In this particular case, all original (static) figures were finalized even before Figlinq existed, so the authors recreated all of them using our platform. In the process, the charts became (automatically) linked to the underlying data that can now be accessed via each individual chart. Each chart can also be edited (and data inspected or downloaded) by anyone, with or without Figlinq account. Figlinq's users can, moreover, fork the charts (plus data) and save them to their own workspace for reuse or re-analysis!

Here are two particular charts from this publication: a heatmap with 2 382 data points from Figure 2 and a volcano chart with 17 378 data points from Figure 3.

All interactive figures from this publication - of course permanently connected to the underlying data - are available on Figlinq.

The original paper can be found on Nature's website.

Figlinq's heart is beating! The web application for creating and publishing charts and figures in smart manuscripts, based on Plotly's Chart Studio, is live here. Visit our expanding documentation to learn more about its possibilities.

We're half-alive! Figlinq's beta website has been launched, with documentation at it's heart. Excellent documentation among the most important goals for our website. We therefore built it on Docusaurus - open source, lightning-fast, fully responsive documentation-centric web creation framework. Coming up soon: web application!

Just before the holiday break, Plotly and Amsterdam UMC have agreed to repurpose Plotly's Chart Studio, a powerful chart creation suite, for charting and (FAIR) publishing of research data! Figlinq will further develop and improve Chart Studio to facilitate data analysis, charting, sharing and publishing in smart, data-connected manuscripts.