Some Assembly Required

In order to view many special format files on the WWW that are available, you often need a separate application or "helper" application. The browser will download the special format file and pass it seamlessly to the helper app if everything is configured properly. This document is intended to explain some of the basics of this process, how to get the helper apps, and how to set things up.

What are MIME types?
How do I use them?
Where do I find the viewers I need?

What are MIME types?

MIME, or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension, types are standard classifications of documents that have been agreed upon to allow for the exchange of non-text information between computers.

Chemical MIME types describe the many different file types for data of chemical interest. The chemical MIME type has been accepted for use by the NIH and therefore will probably catch on with the chemical community.

MIME types are broken down into two parts, type/sub-type.
The type for most chemistry related graphics is chemical. (Exceptions are the application type that is used for mathematica and postscript)
The sub-type for a given document depends, of course on the type of information. There are several types that we will be using in the VOH project:
- chemical/x-pdb Protein Database, a text type used for 3D structures of proteins in the Brookhaven Protein Database. This type is very popular and supported by a wide range of 3D chemical applications.
- application/pdb The type for Adobe PDF (Portable Digital Format). We will be using this type for NMR spectra. Requires an Acrobat viewer.

For more information see the Chemical MIME type WWW site at Leeds.

How do I use them?

MIME types are very easy to use on the Mac and PC. It is a simple matter of making your client, be it Mosaic or Netscape etc. aware of the MIME type being used for a particular document. Exactly how this is done varies from software to software. A nice function of the browsers is that if you click on a link that sends a type you have not configured, it will ask you if you want to save the document or configure a viewer. If you've already installed the viewer for the type of graphic that you've selected, all you have to do is select "configure viewer" and then find your viewer.

Where do I get the viewers and additional information I need?

Check out our Software section.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory maintains a great test page that has links to many WWW related viewers including those for chemical objects. This page has links to many viewers including RasMol and also has detailed set up instructions.
The Chemistry Department of Imperial College in London has an excellent and detailed set of instructions for setting up MIME types for a variety of browsers.

voh@chem.ucla.edu // Last revision: September 22, 1996