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Collaborative Computational Project
Number 14
(CCP14)
For Single Crystal and Powder Diffraction
(Freely Available Crystallographic Software for Students and Academia)
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Hints on Navigating Through the CCP14 Website
Background
Mainly because of the large scope of applications for single crystal and powder
diffraction software; a way to think about how the CCP14 website is structured is to consider it as
a large "Jeweller's Shop". However, unlike a Jeweller's Shop all the material is
freely available for academic and student use.
You may or may not know what you are after
exactly. Or only have a general idea of what your needs are.
Given the wide scope of single crystal and powder diffraction;
there are many options and possible pathways. The optimum pathway on choosing
the most appropriate software to use could involve minor nuances in your research
requirements.
First thing to Consider
If in any doubt, contact the CCP14 via Email
(willb@ri.ac.uk) and ask for hints or recommendations based on the
crystallographic problems that you need to help solve using the appropriate software.
Much of the additional and modified material placed on the CCP14 website is
guided by queries and problems that are reported via E-mail.
If your query has extra complications not encountered before, the type of
response you may get might include not only links to relevant resources
but also advice on which internet newsgroup or mailing list could be worth
while to use.
Browsing the Website
Looking around
If you are in a rush or uncertain about anything contacting the CCP14
can be the most time effective thing to do. If you have time to browse around, please consider that
the CCP14 website has been added to in an organic fashion over time as new software
and updated software has become available. Many of these packages have a very wide range of
functionality that is still be developed and can be difficult to pigeon hole.
The CCP14 project encourages a genetic diversity of software and methods
so you may find a variety of software that has similar functionality;
but may have specialist features beneficial in certain circumstances.
One recommendation is to try a variety of relevant programs to help generate your personal
software toolset. Doing this as part of developing the computational and analytical
resources of your laboratory can be very beneficial compared to just using the first software
program that comes to hand. Many software programs with similar functionality can be
complementary and enable cross validation of results.
The Graphical Site Map may help you find what you are after. It lists
the main areas plus the most popular resources.
The Free Text Site Search: is now quite fast and can also be
good for data-mining of complex queries. It has "Relevancy Scoring" plus if you know what you
are after but cannot be bother browsing the menu systems -
just enter it here. (e.g., WinGX)
Some Starting Points
Graphical Site Map may help you find what you are after
Free Text Site Search: The latest SWISHE search engine should be
lightning fast to run. But then just scroll through the results.
Developer Resources: Freely Available Source Code, Compilers and related material
What's New: Will give you an indication of updates