Browser
Sheaflight is an experimental Linked Data browser that can be used to display, (and
navigate between), RDF documents on the Semantic Web. It runs inside a conventional web
browser, providing additional features which can be used to examine and manipulate Linked
Data content. All content is treated as an unbound set of resources, and is retrieved
dynamically, (as and when required).
Sheaflight is based on the "cat flap principle" - a browser that runs within a browser, it
boasts the familiar features common to many conventional web browsers, such as favourites
and browser history, as well as introducing some unique visualization techniques.
It was originally developed as an MSc project at the
University of Manchester, in order to investigate ways of enhancing Linked Data
browsers by the use of visualisation techniques. It is built with Microsoft's
Silverlight technology, and uses
Joshua Tauberer's SemWeb library to
parse RDF/XML document content. The
treemap visualisation controls are based on Ben Schneiderman's work.
Website
The website was created using ASP.Net 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, along with additional
technologies such as AJAX and LINQ. It is based on Microsoft's
Personal Website
Starter Kit, and uses the extensions described by
Brad Abrams.
NB. The register and login functions are under development, and are currently
only displayed for admin purposes. This functionality will be made available (to all) in the
near future, (see also plans).