It has been a long time coming, but the Symmetry@Otterbein pages have been updated to a more modern format using the Angular framework, allowing greater flexibility and more frequent updates.
General Updates The largest design change has been in the organization and style of the symmetry element and symmetry operation controls. Symmetry operations are now organized by class and will, therefore, correspond to the headings of the respective character table. Elements of the same class are grouped together (with the number of elements in parentheses) and an “angle down” icon that will expand to show all the elements in that class. Selecting the checkbox for a group of elements will draw representations for all the elements in that class. Note that in many cases elements will be superimposed, e.g., the C3 and C3-1 axes in the Oh point group.
The orient button (compass icon) will orient the molecule display to align with the particular element. And the animate button will animate the particular symmetry operation.
In the Gallery and Tutorial, the bottom of the molecular display will show both the point group and the order of the group, which will correspond to the total number of symmetry elements for the point group.
Responsive Display and Side Panels All pages should be responsive and accessible on a variety of devices. The left and right side panels, used to show links, molecule lists and controls, will automatically open or close depending on the screen size. Both panels can be opened or closed at any time by tapping the icons on the left or right side of the control bar.
Specific Updates The Symmetry Tutorial is largely the same, but benefits from the updated controls. The Symmetry Gallery now includes linear molecules and the molecule list can be sorted by point group, by molecule type or shown simply as an alphabetical list. The Symmetry Challenge has seen the largest number of updates. The flowchart questions are essentially unchanged, but the site now allows incorrect answers to be given, continuing through to a point group. At the end, students can check their answers and each answer will be marked right or wrong together with feedback for each question. These changes allow students to better see what elements are present or not present and how to determine the correct point group.