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# MyLabBook Lab Informatics Platform

Democratizing Research with a S.A.F.E. Approach

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.mylabbook.org/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [BuddyPress or BuddyBoss?](https://www.mylabbook.org/2024/04/09/buddypress-or-buddyboss/) - We started off using BuddyBoss initially for the social networking features for our ELN because we liked the aesthetics better. But then we found out that the way that it structures the membership in the database was different than the BuddyPress standard, and so could not use some of the BuddyPress plugins. So, we are
- [Moving to WordPress](https://www.mylabbook.org/2023/01/21/moving-to-wordpress/) - The Reasons for MyLabBook Moving from Drupal to WordPressThe major reasons for moving from the Drupal CMS to the WordPress CMS can be summarized in the following points.Significantly larger market share of WordPress – The market share of WordPress is about 20X of Drupal as of 2023. The large market share better suits the Sustainability criteria
- [An Easily Installable Demo](https://www.mylabbook.org/2020/04/16/an-easily-installable-demo/) - An Installable MyLabBook Demo with Simple Examples Built Upon a Robust Foundation We have implemented an initial demo version of a Drupal based Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) which shows some of the unique capabilities of this approach. The Flexibility of a Drupal Approach The overall approach is based on the use of custom content types,
- [Drupal and the Semantic Web Layer Cake](https://www.mylabbook.org/2011/10/08/drupal-and-the-semantic-web-layer-cake/) - How Drupal Implements the Semantic Web LayersWhile working on a paper about Drupal as an Electronic Lab Notebook that utilizes Semantic Web technologies, a graduate student asked me for more visuals about what I was trying to do. In response, I came up with the graphic above to describe how Drupal currently relates to the
- [Open Source Alternatives](https://www.mylabbook.org/2009/10/26/open-source-alternatives/) - Open Source Alternatives for an Electronic Lab NotebookAccording to some recent articles in the science technology press, ELNs are a growing market. For example, a 2006-2007 article at Scientific Computing estimated that the market was about 50 million USD in 2005 and was growing at 20% to 30% per year. This makes a great deal

## Pages

- [WordPress for an Open Source ELN that is Free or Low-Cost](https://www.mylabbook.org/) - Democratizing research with an open source, low cost or free Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN). Has unique advantage of easily cloning the ELN. Many other benefits.
- [Components of a WordPress ELN](https://www.mylabbook.org/components-of-a-wordpress-eln/) - We have organized the possible features of a WordPress ELN into 3 major groups – Data, Social, and Learning. Possible features available in each group are listed below. Plugins associated with each group have also been listed on pages for the Data Plugins, Social Plugins, and Learning Plugins. One of the strengths of a WordPress ELN
- [Learning Plugins](https://www.mylabbook.org/learning-plugins/) - The following table lists some popular WordPress plugins that can be used for learning management systems (LMS) and compares features for each plugin. Error You are trying to load a table of an unknown type. Probably you did not activate the addon which is required to use this table type.
- [Social Plugins](https://www.mylabbook.org/social-plugins/) - The following table lists some popular WordPress plugins that can be used for social networking and compares features for each plugin. Error You are trying to load a table of an unknown type. Probably you did not activate the addon which is required to use this table type.
- [Data Plugins](https://www.mylabbook.org/data-plugins/) - The following table lists some popular WordPress plugins that can be used for data management and display and compares features for each plugin. Error You are trying to load a table of an unknown type. Probably you did not activate the addon which is required to use this table type.
- [Easy Way to Build a Free WordPress ELN](https://www.mylabbook.org/free-eln-demo/) - Instructions are provided for easily cloning a free WordPress ELN. The ELN provides data collection & display & filtering, social networking, and a LMS.
- [Demos of WordPress ELNs](https://www.mylabbook.org/demo/) - We have one free ELN and two low-cost ELNs. Low-cost ELNs use some pro plugin versions for improved features. Costs range from $95 to $555 plus hosting.
- [No Access](https://www.mylabbook.org/no-access/) - [dlm_no_access]
- [Blogs](https://www.mylabbook.org/blogs/) - Blogs About MyLabbook BuddyPress or BuddyBoss? April 9, 2024 No Comments We started off using BuddyBoss initially for the social networking features for our ELN because we liked the aesthetics better. But then we found out Read More » Moving to WordPress January 21, 2023 No Comments The Reasons for MyLabBook Moving from Drupal to
- [Thanks for Your Interest](https://www.mylabbook.org/thanks-for-your-interest/) - We will get back with you shortly if your interest in WordPress ELNs seems to be sincere (unfortunately we get a lot of spammers). If your interest is sincere, we look forward to your discussions about how WordPress can be made into a platform for democratizing science and research.
- [Overview of MyLabbook](https://www.mylabbook.org/overview-of-mylabbook/) - An Overview of MyLabbook This project had its genesis in the biotechnology program at the University of Houston. For the last 6 years it has been funded by an NSF grant that involved multiple institutions. We have been working on an open source implementation of an Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) for over a decade. Initially
- [An Example of the MyLabBook Approach](https://www.mylabbook.org/an-example-of-the-mylabbook-approach/) - An Example of the MyLabBook Approach The MyLabBook approach was developed primarily from our experience at the University of Houston biotech program and then from an NSF funded grant for the Environmental Sampling Research Module (ESRM). We began with the use of the Drupal CMS and then moved to the WordPress CMS due to the reasons
- [Contact Us](https://www.mylabbook.org/contact-us/)
- [My Account](https://www.mylabbook.org/my-account/) - [user_registration_my_account]
- [Knowledge Base](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/)

## Forums

- [Desired ELN Features](https://www.mylabbook.org/forums/forum/desired-eln-features/) - Post the features that you would like to see in an Electronic Lab Notebook that uses WordPress. This will be a good place to discuss the feasibility and desirability of different features.

## Topics

- [Tables](https://www.mylabbook.org/forums/topic/tables/) - It would be nice to have some kind of table structures n the forms so that I can easily collect data within the form without having to know the extent of the data beforehand.

## Downloads

- [ZIP Installation File](https://www.mylabbook.org/download/zip-installation-file/) - Use this with the installer file to create the clone of free-eln.org
- [Installer Text File](https://www.mylabbook.org/download/installer-text-file/) - Rename this to installer.php and then use it to install the the new cloned site.

## Knowledge Base

- [2. Field Types for Data Collection](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/2-field-types-for-data-collection/) - As explained in the Basics of Data Collection, we focus on the use of the Directories Pro plugin for setting up an ELN. The field types in the Directories Pro plugin are shown in the following screenshot. You can review these field types to determine if they would meet your needs for data collection. Screenshot
- [Deal-Breakers for Using a WordPress ELN](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/some-general-guidelines/deal-breakers-for-a-wordpress-eln/) - There are some situations where it becomes obvious that a WordPress ELN is not an appropriate choice, at least at this time. Some of the situations where a WordPress ELN are not appropriate are described below. You need a large company to support your lab that is focused specifically on using WordPress for an ELN.
- [Duplicator Pro Procedures](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/additional-useful-plugins/duplicator-pro-procedures/) - This page covers the procedures for making a clone with the Duplicator Pro plugin. This assumes that the Duplicator Pro plugin has been installed in the standard way. The Duplicator Pro documentation is quite extensive, so on this page we will only cover a brief overview and some advice that we have gained from testing
- [An Introduction to Installation](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/platform-installation/introduction-to-installation/) - The Required Steps The setup for a minimal installation of the MyLabBook approach that we document on this website consists of the following steps. Install WordPress Add appropriate plugins for your ELN data collection Consider adding plugins for backup, export, and security that are discussed in this section. Add any other plugins that you may
- [Why Formidable Forms?](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/formidable-forms/why-formidable-forms/) - Formidable Forms is a mature project for creating and managing website forms. Formidable forms can be used in a standard way for submitting website forms that usually involve sending information via an email. The classic example is a contact form. However, Formidable Forms has also evolved to have capabilities where form data can be used
- [Text Field Group](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/text-field-group/) - In the Text Field Group, we cover the following fields in depth. Email Field Type Name Field Type Paragraph Text Field Type Phone Number Field Type Single Line Text Field Type Email Field Type The email field type allows input using several different formats. A screenshot of the email field type setup is shown below.
- [Reference Field Group](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/reference-field-group/) - In the Reference Field Group, we cover the following fields in depth. File Field Type Post Reference Field Type Reference Field Type URL Field Type User Field Type File Field Type The file field type allows input using several different formats. A screenshot of the file field type setup is shown below. A screenshot of
- [Quantitative Field Group](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/quantitative-field-group/) - In the Quantitative Field Group, we cover the following field types in depth. Choice Field Type Number Field Type On/Off Field Type Price Field Type Range Field Type Choice Field Type The choice field type allows input using several different formats. A screenshot of the choice field type setup is shown below. A screenshot of
- [Event Field Group](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/event-field-group/) - In the Event Field Group, we cover the following field types in depth. Date Field Type Time Field Type Location Field Type Map Field Type Opening Hours Field Type Social Accounts Field Type Date Field Type The Date Field allows input for dates in several different formats. A screenshot of the setup screen is shown
- [Media Field Group](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/media-field-group/) - In the Media Field Group, we cover the following fields in depth. Color Field Type Icon Field Type Image Field Type Video Field Type Color Field Type The color field type allows input using several different formats. A screenshot of the color field type setup is shown below. A screenshot of the color field widget
- [6. Collecting and Managing Your Data](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/6-collecting-and-managing-your-data/) - Once you have the Directories Pro plugin configured for data collection, then you can begin collecting your data.
- [5. Setting Up Maps for Research](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/5-setting-up-maps-for-research/) - For many research studies, maps can be very valuable. This section provides some details about how to set up maps. To enable maps, then several settings need to be enabled. In the Directories >> Settings tab, the Enable Locations switch should be set. It can be helpful also in the Directories >> Settings tab to
- [3. Planning Data Collection with Directories Pro](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/planning-data-collection-with-directories-pro/) - Using your thoughts about your research study and the references from the Field Types for Data Collection, you should be ready to start planning out how you will accomplish your data collection using WordPress and the Directories Pro plugin. Simple Approach for Planning Data Collection For example, in a spreadsheet you could make one column
- [4. Setup for Your Data Collection with Directories Pro](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/setup-for-your-data-collection-with-directories-pro/) - Once you have a good plan for mapping your research data types to the Directories Pro field types, then you can set up the fields in Directories Pro. That should be followed by setting up the form for populating the fields and then setting the layout for displaying the fields in your public website view.
- [1. Basics of Data Collection](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/1-basics-of-data-collection/) - In the context of an Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN), a key feature is the ability to collect and organize data. The MyLabBook approach uses WordPress as the basis for the ELN. To accommodate the need for data collection in WordPress, we usually need to use some form of Custom Post Types (CPT). A CPT gives
- [Redundant Backups for our WordPress ELN](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/hosting-on-azure/scripting-the-backup-of-a-wordpress-site/) - For our WordPress sites we wanted to have multiple levels of backups. It is advantageous to have at least one level of backups that we fully control. This is usually accomplished using some type of scripts that we write. This provides another level of assurance that we always have a copy of our website and
- [Setting Up WordPress for CI/CD](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/hosting-on-azure/setting-up-wordpress-for-ci-cd/) - For long term maintenance of a WordPress ELN site, there are several considerations that we should take into account. No Data Loss - Data is usually of vital importance to experiments, so in most cases we need to be careful to not lose data and have good ways of archiving the data and easily finding
- [Custom Profile Menu](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/additional-useful-plugins/custom-profile-menu/) - Many times it is useful to keep researcher interaction confined to the front-end of your ELN and not expose them to the WordPress administration area. This can be good for security and also to minimize confusion from the research's perspective. In these cases, a social network plugin like BuddyPress or BuddyBoss can also be helpful
- [Should I Choose a WordPress ELN?](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/some-general-guidelines/should-i-choose-a-wordpress-eln/) - There are numerous considerations in deciding on an Electronic Lab Notebook for your lab. Some of these considerations are described below in terms of how they would affect your choice of using a WordPress ELN. The comments are based on our limited experience with WordPress and are mostly qualitative based on an extrapolation of our
- [Our Security Approach](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/platform-installation/our-security-approach/) - Secure Sockets Layer When any website is created and exposed to the public intranet, then it only takes moments for malicious web bots and spiders to begin attacking the new website. Having a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is the most basic and critical requirement of a WordPress site. This is what provides the https:// instead
- [WP All Import Plugin](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/additional-useful-plugins/wp-all-import-plugin/) - The WP All Import plugin from soflyy is a versatile commercial plugin that allows WordPress administrators to import data into their site using CSV, Excel, or XML files. This includes most any kind of data that is used in a WordPress site. Directories Pro Already Provided Data Export and Import In our case, the Directories
- [An Overview of ELN Maintenance](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/hosting-on-azure/an-overview-of-eln-maintenance/) - The Ingredients of Good ELN Maintenance are Context Dependent Good maintenance is important for the safety and sustainability of your ELN or research platform. But the definition of good maintenance depends on the environment and purpose of your research platform or ELN. In a small lab on a computer that is blocked from access to
- [Unused Options for WordPress Backups](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/hosting-on-azure/setup-for-the-backup-of-a-wordpress-site/) - We tried several options for backing up our WordPress sites. These are the chronicles of some of the options that we decided not to use. For the sake of posterity, we decided to keep these records in case we needed to reconsider these options in the future. An Option for Incremental Backups Using rsync Backups
- [Overview about Hosting on Azure](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/hosting-on-azure/overview-about-hosting-on-azure/) - There are numerous hosting platforms that WordPress can use. In our case, for various reasons we decided to use the Azure cloud for hosting WordPress sites. We are familiar with virtual machines and the full LAMP stack, so we opted to build WordPress on a virtual machine and then take advantage of some of the

## FAQ

- [Why Do We Call a WordPress LIP S.A.F.E.?](https://www.mylabbook.org/faq/why-call-a-wordpress-eln-s-a-f-e/) - We use the S.A.F.E. acronym for a WordPress Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) because it has the features of being Sustainable, Affordable, Flexible, and Easy.
- [Do you have any publications related to this MyLabBook approach?](https://www.mylabbook.org/faq/do-you-have-any-publications-related-to-this-mylabbook-approach/) - Two publications from our group are specifically about the ELN and mention Drupal as the CMS in use. We have since transitioned to WordPress. Many of the same explorations are still relevant, however, since they are both based on a general CMS platform instead of dedicated ELN software. These two publications are listed below. Iyer,
- [Apart from the S.A.F.E. qualities, can you tell me some unique features for an ELN that are available with the MyLabBook approach?](https://www.mylabbook.org/faq/some-unique-features-for-an-eln-that-are-available-with-the-mylabbook-approach/) - The features that MyLabBook has compared to other ELNs derive from the WordPress plugins. Plugins can provide the following features that are not found in most ELNs. Maps and Geo-locations Social Networking features, including groups, profiles, chat, and messaging Easy embedding of audio, video, sophisticated image display, and inline image editing Tracking of web page
- [Other than the unique features, what are other advantages of using WordPress for an ELN?](https://www.mylabbook.org/faq/other-than-the-unique-features-what-are-other-advantages-of-using-wordpress-for-an-eln/) - In addition to having some unique features for an ELN, the use of WordPress can provide the following advantages compared to most other ELNs. Compared to commercial ELNs, WordPress provides a very affordable alternative because of the large number of free plugins and the low cost of most commercial plugins. Since WordPress is used in
- [When should I NOT use the MyLabBook approach?](https://www.mylabbook.org/faq/when-should-i-not-use-the-mylabbook-approach/) - The MyLabBook approach would not be a good choice for several scenarios at this time. This may change in the future as there is no inherent limitation for WordPress in these scenarios. However, at this time if you have any of the following requirements, then it would be advisable to use an alternate solution. You

## Categories

- [Drupal](https://www.mylabbook.org/category/drupal/) - Related to the Drupal CMS
- [WordPress](https://www.mylabbook.org/category/wordpress/) - Related to the WordPress CMS
- [ELN](https://www.mylabbook.org/category/eln/) - Electronic Lab Notebook
- [Semantic Web](https://www.mylabbook.org/category/semantic-web/) - Related to the Semantic Web
- [Social Network Features](https://www.mylabbook.org/category/social-network-features/) - Pertaining to features of social networking like messaging, groups, and membership profiles.

## Knowledge Base categories

- [WordPress ELN](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/wordpress-eln/) - This knowledge base covers aspects of using WordPress for your Electronic Lab Notebook or research website. We want to empower you with the knowledge that will help you build your own capable ELN. Note that at this time this is a work-in-progress, but we will continue to build up more documentation over time. If you have specific questions or areas that you are interested in, please fill out the Contact form or join the Forums.
- [Platform Installation](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/platform-installation/) - Insights about how to install and configure a basic research website using the MyLabBook approach
- [Formidable Forms](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/formidable-forms/) - How to use the Formidable Forms plugin for data collection
- [Directories Pro](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/directories-pro/) - Using the Directories Pro plugin for data collection, data display that can include a map, and import and export of data
- [Hosting on Azure](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/hosting-on-azure/) - Thoughts and experiences about hosting one or more WordPress sites on he Microsoft Azure cloud
- [Additional Useful Plugins](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/additional-useful-plugins/) - These are some plugins that we found useful or interesting for the purpose of developing a good Electronic Lab Notebook with WordPress
- [Some General Guidelines](https://www.mylabbook.org/wpeln-knowledge-base/some-general-guidelines/) - Some questions to ask to determine whether a WordPress ELN might be appropriate (or not) for your needs.