Dalzeil (Dark/Light): Single function to toggle between the light and dark modes of the user interface. It can live in your dock and provide instant access to an interface switch. There are more sophisticated solutions available, but Dalziel is simple and free. Download.

Coulson plot generator: An open source Java application for creating a multiple pie diagram and comparing subunit occupancy across a range of entities as shown at left. The number of pies, segments, labels, and colours were customisable. The CPG creates an editable PDF from a separate text file (. csv) and has zoom capability for larger datasets. This format is particularly useful for visualising patterns in big data. Originally developed for comparative genomics, the Coulson plot is appropriate for displaying other hierarchical data. The format was conceived by Richard M. Coulson and coded as an application by Helen I. Field. Icon design by MCF. Note that Apple broke this some time ago so the Mac version runs on Mavericks as latest OS. Available as binary or source code at GitHub.

RNAit2: Web-based tool for the identification of primers for RNAi in kinetoplastids. The software uses Primer3 to predict suitable primers for PCR and then checks whether the predicted product has no off-target potential. The data are returned for the user to assess, and the settings are customisable. RNAit was originally developed by Seth Redmond, and the present iteration was recoded by James Abbott at the University of Dundee and runs with a Python backend within a virtual machine; the data are therefore completely secure. The RNAit2 source code is available on GitHub. The link to the software is here.

If you use CPG or RNAit in a publication, please cite as follows:

Field, H.I., Coulson, R.M.R., and Field, M.C., (2013) ‘An automated graphics tool for comparative genomics: The Coulson plot generator.’ BMC Bioinformatics 14 141

Redmond, S., Vadivelu, J., and Field, M.C., (2003) ‘RNAit: An automated web-based tool for the selection of RNAi targets in Trypanosoma brucei.’ Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 128 115 - 118

All our software is licensed using the MIT License.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal

in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell

copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.