---
layout: post
title: JBrowse 1.6.0 released, includes feature descriptions and more!
date: 2012-08-25
tags: ["Software releases"]
---

I'm very pleased to announce the release of JBrowse 1.6.0! This release is not quite as major as the previous two releases, but there are still some nice things added.

As usual, this release comes in two flavors: the "minimal" release ([JBrowse-1.6.0-min.zip](http://jbrowse.org/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=14) - 2.8M) that includes only the software and documentation necessary to format your own data and run the browser, and the "full" release ([JBrowse-1.6.0-min.zip](http://jbrowse.org/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=13)- 27.2M) that includes the developers' test suite, more sample data files, and developer documentation. Here is the full list of new improvements in 1.6.0:

*   Added `description` capabilities to HTML-based features, similar to
GBrowse's descriptions.  If zoomed in far enough (as defined by
`style.descriptionScale`), adds a second line of text below the
feature's label that shows the content's of the featur's `Note` or
`description` attribute (issue #67).

*   Give prepare-refseqs.pl the capability to load reference sequences
from embedded FASTA sections in GFF3 files (issue #128).

*   Configuration files can now recursively `include` eachother, and
`tracks` sections are merged intelligently.

*   Made sequence tracks not disappear when zoomed out too far to see
base pairs.  Instead, sequence tracks simply display lines
suggesting that DNA would be visible at higher
magnification. (issue #124).

*   Double-clicking track labels in the simple track selector now turns
the track on (issue #123).

*   Fixed bug in BigWig tracks that use the "scale": "log" option: did
not render properly when the wiggle data included 0's. This was due
to the fact that the origin was being mapped to Infinity. Thanks to
the [Mockler Lab](http://www.mocklerlab.org/) for the fix! (issue #127).

*   Fixed bug in NCList binary search code in which zero-length
features at node boundaries would not be found (fix by Ed Lee).

*   Fixed bug in which dragging the scroll bar on the simple track
selector can sometimes cause a drag-and-drop to erroneously begin
(issue #89).

*   Fixed some bugs in the layout of HTML-based features in which
features in different blocks would overlap in some circumstances.
Under the hood, replaced the contour-based layout engine with a
simpler, not-much-slower implementation that is more correct in the
general case (issue #122).

*   Fixed a bug with vertical centering of strand arrows and other
sub-elements of HTML-based features.