auspice
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nextstrain
Keep branches highlighted when filtering date range, i.e. filter only tips not branches
It would be nice if branches were not filtered out by the date range filter. I would like the behaviour to be similar to normal filters. When I filter for mutations for example, I can still see the branches highlighted that lead to tips. This allows me to easily select these branches. See screenshot:
With dates, it's different. No branches remain visible and thus no branches can be clicked, which is a shame (I think):
Genotype filtering currently won't always highlight branches the same way as "normal" filters (i.e. filters which act on other metadata). For instance, see https://nextstrain.org/zika/?c=gt-NS5_267>=NS5.267A.
This is being debated in https://github.com/nextstrain/auspice/issues/1281.
If we filter time to min=2021 then wouldn't it be strange to have branches from 2020 highlighted? (It's a bit more complicated than that of course, because a branch may span the time cutoff). Here's another zika tree, should all the branches here be highlighted still? What about tips?
Yes I think the last screenshot makes sense. We see branches that lead to tips that are still active. Don't you think this makes sense? Otherwise I can't click anywhere.
Yup - but this is the current behavior (e.g. https://nextstrain.org/zika/?dmin=2016-09-20). nCoV is the same, it's just that there are so many tips that the obscure a lot of the branches behind them!
Dang, you're so right! I was just too zoomed out. Now I can see it.
It would be nice if branches were not filtered out by the date range filter. I would like the behaviour to be similar to normal filters.
I feel exactly the same way. I understand the logical argument for showing the most accurate representation of the tree for a given set of filters, but as a end-user I just want to be able to click on internal nodes that precede the min date, so I can zoom to specific regions of the tree. I think there is a tension here between accurately representing data in the tree that matches the filters and disabling a functional interface that users rely on (clicking branches to zoom).
True, I'm still not able to click on the mother branches. I think the filter should just act on tips, not on branches. Branches should always show if there are tips from that branch.
I will reopen this issue to that end.