tibblify
tibblify learned to derive its own specs from OpenAPI, removing the step users disliked most
Comparison · Analytics
glydraw vs resmush
A side-by-side editorial comparison of glydraw and resmush — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
glydraw vs resmush: at a glance
What is glydraw?
SNFG glycan cartoons stopped being pictures and became ggplot2 geoms, guides and axis labels.
glydraw renders glycan structures as SNFG-standard cartoons, standalone or exported in bulk, and since 0.7.0 as native ggplot2 components: geom_glycan() for observations, geom_node_glycan() for ggraph networks, guide_glycan() for legends, and scale_x_glycan() and scale_y_glycan() for discrete axes. Appearance is configured through a single reusable style object rather than scattered arguments, a consolidation that 0.8.0 made breaking. The colour handling now expects a complete SNFG palette rather than sparse per-monosaccharide overrides.
What is resmush?
resmush declared itself finished and has shipped nothing but maintenance since.
resmush compresses images through the reSmush.it API from R. Version 1.0.0 was an explicit maturity statement rather than a feature release: the major version was bumped to signal a stable development state, the minimum R version moved to 4.1.0, and documentation moved to Quarto. The two releases since are console message polish, an internals refactor, and mock-based tests.
glydraw vs resmush: editorial side-by-side
glydraw
6.3ANALYTICS
SNFG glycan cartoons stopped being pictures and became ggplot2 geoms, guides and axis labels.
◆ Current state
glydraw renders glycan structures as SNFG-standard cartoons, standalone or exported in bulk, and since 0.7.0 as native ggplot2 components: geom_glycan() for observations, geom_node_glycan() for ggraph networks, guide_glycan() for legends, and scale_x_glycan() and scale_y_glycan() for discrete axes. Appearance is configured through a single reusable style object rather than scattered arguments, a consolidation that 0.8.0 made breaking. The colour handling now expects a complete SNFG palette rather than sparse per-monosaccharide overrides.
◆ Where it's heading
The first half of this record is geometry correctness, fixing branch spacing, overlapping linkage annotations, core fucose collisions, triangle alignment and nested side-chain layout, because a cartoon that draws the wrong topology is worse than no cartoon. Once the drawing was trustworthy the package moved outward into ggplot2 and then inward again to consolidate its own API, dropping the glyexp dependency, removing positional argument support, and folding rendering options into style_glydraw(). Each of the last several releases has been explicitly breaking, which is a maintainer using a pre-1.0 window deliberately.
◆ Prediction
With the style object established and the ggplot2 surface in place, the remaining explicit arguments, show_linkage and orient, are the visible inconsistency and may follow the others into the style. Sibling packages adopt each change within days, as glyenzy did with the new orientation values, so expect the next breaking change to propagate the same way.
resmush
0.0ANALYTICS
resmush declared itself finished and has shipped nothing but maintenance since.
◆ Current state
resmush compresses images through the reSmush.it API from R. Version 1.0.0 was an explicit maturity statement rather than a feature release: the major version was bumped to signal a stable development state, the minimum R version moved to 4.1.0, and documentation moved to Quarto. The two releases since are console message polish, an internals refactor, and mock-based tests.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a package in maintenance by design. The functional surface has not changed since 0.2.2 added a dry-run check and a referer header to the API calls, and the notable earlier change was subtractive, dropping webp when the upstream API stopped accepting it. Recent activity is dominated by dependency bumps and testing work, with mocks replacing live API calls in the test suite.
◆ Prediction
Expect the same maintenance cadence, with the most likely source of a real change being another format or endpoint shift at the reSmush.it API rather than anything originating in the package.
Alternatives to glydraw and resmush
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either glydraw or resmush.
spsurvey
spsurvey has spent four years consolidating after its 5.0.0 rewrite rather than adding to it
StreamCatTools
StreamCatTools is quietly moving off web services and onto cloud-native GeoParquet
reproducible
reproducible added a windowed read path so remote GeoTiffs never fully download
qcTAF
qcTAF is building an automated checklist for reproducible fisheries assessments, one criterion at a time
rpymat
After three dormant years, rpymat returned to fix the OpenMP crash that breaks R and conda together
See all glydraw alternatives → · See all resmush alternatives →
Recent activity from glydraw and resmush
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 14d agoglydrawRendering options consolidated into a single style object
- 22d agoglydrawGlycan cartoons become ggplot2 geoms, legends and axis labels ⚡
- 1mo agoresmushTests rewritten to use mocks
- 1mo agoglydrawNested side-chain layout preserves residue order and linkage labels
- 1mo agoglydrawFucose triangle geometry aligned to rectangle node bounds
- 1mo agoglydrawCustom colours, fucose orientation and export scaling; glyexp dependency dropped
- 1mo agoglydrawSwitches to SNFG standard colours
- 2mo agoresmushClearer console messages for optimization reports
- 5mo agoresmushR 4.1 minimum as the package declares maturity
- 7mo agoresmushAPI calls verify the compressed file exists first
- 1y agoresmushDocumentation update
- 2y agoresmushwebp support removed after the API dropped it
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between glydraw and resmush?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. glydraw is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is glydraw better than resmush?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. glydraw is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to glydraw?
Top glydraw alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "glydraw alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/glydraw for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to resmush?
Top resmush alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "resmush alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/resmush for the full list with editorial commentary on each.