CafeTran

Hi, Igor

If I'm allowed to show you my preferred user interface, I want to introduce the interface of certain English-Japanese machine translation software (called PC-Transer (windows-based software)).

Matches from different glossaries are colored differently (in this example, red for ProjectTerms, blue for the main user glossary, black for the rest.

Double-click on a word or phrase pops up all fragment matches (corresponds to CT's F2 list).

I don't know if this is possible with Java. But, as far as I know, this interface is much simpler than those CAT tools you mentioned above.

>Does CafeTran look and feel like a more or less complex tool than, say, DejaVu, Wordfast, SDL Trados or memoQ?

They are all more or less alike, including CafeTran. Each of them has simple functions and complex or counter-intuitive functions. So in my opinion CafeTran is a more and less complex tool than the others. You get a new file chooser (less complex) but then you'll have to tick a menu item for folders in future (more complex).

For me, the main translating screen is very clear and simple (this for me is a defining and outstanding feature of CafeTran). Everything else is very complicated. The menus and labels are very non-intuitive. Perhaps I'm just overused to other popular CAT tools, but I'm finding CafeTran a lot harder to pick up than other tools.

 

>I'm finding CafeTran a lot harder to pick up than other tools.

How about giving some suggestions for alternative naming? Yes, improvement is always possible. But try to differ between habits/how other tools do it and intuitive/logic.

Hi Hans,
firstly, thanks for all your work on the wiki, which is much appreciated and has been an invaluable  source of information in trying to get to grips with CafeTran.
Secondly, I'll be more than happy to offer suggestions on improved labeling, but again it's a bit of a catch-22 - I don't know what the buttons and menu options do, so I can't tell you what the labels should be.
I'm gradually being won over and envisage making increasing use of CafeTran in future, so, where I do manage to work out what the buttons do, I'll be happy to provide suggestions for revised labeling. (Though it sounds like Igor has enough to do already.) If I wish to submit such suggestions, would a support ticket be the correct forum for doing so?

Thanks,

Jeremy

>If I wish to submit such suggestions, would a support ticket be the correct forum for doing so?

I normally pay him a visit, on my bike, with a sixpack of beer to improve my chances. He's sensitive to that...

IMHO the green dashboard was much friendlier than the black one of the current version. But hey, this is something quite unimportant (Pippifax, as Hans and me would say).

But I see 2 main issues:

The menus are counter-intuitive. Some menu items should be reordered, e.g. the Translation menu should move to the right and some basic commands should move from sub menus to the first menu level. Some elements should also be converted to panes in the Preferences dialogue (e. g. the first 4 menu items of View). 

This is mainly irritating for newbies, but also for advanced users (in the sense of "OMFG, where is command X that cannot be configured to have a shortcut?").

The second point is that tabs need to be rearranged any single time you open a project (joining tabs, make tabs float etc.). For advanced users this is a mere question of seconds, but it nags. The behavior is not always rational. Example: when starting a project for the 2nd time all tabs are disjoined. When joining 2 tabs they are switched back to their position (e.g. docked to the segments) where they were before. That's nice, but this is not always the case (sometimes it works, sometimes not) and it is not the case for floating tabs. And it would be nice to have automatically grouped tabs (e.g. MT engines or web resources for certain language combinations / fields - I define a "tab group" and when opening this group there are automatically launched the defined 4 or 5 tabs).

I just had a brainwave. I try to avoid them but sometimes they happen. I can see the use of storing terms in TMX files: fuzzy searching. Took me some years, very likely because of the extreme aggressive marketing of a certain proposer of these files :). But now I've seen the light too. And suddenly I realized what irritated me about them: the stupid name and the counterintuitive location in the Memory menu. Here's my proposal: transmembrane the Glossary menu to Terms menu. Make a clear distinction in colour or so between the first item Termbases and all Glossary related items. Never use the word TMX for terms in the rest of your life. They are Termbases and for the new user it is irrelevant that they are in TMX format. Also get rid of the term Memory. Everyone calls them TMs. To start with the menu: rename the Memory menu to TM. So we'd get to new menu names: Terms and TMs. I think this will eliminate a lot of confusion.

Silly typo: transmembrane > rename

Two new menu names

I'd also like to propose colour coding for TMs, Termbases, Glossaries and Resources. Same colours for them in the Dashboard, the pane borders in the GUI. And in the menus. Clear but no intrusive colours. That match together.

Hans CafeTran Wiki: But now I've seen the light too

You took your time.

H.

Hans CafeTran Wiki: very likely because of the extreme aggressive marketing of a certain proposer of these files

 

It's the other way around: You and that Michael have been promoting them silly tab dels like crazy, a whole Wiki full of it.

 

By the way, it's not just the fuzziness, it's also the far more comprehensive possibilities to fine-tune them, plus very easy but powerful maintenance right within the CafeTran menu. And more.

 

H.

Those are truly good points! Thank you very much for your precious contribution! Have a good weekend :-)