WELL.. JUST SOME GOOD IDEAS...
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:44 am
Hello ADMIN!
There are some improvements to Translator's Interface and all the Software Library that I think are important:
1. ABILITY FOR MANAGERS TO EDIT APPROVED TRANSLATIONS (AT LEAST FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME)
Do you remember that I proposed to add a function for managers to edit a translation that has been approved? This would be very useful, for example, if you're a manager, press approve button and then realize there's a word misspelled. You want to correct it but you can't because it's too late, it's uneditable and you can't even see the translated text (everything appears in English when you want to read a translated title).
Other case is when you realize there's a better word than the one you choose before, the old one was right but there's a better one. So you may want to change that word, but you can't because once approved it's uneditable. In fact you can't even read it.
So, it would be great for managers to have the ability to improve translations by editing approved translations in that way, at least for a certain period of time, maybe some days before they become uneditable. Or if possible, it would be nice to have always that option, so like Wikipedia, the Software Library would be a LIVE SOFTWARE LIBRARY and not just a STATIC database... (With this idea of Wikipedia I don't mean that everyone visiting the site could modify programs descriptions since that could cause lots of troubles, but that translators could correct and modify this descriptions anytime)
2. BUTTONS TO REPORT "ENGLISH ERROR" AND "SPAM"
Many program descriptions in English have serious errors and are fragmented. I don't really know what's the purpose of having so many "short" and "long" texts, because program descriptions are inconsistent in the use of these fields:
Some of them repeat the same description once and again and again...
Others write in "short texts" single words like if they were "keywords" and not phrases.
There are some "short texts" that have incomplete phrases that make no sense...
Some have many "short texts" and others have less. So you should define the purpose of these "short" and "long" texts, and explain that to software authors so they write things that make sense and not just repetitive and incomplete texts.
Some other translations have no text, are empty or just look like Spam, but again is difficult to send an email or a bug report for each one...
There are also many English descriptions that have flagrant errors, not just grammar errors and it's a kind of difficult to write a bug or send an email for each one of these errors.
So, what I purpose is to have a set of buttons in the translation interface, so if we detect one of these errors, we can report it with just one click, so the program title could be review by the Software Library's Administrator.
Maybe this kind of control would imply a more complex organization of translators, managers and the system itself. For example, there could be a team that could be in charge of reviewing "bad English descriptions". If there are errors in English, they should be able to correct them or send it to software author to review or improve their description. At the end that's something important for succeed if we want to have an easy to read, clear and clean Software Library.
There should also be a kind of "guide" or "rules" for writing program descriptions in English and reduce the "short" and "long" texts fields, in a way that they are not fragmented in an arbitrary way. There are text like this:
Long text 1: "Key Features: 1. Bla bla bla. 2.b"
Long text 2: "la bla bla bla. 3.bl"
Long text 3: "a bla bla bla bla. 4"
Long text 4: ".bla bla bla bla"
I don't know how this would look like in the Software Library, at least in the translator's interface looks like fragmented phrases. There should be a way to report this buggy descriptions so they can be edited in English in order to be translated into Spanish.
So there could be 2 buttons: "SPAM" and "ENGLISH ERROR" and a "Comment" textbox to optionally describe the issue.
If SPAM then the program title is send to Software Library's Administrator reporting that it's SPAM.
If ENGLISH ERROR then program title is sent to Software Library's Administrator or an e-mail is sent to Software's Author, in order to correct the ENGLISH ERROR (Or to the Special Translator's Team that review these kind of errors).
3. BUTTON TO MAKE EDITABLE ALREADY TRANSLATED SPANISH TEXT "SPANISH ERROR" (and pay translator as a manager correction)
There are texts fields in Spanish, that have been already translated (in gray color and are uneditable) that have errors (I mean little errors we are good translators). For example, last month we couldn't write "¡" or "¿" so there are some translated texts that don't have these symbols, or "C++" and it could be easy for a translator to edit these mistakes. Or maybe a word misspelled. So there could be a button pressed by the actual translator (who detects the error) to make that field editable, correct this error and be paid as a "manager correction". That way all translations could be improved easily, fast and without expense.
So I mean, to add a button to make editable the already translated field to correct it: SPANISH ERROR (in already translated text).
I haven't found big mistakes in Spanish translations (talking about translation). Translations are quite good (in general) maybe just grammar "¿", "¡" or finger errors... easy to correct.
On the contrary, in English there are big mistakes of sense, syntax and composing. I don't really understand what is the criterion to split the description in different texts "short", "long", etc... And why the use of these fields is quite different from one program to another. I don't even know how this will look in the the Software Library's database updated with our translations... So if source it's not so good, the final result won't be as good as it could be, because you can't rewrite the entire description in Spanish.
4. FORMATING AND TEMPLATES FOR SOFTWARE AUTHORS IN ORDER TO ORGANIZE INFORMATION OF PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
It's nice to read a text clean, organized and easy to read. For example features should be in a list:
FEATURES:
1. bla bla bla
2. bla bla bla
3. bla bla bla
OPERATIVE SYSTEM:
Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, 2000, VISTA.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA
I mean, organized, not all in a chaotic way (like now):
"BLA BLA BLA BLA fEATURES: *BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA, *BLA BLA *;BLA; *BLA BLA bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla2. bla 3.bla 4.bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla ."
This is difficult to read. So, instead of just "long or short texts with numbers" you could have a kind of "semantic" fields, one for each type of information: "requirements, operative system, description, features, warranty, custom field" and so on. So when a software author writes a program description, can do it in textareas predefined by a template. They could even use formating.
That way you would be able to give more options than other Download Sites to search and choose Software. For example, a program can have an ID, and you can look for a program and appear all versions of that particular program, not as different programs, but the same with different versions. You could even alert users about new version of a specific program. That would be great, since not everybody have time to be checking continuously if there's a new version of the software they use. You could also do this by email, and sell advertising or promote Free Download Manager or something else. And people would choose to receive updates about a particular software. (And you could sell licenses for this program at discount price or something). You could also compare Features, Requirements and Descriptions of different programs in a column way. Which is not possible now since all information related to a program title is only organized in "long" and "short" texts which are not easy to organize in different ways.
CONCLUSION
We need a system to CORRECT AND PREVENT possible human errors. We know that we're humans and humans make mistakes (even computers do that). But an automatic translation software can't detect these mistakes, because once it's programmed, it will "assume"the translation is right. The program won't suspect that English source may be wrong, so it will try to translate it anyway... We are more complicated, we can make unadvertised mistakes, but we're able to detect and correct them.. And having many people reading others translations and others descriptions, we have too much "computer power" to do that than the most powerful computer in the world. I think that makes the difference between we and machines... So, I'm maybe too enthusiastic about this but I think it would be a good improvement at least to think about these suggestions and begin with the number one. That shouldn't be too difficult for Translator's Interface's Programmer, since as I see you have been working on this continuously and you must be a kind of PHP Guru. For example, I didn't realize you're using overLIB in the interface, and you were changing code two days ago.
These are ideas that I've been thinking about... maybe can help. Have a nice day!
CaptorX
There are some improvements to Translator's Interface and all the Software Library that I think are important:
1. ABILITY FOR MANAGERS TO EDIT APPROVED TRANSLATIONS (AT LEAST FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME)
Do you remember that I proposed to add a function for managers to edit a translation that has been approved? This would be very useful, for example, if you're a manager, press approve button and then realize there's a word misspelled. You want to correct it but you can't because it's too late, it's uneditable and you can't even see the translated text (everything appears in English when you want to read a translated title).
Other case is when you realize there's a better word than the one you choose before, the old one was right but there's a better one. So you may want to change that word, but you can't because once approved it's uneditable. In fact you can't even read it.
So, it would be great for managers to have the ability to improve translations by editing approved translations in that way, at least for a certain period of time, maybe some days before they become uneditable. Or if possible, it would be nice to have always that option, so like Wikipedia, the Software Library would be a LIVE SOFTWARE LIBRARY and not just a STATIC database... (With this idea of Wikipedia I don't mean that everyone visiting the site could modify programs descriptions since that could cause lots of troubles, but that translators could correct and modify this descriptions anytime)
2. BUTTONS TO REPORT "ENGLISH ERROR" AND "SPAM"
Many program descriptions in English have serious errors and are fragmented. I don't really know what's the purpose of having so many "short" and "long" texts, because program descriptions are inconsistent in the use of these fields:
Some of them repeat the same description once and again and again...
Others write in "short texts" single words like if they were "keywords" and not phrases.
There are some "short texts" that have incomplete phrases that make no sense...
Some have many "short texts" and others have less. So you should define the purpose of these "short" and "long" texts, and explain that to software authors so they write things that make sense and not just repetitive and incomplete texts.
Some other translations have no text, are empty or just look like Spam, but again is difficult to send an email or a bug report for each one...
There are also many English descriptions that have flagrant errors, not just grammar errors and it's a kind of difficult to write a bug or send an email for each one of these errors.
So, what I purpose is to have a set of buttons in the translation interface, so if we detect one of these errors, we can report it with just one click, so the program title could be review by the Software Library's Administrator.
Maybe this kind of control would imply a more complex organization of translators, managers and the system itself. For example, there could be a team that could be in charge of reviewing "bad English descriptions". If there are errors in English, they should be able to correct them or send it to software author to review or improve their description. At the end that's something important for succeed if we want to have an easy to read, clear and clean Software Library.
There should also be a kind of "guide" or "rules" for writing program descriptions in English and reduce the "short" and "long" texts fields, in a way that they are not fragmented in an arbitrary way. There are text like this:
Long text 1: "Key Features: 1. Bla bla bla. 2.b"
Long text 2: "la bla bla bla. 3.bl"
Long text 3: "a bla bla bla bla. 4"
Long text 4: ".bla bla bla bla"
I don't know how this would look like in the Software Library, at least in the translator's interface looks like fragmented phrases. There should be a way to report this buggy descriptions so they can be edited in English in order to be translated into Spanish.
So there could be 2 buttons: "SPAM" and "ENGLISH ERROR" and a "Comment" textbox to optionally describe the issue.
If SPAM then the program title is send to Software Library's Administrator reporting that it's SPAM.
If ENGLISH ERROR then program title is sent to Software Library's Administrator or an e-mail is sent to Software's Author, in order to correct the ENGLISH ERROR (Or to the Special Translator's Team that review these kind of errors).
3. BUTTON TO MAKE EDITABLE ALREADY TRANSLATED SPANISH TEXT "SPANISH ERROR" (and pay translator as a manager correction)
There are texts fields in Spanish, that have been already translated (in gray color and are uneditable) that have errors (I mean little errors we are good translators). For example, last month we couldn't write "¡" or "¿" so there are some translated texts that don't have these symbols, or "C++" and it could be easy for a translator to edit these mistakes. Or maybe a word misspelled. So there could be a button pressed by the actual translator (who detects the error) to make that field editable, correct this error and be paid as a "manager correction". That way all translations could be improved easily, fast and without expense.
So I mean, to add a button to make editable the already translated field to correct it: SPANISH ERROR (in already translated text).
I haven't found big mistakes in Spanish translations (talking about translation). Translations are quite good (in general) maybe just grammar "¿", "¡" or finger errors... easy to correct.
On the contrary, in English there are big mistakes of sense, syntax and composing. I don't really understand what is the criterion to split the description in different texts "short", "long", etc... And why the use of these fields is quite different from one program to another. I don't even know how this will look in the the Software Library's database updated with our translations... So if source it's not so good, the final result won't be as good as it could be, because you can't rewrite the entire description in Spanish.
4. FORMATING AND TEMPLATES FOR SOFTWARE AUTHORS IN ORDER TO ORGANIZE INFORMATION OF PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
It's nice to read a text clean, organized and easy to read. For example features should be in a list:
FEATURES:
1. bla bla bla
2. bla bla bla
3. bla bla bla
OPERATIVE SYSTEM:
Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, 2000, VISTA.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA
I mean, organized, not all in a chaotic way (like now):
"BLA BLA BLA BLA fEATURES: *BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA, *BLA BLA *;BLA; *BLA BLA bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla2. bla 3.bla 4.bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla ."
This is difficult to read. So, instead of just "long or short texts with numbers" you could have a kind of "semantic" fields, one for each type of information: "requirements, operative system, description, features, warranty, custom field" and so on. So when a software author writes a program description, can do it in textareas predefined by a template. They could even use formating.
That way you would be able to give more options than other Download Sites to search and choose Software. For example, a program can have an ID, and you can look for a program and appear all versions of that particular program, not as different programs, but the same with different versions. You could even alert users about new version of a specific program. That would be great, since not everybody have time to be checking continuously if there's a new version of the software they use. You could also do this by email, and sell advertising or promote Free Download Manager or something else. And people would choose to receive updates about a particular software. (And you could sell licenses for this program at discount price or something). You could also compare Features, Requirements and Descriptions of different programs in a column way. Which is not possible now since all information related to a program title is only organized in "long" and "short" texts which are not easy to organize in different ways.
CONCLUSION
We need a system to CORRECT AND PREVENT possible human errors. We know that we're humans and humans make mistakes (even computers do that). But an automatic translation software can't detect these mistakes, because once it's programmed, it will "assume"the translation is right. The program won't suspect that English source may be wrong, so it will try to translate it anyway... We are more complicated, we can make unadvertised mistakes, but we're able to detect and correct them.. And having many people reading others translations and others descriptions, we have too much "computer power" to do that than the most powerful computer in the world. I think that makes the difference between we and machines... So, I'm maybe too enthusiastic about this but I think it would be a good improvement at least to think about these suggestions and begin with the number one. That shouldn't be too difficult for Translator's Interface's Programmer, since as I see you have been working on this continuously and you must be a kind of PHP Guru. For example, I didn't realize you're using overLIB in the interface, and you were changing code two days ago.
These are ideas that I've been thinking about... maybe can help. Have a nice day!
CaptorX