Categories
Felix

Some of my favorite user-inspired new features in Felix

I’m a professional translator, and I use Felix in my work. Actually using the software you make is called “eating one’s own dog food” (or “dogfooding”), and it’s a great way to improve the quality and usability of software (you might also be surprised to find out how rare it is — or not surprised, depending on your cynical bent).

While dogfooding does help make software a lot better, it also has two main weaknesses/blind spots:

  1. You get used to doing things certain ways, so tend not to notice other ways of doing things that are buggy or inconvenient
  2. You get so used to doing things one way that you don’t think of better ways of doing them

This is why user feedback is so important. I actually love it when users tell me things that they don’t like about Felix, or things that need improving. Firstly, I know that if one person takes the trouble to send me feedback, there are at least 10 other users feeling the same pain. Secondly, getting a new perspective on my “baby” can help me see new opportunities for improvement.

I just got finished doing a fairly large (200-page) translation, and I noticed that three new Felix features inspired by users were really convenient and made my work easier. I’ll list them below.

F6 to toggle between match and concordance views
Inspired by: Charles Aschmann
This is such a simple feature, that I’m amazed at how much time it saves me. When a translation match is displayed in the Felix window, you can select some arbitrary text in the query or translation, and press ALT + C (for source) or CTRL + ALT + C (for translation) to get the concordance for it — basically, find out how that string is used in context in other translation memory entries. That’s easy, but before it was cumbersome to get back to the match view. Being able to press F6 to quickly toggle between the match and concordance views made this feature a lot easier to use — and thus I find myself using it more and more often.
Saving profiles
Inspired by: Sako Eaton
This is great when I’m working on two jobs in parallel. I can save all my currently loaded TMs, glossaries, and settings in a profile, and then when I switch jobs, I can load the profile for that job to close all my current TMs/glossaries, and open the ones for that profile.
CTRL + Up to correct translations
Inspired by: Charles Aschmann
This feature also saved me some time. Before, when working in Word and I needed to correct a translation in the TM, I would have to either do it directly in the Felix window, or switch to Review mode in Word. Now, I can just correct the translation, and press CTRL + Up Arrow to correct the translation in the TM.

To Felix users: keep that feedback coming, it’s very much appreciated!

Categories
Felix release

Felix version 1.1 released

Version 1.1 of Felix is released. This is a minor release with several usability enhancements and bug fixes. It’s available from the Felix download page. Below is a list of improvements and bug fixes in this version.

Felix

  • Memory window layout revamped
  • Memory window layout templates moved to external files
  • Auto-selection feature for matching algorithm
  • Glossary matching algorithm choice removed
  • Register glossary entries dialog: Trim spaces when adding entries
  • Bug: Toggle markup link for fuzzy matches
  • Bug: Glossary strings shown for memory tool tips
  • Bug: Switching languages failed to make tool tip language switch
  • GUI: Gave memory and glossary preferences pages consistent labels

Word interface

  • Bug: Canceling a lookup did not work as expected

The improvements and bug fixes are described in detail below. There will be one more minor release in June, followed by development of a network feature for Felix.

Memory window layout revamped

The layout of the memory window has been revamped and improved for better usability. Below are some examples of the new look.

No matches

Felix memory window with no matches

Added new entry

Added a new match to the Felix memory window

100% match

A perfect match in the Felix memory window

(Since this is a 100% match, there’s no need to show the query — it’s identical to the source)

Fuzzy match

Memory window layout templates moved to external files

The memory window style sheet and layout templates have been moved to external files. This will allow them to be customized. For example, one Felix user had a very large monitor, and the match text appeared too small. By modifying the stylesheet (style.css), he was able to increase the text size and improve visibility.

The files are located in the local application data folder. The location of this folder will differ depending on whether you’re using Windows XP or Vista.

Vista: C:\Users\user-name\AppData\Local\Felix\html\
XP: C:\Documents and Settings\user-name\Local Settings\Application Data\Felix\html\

Auto-selection feature for matching algorithm

Felix has two matching algorithms for fuzzy matching: character-based and word-based. The character-based algorithm is best for Asian languages where words aren’t separated by spaces, while the word-based algorithm is best for European and other languages where they are.

Before, the user had to select the best algorithm themselves, but now Felix selects the best algorithm automatically by default. You can still select the algorithm manually in the preferences.

Glossary matching algorithm choice removed

To simplify the interface, the choice of glossary-matching algorithms was removed. Felix now uses a special algorithm fine-tuned for glossary searches.

Register glossary entries dialog: Trim spaces when adding entries

When registering glossary entries in the dialog box, extra spaces were often spuriously added to glossary entries. These extra spaces are now trimmed automatically.

Bug: Toggle markup link for fuzzy matches

The option to toggle markup (showing where the query and source are different) on and off was not being saved between lookups, making the user select again each time. Now the selection is remembered.

Bug: Glossary strings shown for memory tool tips

In version 1.0, the glossary-related tool tips were being shown for the memory window (for example, the tool tip for the “New” toolbar button was “Create a new glossary file.” Now the correct memory-related tooltips are shown.

Bug: Switching languages failed to make tool tip language switch

In version 1.0, even if the UI language was switched, tool tips were sometimes displayed in the previous UI language. Now the tool tip language is also switched in all cases.

GUI: Gave memory and glossary preferences pages consistent labels

The Memory and Glossary preference sheets had different labels for the same features (normalizing case, width, and hiragana/katakana for searches). The same labels are now used.

Word interface Bug: Canceling a lookup did not work as expected

If you try to look up or register a very long segment (> 1,000 characters) in MS Word, a dialog box will ask if you really want to do this. In version 1.0, answering “No” in the dialog box would sometimes not completely cancel the action.