Categories
Felix Memory Serves

Memory serves version 1.2 released

I’ve just released version 1.2 of Memory Serves.

Download the latest version here.

In addition to some minor bug fixes (like a problem adding records with non-ascii characters in the context field), version 1.2 of Memory Serves includes a new program called Memory Importer:

Memory Importer window

Uploading large memories or glossaries to Memory Serves would sometimes cause a time out error; you can use this application to import your translation memory (.ftm/.xml) and glossary (*.fgloss/.xml) files into Memory Serves, without worrying about time outs.

To launch Memory Importer, go to the Start menu, then select All Programs >> Memory Serves >> Memory Importer.

Next, simply select a memory or glossary file, then click Import. You can also edit the meta information about the memory, such as the source language, creator, or client, or add notes about the memory.

Note that you have to run Memory Importer on the computer where Memory Serves is installed. It can’t import memories over the network (yet).

About Memory Serves

Memory Serves is a free application that shares Felix translation memories and glossaries over a local network, allowing multiple translators to share their TMs/glossaries in real time. Translations added to the memory by one translator are available to the other translators instantly.

This is great when several translators are working on the same project, when you have a company-wide standard glossary, or any time you need to share a memory/glossary that is still being added to.

Memory Serves creates a Web server on your local machine using the open-source cherrypy framework. This server is visible within your LAN or VLAN only; it’s not visible to the entire Internet. The IP address it uses is that of your own computer.

Categories
Felix release

Felix version 1.4.4 released

I’ve just made a quick release of version 1.4.4 of Felix in order to fix two bugs: one had to do with glossary lookup, and the other had to do with a GUI bug in the Memory Manager dialog.

Get the latest version here.

Categories
Felix release

Felix version 1.4.2 released

I’ve just released version 1.4.2 of Felix. This new version includes several improvements and new features requested by users, a few bug fixes, and improved support for some older Windows configurations.

Download the latest version of Felix.

The main new features and improvements are described below. See the manual for a full list of changes and improvements.

Separate file extensions for memories and glossaries

Felix translation memory and glossary files now have separate file extensions. By default, translation memories are saved with the “.ftm” extension, and glossary files are saved with the “.fgloss” extension. You can still use files with the old “.xml” extension, and save TMs and glossaries as “.xml” files.

New feature: profiles

You can now save user profiles in Felix. This is handy when you have multiple different sets of memories/glossaries, that you want to load in different situations (e.g. depending on the client).

Save your current profile
Select Tools >> Save Preferences.
Load an existing profile
Select Tools >> Load Preferences.

The following information is saved:

  • Translation memory files
  • Glossary files
  • User preferences
  • Window size and position
  • Text zoom level

New feature: improved zooming

With previous versions of Felix, you could control the zoom level of text using the CTRL + Mouse Wheel combination. Now there’s a zoom dialog box to give more fine-grained control over the zoom level. To display the Zoom dialog, select View >> Zoom… from the menu.

Using the zoom dialog box to control the text zoom level

When you start Felix, the last zoom level you used is restored.

Categories
Felix release

Felix version 1.4 released

After a bit of a delay, Felix version 1.4 is released. You can download it from the usual source.

The main improvements are as follows:

Translation History

Keep a history of your translations for a particular file, and automatically reflect any edits you make to the translation in your TM. For now, it’s available for Word and Excel; I’m planning to add the feature to PowerPoint within about a month.

Review Mode for Excel

Now Excel has a toolbar with a review mode, allowing you to correct your translations from within Excel.

See What’s New in the manual for a full list of additions and improvements.

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.