Transifex Usability Feedback
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Asgeir Frimannsson
Jun 5, 2008, 8:47:50 PM6/5/08
to transif...@googlegroups.com
Hi all,
I mentioned to Dimitris earlier that I was going to convey some thoughts and usability issues from our translation team to the list, so here it is :)
- When an unauthenticated user enters the site, the login/registration task should be clearly visible. After login, all functionality should be 'personalized' e.g. stats only for selected language(s). Similar 'personalization' for language maintainers, project maintainers..
- When a translator logs in, (s)he wants to see a quick statistics/overview of projects/collection (s)he is translating. Think of this as a "dashboard". As a translator, you are mostly interested in the statistics for your own language(s).
- The current Transifex (and to some extent Damned Lies) interface is cluttered with developer-centric information and concepts. Transifex is meant to be user friendly, but is currently just a shallow front to a range of version control systems. Transifex should evolve to be a translation management system, not a version-control-abstraction system. (in the future we might not even use these systems, e.g. direct translation of wiki-pages is a realy possibility now)
- Relating to the above, a translator is not interested in branches and modules (these are developer-concepts), but rather translation projects. Much of the developer-centric information could be hidden while still providing an easy way for a developer-centric persons to view this information.
- A translator should be able to fetch PO files and submit them from the same page. (s)he should not have to select which file in the repository to overwrite, as the system should know this. The submit-function could be an ajax-based function next to the 'download po' button, or a function to download/submit an archive file for projects with many POs (similar to how e.g. pootle works).
- The download button should open a "Save As" dialog, rather than displaying the PO as text in the browser.
- There should at the very least be a mechanism to prevent po conflict, e.g. a Simple "Take" and "Release" Button. Automatic Release after 36 hours and send a notification via email 8 hours before expiring.
- The display of error-messages on statistics/download pages should be improved, and not clutter the interface. As a translator you shouldn't have to worry about many of these. (Maybe the errors/warning could be reported to the maintainer etc e.g. via email, or at least be aligned in a separate column to avoid cluttering the interface)
- Current status page is refreshed every X hours. Need to shorten the interval of updates. Submits should cause instant updates.
- The layout of the site has major usability issues. Left-side and top banner takes up too much screen real-estate, and the menu doesn't differenciate what is part of Transifex/Damned Lies, and what relates to other Fedora sites very well. (The Gnome layout is a perfect example of the opposite, a very usable interface)
[Registration process]
(this is not directly related to Transifex upstream, but I'll throw it in anyway)
- Current 8 step process is too long and we lose many translators from signing up.
- Simple 2 step process recommended:
Step 1: Create Basic Account (username, email, similar to the existing step 1)
Step 2: Actual Sign up Wizard (follow link in email to get to wizard):
- Join language team, automatic sign-up to mailing lists
- Notification email sent to (language-specific?) mailing list when translators sign up.
That's some thoughts to get us started :) I'll post later relating to the more technical issues, as it would be useful to separate these.
cheers,
asgeir
I mentioned to Dimitris earlier that I was going to convey some thoughts and usability issues from our translation team to the list, so here it is :)
- When an unauthenticated user enters the site, the login/registration task should be clearly visible. After login, all functionality should be 'personalized' e.g. stats only for selected language(s). Similar 'personalization' for language maintainers, project maintainers..
- When a translator logs in, (s)he wants to see a quick statistics/overview of projects/collection (s)he is translating. Think of this as a "dashboard". As a translator, you are mostly interested in the statistics for your own language(s).
- The current Transifex (and to some extent Damned Lies) interface is cluttered with developer-centric information and concepts. Transifex is meant to be user friendly, but is currently just a shallow front to a range of version control systems. Transifex should evolve to be a translation management system, not a version-control-abstraction system. (in the future we might not even use these systems, e.g. direct translation of wiki-pages is a realy possibility now)
- Relating to the above, a translator is not interested in branches and modules (these are developer-concepts), but rather translation projects. Much of the developer-centric information could be hidden while still providing an easy way for a developer-centric persons to view this information.
- A translator should be able to fetch PO files and submit them from the same page. (s)he should not have to select which file in the repository to overwrite, as the system should know this. The submit-function could be an ajax-based function next to the 'download po' button, or a function to download/submit an archive file for projects with many POs (similar to how e.g. pootle works).
- The download button should open a "Save As" dialog, rather than displaying the PO as text in the browser.
- There should at the very least be a mechanism to prevent po conflict, e.g. a Simple "Take" and "Release" Button. Automatic Release after 36 hours and send a notification via email 8 hours before expiring.
- The display of error-messages on statistics/download pages should be improved, and not clutter the interface. As a translator you shouldn't have to worry about many of these. (Maybe the errors/warning could be reported to the maintainer etc e.g. via email, or at least be aligned in a separate column to avoid cluttering the interface)
- Current status page is refreshed every X hours. Need to shorten the interval of updates. Submits should cause instant updates.
- The layout of the site has major usability issues. Left-side and top banner takes up too much screen real-estate, and the menu doesn't differenciate what is part of Transifex/Damned Lies, and what relates to other Fedora sites very well. (The Gnome layout is a perfect example of the opposite, a very usable interface)
[Registration process]
(this is not directly related to Transifex upstream, but I'll throw it in anyway)
- Current 8 step process is too long and we lose many translators from signing up.
- Simple 2 step process recommended:
Step 1: Create Basic Account (username, email, similar to the existing step 1)
Step 2: Actual Sign up Wizard (follow link in email to get to wizard):
- Join language team, automatic sign-up to mailing lists
- Notification email sent to (language-specific?) mailing list when translators sign up.
That's some thoughts to get us started :) I'll post later relating to the more technical issues, as it would be useful to separate these.
cheers,
asgeir
Stéphane Raimbault
Jun 6, 2008, 4:31:52 AM6/6/08
to transif...@googlegroups.com
2008/6/6 Asgeir Frimannsson <asg...@gmail.com>:Really interesting reading!
Many points are already included in Vertimus 1.0 ;)
Take a look at http://gnomefr.traduc.org/suivi/ and create an account if it's not already done.
The notion of modules and branch is essential for the GNOME project so I don't understand very well what do you suggest to replace this notion?
I think an automatic release after 36 hours is too short (detail ;)
The points of your mail I want take care for the next release are:
- automatic sign-up to ml (currently it's only a link in the welcome mail)
- My Account information must be more visible (currently in the sidebar then in bottom page)
- automatic refresh will be easier with dl integration (svn ci is hooked with dl already)
- automatic release
Aegis, do you have a branch I can checkout?
Stéphane
Many points are already included in Vertimus 1.0 ;)
Take a look at http://gnomefr.traduc.org/suivi/ and create an account if it's not already done.
The notion of modules and branch is essential for the GNOME project so I don't understand very well what do you suggest to replace this notion?
I think an automatic release after 36 hours is too short (detail ;)
The points of your mail I want take care for the next release are:
- automatic sign-up to ml (currently it's only a link in the welcome mail)
- My Account information must be more visible (currently in the sidebar then in bottom page)
- automatic refresh will be easier with dl integration (svn ci is hooked with dl already)
- automatic release
Aegis, do you have a branch I can checkout?
Stéphane
Stéphane Raimbault
Jun 6, 2008, 4:32:40 AM6/6/08
to transif...@googlegroups.com
2008/6/6 Stéphane Raimbault <stephane....@gmail.com>:Oops sorry I mispelled your name Asgeir, sorry.
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