[Gtranslator-devel] Some usability comments on gtranslator 0.39

[Simos Xenitellis <simos74 gmx net>]

The following are usability comments on gtranslator from someone
changing favorite po editor.
It is very important when a user is doing something repetitive like
translating strings, to be able to do a "translation cycle" comfortably
and fast. A translation cycle is the process of translating the current
message and moving to the next one.

Some terminology (since I do not know the proper one) of the windows of
gtranslator.

-------------------
         |        |
 message |english |
 table   |box     |
         |________|
         |        |
         |local   |
         |box     |
         |        |
------------------|

Here it goes:

1. User scenarios
One user scenario is to have the message table unordered so that all
translated/untranslated/fuzzy messages follow the original po order.
That is, no grouping.
However, different colors help you distinguish which is which.
Special shortcuts allow you to go to the
	- next fuzzy
	- next untranslated
	- next fuzzy or untranslated
	- next message (any type of message, just for completeness)

Benefits
	- keeps "vi" translators happy...
	- help to identify from previous/next messages what
	the current message is about. For example,
	if the current message is "Lower window", it can be
	translated as "Lower the window" or "The lower window".
	If physically next/previous messages are there, one can
	understand from "Raise window" which of the two options are
	needed.

The existing scenario with the three groupings of the messages is also
good to keep.

2. Initial contact
When one loads a .po file in gtranslator, a message is chosen
and shown in the english/local boxes. However, it is not highlighted
in the message table. This is not intuitive.
The first message of the message table should be highlighted and shown.

3. Keyboard shortcuts
The "Next untranslated" and "Next fuzzy" commands go backwards.
This is not intuitive. They should go forwards with respect with what is
shown in the message table and the current message should be automatically
highlighted and sufficiently visible in the message table.

The keyboard focus can be set in either the message table, the english box
or the local box. When it is in the local box, the Ctrl-N/Ctrl-P
accelerators do not seem to work when they are associated with
Next/Previous. This is very strange, if you associate with e.x. Ctrl-O,
they work. But not with Ctrl-P/Ctrl-N. Other accelerators work ok.

Ctrl-LeftArrow/Ctrl-RightArror: they move to the previous physical
message, irrespective of what is shown in the message table.
They should follow the message table, and Ctrl-RightArrow should go
downwards on the table, Ctrl-LeftArrow upwards.
Ctrl-UpArrow/Ctrl-DownArrow duplicate the usage of the left/right arrows.
Again, the down arrow moves upwards to the list of messages.

Ctrl-Shift-LeftArrow/Ctrl-Shift-RightArrow: These are used to select
from the current position until the begining/end of text.
The Shift button is currently ignored, thus it works like
Ctrl-LeftArrow/Ctrl-RightArrow.

I hope this report helps,
Thanks for the application,
simos

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