Cool Tool - ExamDiff Pro
Yeah, I am still alive but barely and I believe my brain is quite worn out. We had released several new products and launched a separate website specifically for the photo market (http://www.xritephoto.com).
I also designed a webpage (http://www.mm-translations.com), I turned 40, we took a few short trips during the summer and we just had nice weather so I rather stay outside.
During one of my projects I had to send out Word documents for review. I told everyone to please turn on “Tracking” in Word and correct the files so I can update my translation memories. These were long (70 pages), big (60 MB) documents with a lot of formatting, grouped elements and images.
Unfortunately, people either don’t like or are not familiar with the tracking function (and are afraid to ask), so I got a variety of documents back, each markked up in a creative way - or not at all.
Now, I know that Word has a Compare function, but I have never been happy with the results. The view is very messy, it highlights ever little “font hiccup” and some ominous language changes and I’d say it is not usable in general.
Fortunately, I remember the little compare tool I use for XML files, it is called ExamDiff and I wondered what it would do with a binary format like a Word document. Well, it handles them like a champ! I have created a doc with a partial Microsoft EULA and changed a copy. ExamDiff shows both documents in a window split vertically or horizontally, highlighting the lines that changed and marking the particular change.
But for me the best was the report function. Since I had to communicate all the changes back to my Italian translator, this was very important. ExamDiff created an HTML document (other formats are also available) that basically looked exactly like the comparison I saw in the application window. It had a little legend that explains what the colors mean and I was able to just send this document to my translator who was easily able to update his translation memory with these changes. Report generated by ExamDiff
Maybe there are a lot of tools like this out there, but ExamDiff has always been wonderful when comparing XML files or source code with 10,000+ lines of code, but until now I was not aware that it can do other files.
Now, as for versions, we are using the older version ExamDiff Pro 3.5. The new version 4.5 costs $35 and is available at PrestoSoft
Fun with character encodings, Greek ANSI
Now that I got the Java encodings half way under control, I encountered “Fun with character encodings” again. This time, it’s a Greek tragedy.
A couple of days ago I received a small text file with English strings. The strings are messages for a service pack and they are needed to be translated in Greek. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all, the text file needs to be in ANSI format because the installer InnoSetup requires that format. Hmm, I immediately thought that smells like trouble because most languages with a different codepage really need to be encoded in Unicode, ANSI does not have enough characters. But first, let’s get it translated.
I got the translation back as a Word file and while I could have probably just asked the translator to send it as a Greek ANSI, I thought I’d give it a shot myself. The first dumb try, open file in Notepad++ and select “Convert to ANSI”. Of course, I get:
greek.INVALID_VERSION_MESSAGE=??t? t? pa??t? e??µ???s?? µp??e? ?a e??µe??se? µ??? t?? ??d?s? %1 ?a? ? d???? sa? e??a? %2.
So I google to see if it is at all possible and yes, it seems like you can encode Greek text in ANSI but unline English, which uses codepage 1252, Greek has to use 1253. Well, that doesn’t seem to be that hard, so I try again. Still the same. OK, maybe a different text editor - nope, doesn’t work either. So, now I send the UTF-8 encoded text file to the Greek translator and ask him if he can convert it into ANSI.
While I wait, I do a little more research and I stumble over a little Microsoft tool named AppLocale. At first I misunderstood the purpose, I thought it is just to switch the system locale, something you can easily do through the control Panel. But after a little more reading, I realized that this may be my solution. I can use AppLocale to open another application and AppLocale will pretend it is a localized Windows environment. So, in my case I needed to look at my Greek ANSI file on a Greek system, which I don’t have. Instead, I use AppLocale to open my text editor and with this instance of the text editor, I open my Greek file. Lo and behold, all characters come out correctly.
greek.INVALID_VERSION_MESSAGE=Αυτό το πακέτο ενημέρωσης μπορεί να ενημερώσει μόνο την έκδοση %1 και η δικιά σας είναι %2.
My file was correct all along, I just couldn’t verify it on my system. I’ll make sure to keep this little application around because I have run into this in the past and usually just ended up submitting a Unicode file and let the developers deal with it. By this time my translator had also sent me the file back and certainly, his looked just the same.
Translator 1, Greek ANSI File 0
OMG - It’s full of mistakes!
So, we just had one of our applications translated into Greek. It is a very big application for a total of 13,000 words just strings. Initially, we had about a month so time was not a big issue and the translation got started on May 8th. Of course, these things change and all of a sudden, we needed it not by the beginning of June but for a show on May 20th. That means 12 days for the translation, cleaning up the bilingual files, importing the strings, fixing truncations and other issues, testing functionality and compiling DLLs. Of course we made it!
Now I was waiting for feedback. Nothing at all from the guys who were at the show. No “good job”, no “shame on you” - nothing. After a week, I inquired and I got the reply back that there were “a big number of errors”. That sent a shiver down my spine. We don’t have many translations into Greek, only one other application so I don’t know this translator very well. We don’t have any Greek reference material, but I asked and he confirmed that he knew the subject matter. And I myself can of course not check anything in Greek.
Turns out, it wasn’t all that bad. We had issues for all language because unless you are a printing press operator, you really can’t figure out some things. I remember asking our German guys questions and they had no clue either. Unfortunately, some terms that were wrong occured 50 or even 100 times so yeah, it looks like a lot. Correcting all strings took me a couple of hours of manual copy/paste, which is not bad at all.
It just irks me that the only feedback I get was that there are a lot of errors (which wasn’t even true). He never acknowledged that we did the impossible by turning this around so fast and that it worked fine. Only the tester mentioned that this must have been the fastest turn-around we had for any language but I am also getting a lot better at handling languages I know nothing about. The last translation we did for that was Russian - I am fine navigating through French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, but Russian and Greek are a whole different animal. If I see a truncation at runtime, I can’t just type in the text I see and search for it - I need a virtual keyboard and go letter by letter type in a keyword to search for. And I am amazed how nicely Trados and TagEditor handle the different character sets. I don’t think many people know what an ordeal it can be to have an application ready for non-Western character sets.
Ah well, believe it or not, I still love doing it - it’s a big girl puzzle and I am getting paid to solve it!
I am wearing jeans!
Kudos to my employer, and I really mean it. I believe they have found the one way to boost morale, that doesn’t cost a thing! We have “Casual Everyday” from now until Labor Day and we are allowed to wear jeans.
I never really understood the US dress code for employees. It was a bummer from day one - I can’t wear jeans to work? Impossible!
I understand that for some customer contact and for certain types of jobs, people have to wear attire that is a little more formal, but in all honesty - those people know, they don’t need a dress code. And if they don’t, there are bigger issues. For the majority of employees at my company there is no need to wear anything else.
Now, since corporate morale everywhere in the US is down, my company has sent out a company wide update with the new dress code that is in effect until Labor Day in September when it will be reviewed again. I am so happy!
On the other hand, that brings up a new question - why does it make me so happy that I can wear jeans. I am not a formal dresser, I actually wear mostly pants that are cut like jeans anyway but made out of a different fabric. But somehow, jeans is just a whole different world.
Survivor’s remorse - lay-off aftermath
So, yet another round of lay-offs has passed. Last week, I lost several of my nice benefits - tuition reimbursement being the one that would hurt the most and we got a pay cut. This was actually the aftermath of the “restructuring” earlier this year. Back then, they said that they may have to “do more” if business or the economy doesn’t pick up. Well, we all know, economy is still in bad shape, so yesterday we went through round 2.
I was in early because I wanted to leave early and my boss basically greeted me with the news. Believe me, this is not a good way to start you day. So, for the next few hours, you just keep your head down. You don’t move, you don’t look up. You work as hard as possible so everyone sees how busy you are - not that it matters because the decisions have been made already, but it is just my instinct. If the phone rings, your heart stops for a moment - until I saw on the caller ID that it was my husband. I told him not to call for the rest of the day or I’d need digitalis for my heart.
Either way, I survived, and today is just another day. Unfortunately, my chipper self is really down today, and when I told my husband (who is by the way allowed to call me again), he said that it sounds like “survivor’s remorse”. I looked it up and yeah, that’s pretty much it. Why were those people let go - some of them were here for 20+ years? And even more curious - why am I still here? If they were no good - why weren’t they canned before? Does performance even matter? What is the criterion?
But there is something else that bugs me today. Wherever I go, people are basically whispering and bad-mouthing the company. Hey, I still work here - AND SO DO YOU! I for one am happy to have a job right now. It is not like there is a job market out there with. Show my a similar company out there that is doing much better right now. And if you find a better company - well, maybe you should apply for a job. It’s not like I feel everything is hunky dory but right now I don’t feel like hearing all the trash-talk. I feel like curling up on the recliner with a bag of chocolate - or a bottle of something, I haven’t made up my mind.
Anyway, I guess I am still in-house…
Links:
X-Rite’s Kentwood headquarters feels brunt of about 30 job cuts
Photography Companies Provide Snapshot Of A Lousy Year
Survivor’s Remorse