XYplorer Beta Club

lol, looks like french people all discovered TV3 at the same time ^^ (yeah I'm french too :-/)
Anyway, I was trying to find an alternative to xplorer^2, and after testing a few file managers (A43, explorerXP, DualXplorer, Windows File Explorer, Gyula's Navigator...), I found that TrackerV3 was probably the best of them, and certainly the one that suited me the best : relatively lightweight, without clutter, an efficient search fonctions, tabs (loves them ^^), and an intelligent rename function ;-)
Now the only complaint I have with TV3 (well almost) is the impossibility to translate it, and I'd like to try and change your mind on that point :

The app is for advanced users and the necessary bits of common computer English should be available to the majority of them

Well, that's right, I can understand some basic English, and using TV3 is not really a problem for me, but 2 things are really bothering me :
- I'm not the only one to use my computer, it might not be that easy for my girlfriend to use an english-only file manager. And no, I won't keep explorer.exe just for that ^^; (I already use bb4win/bblean and firefox, so I trashed explorer.exe lol)
-But more important, it's a matter of homogeneity : I only have access to a french windows XP and an AZERTY keyboard, so if some of the programs I use are in english, it will just look... wrong.
-And last but not least, you'll get more attention if your program is available in several languages. And a Polish/spanish/french/italian/whatever commercial firm will never pay 40$ (or anything) fot a product that is not available in their language, even if all their employees can speak english.

Also, since the program is in permanent progress, any new feature would make it necessary to consult the Polish (or whatever other language) experts. That's really not managable for me.

Who said you had to MANAGE the translations ? You have tons of people able and willing to make them for free, all you have to do is provide a way to translate your software easily (Maxthon and Miranda-IM do that through .ini or .txt files which contain ths translation strings), and add links to the translations.

Actually I changed my mind and I am planning multilanguage support for the future. But it won't be tomorrow.

Good ^^
I realize it's not a priority, but I really think it would be a good addition.


So it's actually possible for a good programmer to change his mind... Interesting... *runs to the foobar2k forums to ask for multilanguage support*

WOW, French invasion...

Yes, your points are good, and in fact I plan to do it that ".ini or .txt files" way. Only gotta find some time (it's a lot of boring work to add this functionality...), and weather to fine these days to sit inside

I see a general problem with the multilanguage support: TrackerV3's user interface is in many places pretty tight, i.e. the English control caption just fits but most languages print much wider than English, so the design would fall apart...

I know it's too early to actually translate anything, but if you integrate some form of multilanguage support, I'd offer to make a german translation. I myself wouldn't use it, but I know there are many people out there who would (also I often find transations to be just plain bad and hope to be able to make it just better).

So if you're keeping a list of some sort about who to contact once the day has arrived, you can put me on it

bye
Creat

Okay, thanks! You're on the list!

EDIT: actually I'm expecting a large review including a TrackerV3 crash course in the German magazine Computer BILD any time soon. This will surely increase the demand for a German version...

Bumping on this for several reasons.
I was recently talking to a potential business partner and had to make him a generic portfolio presentation.
-HE WENT MAD WHEN HE SAW A BUNCH OF TAGGED FOLDERS, ALL HAVING COMMENTS REGARDING NEGOTIATION STATUS AND SUCH!, telling me "THAT's what I've always looked for!" and asking details on how to buy XY. After a closer look, he asked for a translated version and being told about currently not existing such thing, he declined the idea. I'm aware that Don has mixed feelings regarding app's target public and promotion tactics in general, but perhaps the time has come...
-3147 page views makes Translation (this very thread!) the second most viewed topic on "Tips & Tricks, Questions & Answers" section. There's some demand, I'd say...
-Toolbar Tooltips 2.0 was pointed as a way to at least circumvent the problem.
What about...?

SkyFrontier wrote:Bumping on this for several reasons.
I was recently talking to a potential business partner and had to make him a generic portfolio presentation.
-HE WENT MAD WHEN HE SAW A BUNCH OF TAGGED FOLDERS, ALL HAVING COMMENTS REGARDING NEGOTIATION STATUS AND SUCH!, telling me "THAT's what I've always looked for!" and asking details on how to buy XY. After a closer look, he asked for a translated version and being told about currently not existing such thing, he declined the idea. I'm aware that Don has mixed feelings regarding app's target public and promotion tactics in general, but perhaps the time has come...
-3147 page views makes Translation (this very thread!) the second most viewed topic on "Tips & Tricks, Questions & Answers" section. There's some demand, I'd say...
-Toolbar Tooltips 2.0 was pointed as a way to at least circumvent the problem.
What about...?

You may want to look at this thread from last year. Unless Don's plans and work load have changed, I don't think it likely.

Nas8e9:

...from last year...

I'm aware of that. But... take a look and see how much things evolved here since then!
That's what "...but perhaps the time has come..." was about.
-thank you for the link!

SkyFrontier wrote:Nas8e9:

...from last year...

I'm aware of that. But... take a look and see how much things evolved here since then!
That's what "...but perhaps the time has come..." was about.
-thank you for the link!

I think the point Don made in the thread I linked to, was that his resources are stretched as it is yet necessary to make language versions happen. The one thing that hasn't changed of course, is that XYplorer is a one-man operation. Given my little adventure with making screen shots, I don't think it likely that Don will outsource that much...

Given all the requests he gets, having translated versions of XYplorer for sale would help his bottom line. The fact that he nevertheless chooses to expend his development resources elsewhere says something, I'm afraid.

@ nas8e9:
Good point.
Thanks.
>sigh<

And as was likely said in some prior post/thread, when you get into supporting various languages (even by means of user assisted/created translation files), some parts of the GUI break due to differing lengths of text and that's another huge headache that Don doesn't want...it may take 10 letters in English and 18 in another and that extra 8 chars screws up the GUI, ok?

All of this just makes me look at Toolbar Tooltips as a potential solution for all of this, while we don't have a movement on changing app's core coding.