Traduwiki goes live: Translate almost in real-time

On 21 Sep 2007 | By Thuan | Permalink

Those who have already edited a wiki know it well. When two or more users are editing the same article, usually, the first to update is lucky and the rest, unlucky. The reason? "Conflict resolution." The system warns the rest of the group with the same information, that the text they're editing has changed, so they should validate their text according to the changes or bypass the message and keep writing on the old version.

To avoid this situation, some wiki engines lock the page. To us, the technique is even worse, turning a wiki page editable one user at a time. It's like playing a symphony instrument by instrument.

On the other hand, we observed an interesting behavior, that editors don't jump on the same text section most of the time. They read the original text, pick the section that seems easy to translate, and usually, it's not the same — we don't react the same way to a phrase. That's how we came to develop a simultaneous editor.

"Brick saving"

In practice, you won't notice any difference than before. You keep translating with the same click-and-write procedure. Under the hood, there have been big changes. Instead of recording a whole page, we focus on the freshly edited section, spot its right position, and insert it right there without moving the rest. It's like changing a brick in a wall, without breaking it apart.

The saving tactic smooths the whole process. First, no more warning message. Second, users are always working with the up-to-date version of a translation. At this point, we're close to real-time editing and real-time editing is our target.

For the next few days, you'll see more special effects on texts. They will be here to help you get informed of what other editors are doing in the same time as you. So be just a bit patient, we'll get you something really cool to use.