Top-Down layout in Editor View using a plug-in?

Question

Hello,
in Studio 2014
I know that natively you can't choose between left/right and top-bottom source/target TUs layout in the Editor View, but isn't there a plug-in that would allow to switch between the two views? (as Studio can export for review either in left-right and top-down).

I ask the question for someone that has a vision issue in one eye only, and who is much more comfortable reading and working with top-down layouts.

Thanks a lot

[locked by: Steven Whale at 11:08 AM (GMT 1) on 28 Apr 2020]

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Frédéric, 
 
The export goes to Word, it's not an option in the Editor. If this was a simple thing to do you can be absolutely sure we would have done this in the product a long time ago. The choice of technology that was made in 2009 for the Editor was a poor one and it has made it difficult to do many things that you may see in other tools... things like showing a horizontal approach as opposed to side by side. The new Online Editor has this capability to switch views, but the desktop editor does not, and probably won't. 
 
I guess if someone created a completely new Editor as a plugin then this may be possible... and perhaps a plugin could be created to show the source target of the active segment in a new view part and use that for editing... but a plugin to support a change in the current editor is not going to happen. 
 
Regards 
 
Paul

Paul Filkin · Answer

Unknown said: And it's all due to the wrongly chosen technology back in 2009, which, I assume, has some rigid limitations. This is probably why, the TM Editor is so poor and frankly - useless, and we have been waiting for years for a mere slider for browsing through terms. 
 Don't leap to conclusions. I was referring only to the Editor as this uses different technology to the rest of Studio. 
 Unknown said: Trados loads about 3-4 times slower than most of its competitors - I know, because I've checked. 
 Depends on the machine. I don't have the same differences you report, but I also don't worry too much about the start up time. It's not really something I do over and over again throughout the day. 
 Unknown said: Importing TMs to a Big Mama TM takes ages. Copied from your other post "I have a relatively fast computer (Athlon x4 2.8 Ghz, 6 GB RAM, SSD Disk, Win 7 installed 3 months ago, not cluttered whatsoever) and updating my Big Mama (88,000 units) with the segments from my project TM (usually about 500 TU) takes about 2 minutes." 
 I don't find this... again I think it depends on the machine (and I don't necessarily mean the hardware). I ran a quick test with a TM containing approx. 450K TUs, and updated it from my Project with a file containing approx 2k segments. So all larger than the files you are using. My laptop is an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4610M CPU, 3Ghz, 16 Gb RAM, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 1TB, Win 8.1 64-bit all installed well over a year ago. So nothing earth shattering here in terms of performance, but a decent spec'd laptop. The update took 9 seconds. In reality I tested this before I recorded it and the first time I did it without the recording software running it took 4 seconds, but either way the performance was not poor: 
 
 Unknown said: TM cannot be used in both directions 
 The TMs in Studio were never designed to be multidirectional and contain data that is a one to many relationship in one direction. AnyTM, which is part of the product, does make it possible to get around this if you wish to work in both directions. In fact it allows you to work with any TM you like and this isn't possible in most other tools. In fact I don't know a tool that does support this capability. 
 Unknown said: you can't use Preview unless you have MS Word installed 
 I think the html preview available with the new (new in 2015 onwards) Word filetype does not require Microsoft Word to be installed... but I need to double check that. But for all other versions or types of preview you are correct. I guess you set off the quality of the preview which in Studio is a perfect rendition of what you would see in MS Word. For many users this is very important and not possible any other way. 
 Unknown said: even if you do, after modyfing a segment the Preview refreshes after a few seconds instead of immediately. 
 I can't say I never experience this, but I don't find it as slow as you report. 
 Unknown said: I know SDL are doing everything they can, but even the best mechanic can't do much if the car is simply an unsuccesful construction. 
 Don't take what I said about the Editor as referring to the whole product. The product teams are always looking at how to improve the product and have looked at completely replacing the editor. But this is not a trivial piece of work and the efforts so far have been based around trying to support multiple products which only adds to the complexity of the problem. Don't expect anything soon, but it is always on the radar of the teams as we move the technology platform forward. 
 Unknown said: Once again, don't treat it as some kind of a rant of an angry translator. I don't want to offend anyone. 
 I doubt any offence is taken. I do think you need help under the hood of your machine though if you are consistently seeing the sort of performance issues you have mentioned and are unable to resolve them on your own. At the very least the support team might be able to nail down the source of the problem so you have the ability to address it even if you don't. 
 Regards 
 Paul

Paul Filkin · Answer

tfennell 
 Well... there is already a plugin that can provide a topdown view so you can use this for reading through your work. But you can't edit in this mode. 
 https://appstore.sdl.com/language/app/vertical-review/768/ 
 We also have an online editor that allows users to switch the mode as they see fit. Who knows what the future may bring in this regard :-)

Trados Studio > 1. Trados Studio

Top-Down layout in Editor View using a plug-in?