Re 4.: Error/warning for exceeding number of chars on line does not even tell you which line! Ideally though, this would be in the column under the video too

Pavel Slama

Pavel Slama said:

Re 4.: Error/warning for exceeding number of chars on line does not even tell you which line!

It does for me:

This would be segments 1, 7, 13, 16 etc.

You also have a visible warning on each segment, and by clicking on the error in the messages window you are taen to the relevant row.  Furthermore you have a report if you want it and this also gives you segment numbers and live links back to the segment in the file if you click them:

Yes, Paul, I know, but not lines within those segments. If they look similar, say one is 40 chars and the other 43 (and your limit is 42), then the only way is to count with your index finger, no?

(The terminology: segments=subs, lines within those)

Or just to make it clearer for you (you don’t subtitle much, I take it): It is reasonably important for us where to break a subtitle in two. Look at Section 5 here, for example, to see how many rules are around this: https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/215758617-Timed-Text-Style-Guide-General-Requirements (I hope the page is public)

...which brings me to another issue to add to the original list:

10. Warning “Could fit on one line” – if the char limit is 42, and you have two lines of 9 and 12, you should get this warning.

Pavel Slama

ok - got it.  All related to the same problem I think and that is we don't handle counting by lines within a segment.  Noted but I'm not sure if we can handle all of these things in the plugin.  Some might need bigger changes in Studio to be able to support.

Pavel Slama said:

you don’t subtitle much, I take it):

Not at all!!!

Yes, I have seen this set of rules before.  We looked at these and the BBC guides but couldn't decide ourselves (as we don't subtitle) which of them should be turned into QA checks.  So we are hoping for more feedback such as the stuff you have provided here.

Might have been better to create a separate thread for each issue as it'll be hard to follow if people comment on them all in one thread like this.

Right. Forgive me, I, in turn, know nothing about programming/development methodologies, and not much about tickets, github, collaboration, project management...

Just to clarify on Visual Focus: There would be many ways how to highlight the active segment in the preview below the video, to make it stand out. Consider:
a) even just making it bold,
b) even just making the font two points bigger,
c) or something a bit radical, such as doing a very special layout or current row, with font twice as big for Chars, CPS, and Text. The functionality is good as it is (only if you can manage the character count for each line), just really a graphic design / layout issue.

I will keep an eye on this forum, see if I can catch up with a more logical way of organizing comments/feedback.

I am quite keen on this app, and have experience with quite a number of subtitling platforms, so if you want me to comment of explain or show something, feel free to get in touch. (My focus is mostly limited to translation itself, and I can spot, but I do not do the agency/client side.)

Pavel Slama

Can you give me a proper example of when you would need to set different line lengths for each subtitle?

Hi Paul, I have never comes across a case where such a need would arise.

What is needed, though, is to see current number number of chars on each line as you type. So the scenario is, you have fast-paced speech, and you are trying to fit as much as you can into the subtitle (truncate as little as possible). You are typing, and in the corner of your eye you are looking at the number of used characters on line 1, then you tentatively break line, repeat the same on line two. Then you end up over the limit on line 2, go back to line 1, edit out one word, unbreak the two lines, break them differently, and check if they both fit into the character limit.

So the character limit is always the same across all the lines and all the subs within a film or clip. So all my references to the need to see number of characters for each line are meant to refer to the actual number of characters typed.

Apologies for any unclear writing on my side, will be happy to clarify.

Hi Paul, I have never comes across a case where such a need would arise.

What is needed, though, is to see current number number of chars on each line as you type. So the scenario is, you have fast-paced speech, and you are trying to fit as much as you can into the subtitle (truncate as little as possible). You are typing, and in the corner of your eye you are looking at the number of used characters on line 1, then you tentatively break line, repeat the same on line two. Then you end up over the limit on line 2, go back to line 1, edit out one word, unbreak the two lines, break them differently, and check if they both fit into the character limit.

So the character limit is always the same across all the lines and all the subs within a film or clip. So all my references to the need to see number of characters for each line are meant to refer to the actual number of characters typed.

Apologies for any unclear writing on my side, will be happy to clarify.

Thanks Pavel Slama

That's great then.  We understand this requirement completely and will work on it.

Thank you