Improve the UI

Question

I tried the widget and its quite fast and one doesn't move away from the page. I am looking forward to put it on my blog, at present I'm using the Translator with Live translator, older one.

Also improve the UI for this one, put  better  looking buttons for 'translate this page' 'Get' and 'Share'.
Also in future please also consider various Indian languages translation.

Sometimes the translated web page doesn't get saved properly in .mht format.

I think this can't be put on Spaces as it does not support javascript ?

Answer 1

Currently the Microsoft Translator widget does not work directly within Spaces. It seems that Spaces doesn’t allow the use of embedded JavaScript. The MT team is interested in making this functionality available to users of hosted services like Spaces. If you are on a hosted service that you would like to see the widget available, please let the service know, and email the translator team ([e-mail]) to tell them about your interest.

Also, Microsoft is working on releasing other languages. It requires a lot of data and the Translator team won’t release until the quality reaches an acceptable threshold.

I will pass along the other feedback on UI.

Steve

 

 

 

Answer 2

Thanks Steve. Also one more thing about UI- the widget should have an option to adjust its size. I have seen this widgets on  sites which are longer than its column where its put, so this should also be taken care of.
Still waiting to get the invite.

Answer 3

agree!
why not a javascript dropdown menu instead of listbox?

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"Knowledge must precede discourse and action"

Answer 4

Regarding size, it can be adjusted. As now I got the invite and tried , I could see the option to adjust the size.

Answer 5

You can adjust the size wider but not smaller. And that's where the problem is, most will want this widget in a sidebar on their site, and that mostly isn't 200px wide! Most common there is 160 or 180.

I would like to see the widget be able to be resized to these too, I've done it manually (div width set to 180, min-height to 105) but it gives strange results:
On IE7 the arrow button next to the language gets cut and below the dropdown
On IE8/FF the buttons just move outside the div. If min height adjusted to 105 instead of 0, the Get and Share buttons move back in but that does not solve the arrow button moving outside it.
Want to have a look yourself? It's on http://sunshineweb.org (I will leave it there, even tho it's not perfect)

I don't think it'll be too hard to make the widget smaller, ideas:
- The dropdown still has a lot of excess white after the languages, take that away.
- The text below the dropdown "Microsoft Translator" can be put in a smaller font so the two buttons after it can move closer to the text (line out the "share" button with the arrow button above it.

Even without touching the font it can go a lot smaller already, look at this very rough example I made: http://sunshineweb.org/graphics/TranslatorWidget.PNG
Now that is almost 180 already!

The biggest issue is the width, the hight is of lesser importance. If more options in it in future you might even like the buttons below Microsoft Tanslator text, as it looks on my site in IE8 now.

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Sunshine

Answer 6

You can adjust the size wider but not smaller. And that's where the problem is, most will want this widget in a sidebar on their site, and that mostly isn't 200px wide! Most common there is 160 or 180.

You hit the nail on the head! I totally agree with you.
I would prefer a min width of 150px to have a possible margin to the containing element.

Servus,
Klaus

Answer 7

Agreed with making the Interface able to be smaller to fit into more frameworks and sidebars.

Maybe have a config that allows us to request either landscape (current) and portrait mode (future) for more greater exposure and adoption would be great for the community.

When I was senior UX Architect for MSN I kept trying to instill that user-customization is the best UX (user-experience) there can be.  Thanks for allowing me to help.

No need for Program managers dictating UI's according to whim.  We all hear the complaints on wtf is up with the new UI's all the times in each product launch

So please allow the user community to fully configure their skin, interface, webpage, webslice... whatever.

That makes a happy customer.  And a happy customer will keep using more products - customer loyalty kept MSFT alive and still thriving.  ;)

Thanks for a great first effort.  THe product is fantastic!  Kudos to the entire language team for putting this one together!

Answer 8

Hi folks - we hear you and we are working on taking this feedback and making the widget ux even better. Those of you who are unable to use the current widget due to size constraints, could you email me at [e-mail] with the subject like "Req: Smaller Widget"? I would like to work with you guys to pilot some things we have been cooking up.
Thanks!
Vikram Dendi

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Vikram Dendi, Biz, Product Strategy & UX
Microsoft Translator

Answer 9

As well as the landscape/portrait solution mentioned by mboolean, another option that would be useful is - everything on one line. On my site I have an area above the header images which was always intended for user-language choice.


Dave Stowell

Answer 10

Re. the "Share translated texts with your friends" function...yes, this is a known issue and we're working on it.  We'll fix it as soon as possible.  Thanks.