This post marks the beginning of a series of blog posts outlining Pontoon development in 2014. I’ll mostly focus on new features targeting translators. If you’re more interested in developer oriented updates, please have a look at the release notes.
Part 1. User interface ← you are here
Part 2. Backend
Part 3. Meet our top contributors
Part 4. Make your translations better
Part 5. Get involved
The old UI for out-of-context translation didn’t scale. It worked for basic presentation of original strings and translation area, but once we started adding more and more tools like translation memory, quality checks or plural forms, we simply ran out of space. So we started from scratch and came up with something completely different.
Flat Design
We went flat. Not because everyone else did, but because it’s neutral. And we needed neutral to contrast various website designs when they are being translated within Pontoon. For the very same reason Pontoon uses dark color scheme since day one.
Sidebar is the new bottom panel
Out-of-context mode has moved to the sidebar to take advantage of widescreen monitors. It features two exchanging panels, one to display strings and the other to translate. This layout gives us much more real estate for adding new capabilities.
Flexibility
Sidebar is draggable. When it becomes wide enough, both panels are displayed at the same time, side by side. This also happens if in-context translation mode (website) is not available, in which case fullwidth sidebar is always open.
Keyboard shortcuts
Basic support for navigating menus with arrow keys, confirming with Enter or closing with Esc was always available. From now on, saving translations, inserting suggestions, moving among strings and such are also accessible through keyboard.
Get involved
Are you a developer, interested in Pontoon? Learn how to get your hands dirty.