TELERIK HELPS SOFTWARE AND USERS SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE

RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX deliver outstanding user experience for translation software update and cut development time by four months 

 

Translating from one language into another is difficult enough. Supporting end-to-end project management services for translation and media companies worldwide presents an even thornier challenge. That’s the problem that software developer G.P.S. Magic addresses with its Translation Manager software platform, delivered in partnership with translation company Trans Titles, resoled in OOONA.NET which specializes in Translation/Closed Captions/Dubbing management systems. 

Translation Manager is a comprehensive project management platform for subtitling, translating, and dubbing production projects. The application seamlessly connects media companies with worldwide translators, tracks the end-to-end processes involved in any translation project, and manages all files produced at any stage in the workflow. 

Translation Manager was originally developed for the Magic software platform. The product was well-regarded, but OOONA wanted to bring the application to the next level by migrating it to a web application based on ASP.NET. As part of the migration, OOONA wanted to add a number of new features to simplify the user experience, such as eliminating the need to transfer media files directly to translators via FTP. Incorporating the new functionality, as well as migrating the application to a new platform, was a major development project, and OOONA anticipated it would take more than a year. To help streamline the process, the company turned to Telerik.

“My choice of Telerik started with Telerik RadGrid for ASP.NET AJAX,” says Gal Pasternak Shamlikashvili, chief technology officer of OOONA. “I demoed the free version of the tool, and I was blown away. It completely addressed my requirements for list capabilities, and did everything we needed it to do. I also found that the Telerik RadUpload for ASP.NET control solved 95 percent of our upload requirements. While I was looking for a solution for the remaining 5 percent (uploading large files over 1.5 Gigabytes) Telerik came out with its RadAsyncUpload control and solved that problem too!”

 

A Control for Every Need

Based on this early experience, Pasternak became convinced that Telerik’s ASP.NET AJAX RadControls could help OOONA deliver the broad user capabilities the application required, at a fraction of the time and cost necessary to build out that functionality themselves. Ultimately, OOONA incorporated Telerik RadControls throughout the application. “There is no single screen in the updated application that does not use Telerik controls,” says Pasternak. 

OOONA uses the RadGrid tool to present essential data throughout the application. Using the Telerik control, the company’s developers can easily connect the user interface to the underlying database, and focus on the specific function the user needs in that part of the application. With all basic grid functions (sort, group, reorder, search, etc.) already embedded into the control, OOONA developers could create fully functional grids in just minutes. 

The company also benefited from the ability to use the Telerik RadWindow control as a controls container. 

“We reuse a lot of pages in the application to enable users to access the data from as many places as possible,” says Pasternak. “The versatility of being able to use the RadWindow as a container for controls on a page, as well as a separate page that can be opened, allows us to make the most of our screen real estate, thus increasing the amount of information we can bring to our users. The RadWindow alert and confirm modules complete the experience. They eliminate the need to rely on Windows alerts, allowing us to maintain consistency and provide more elegant notifications, with no additional effort.” 

In addition to these controls, OOONA incorporated a variety of other Telerik components into the application, including:

·         RadMenu

·         RadComboBox

·         RadCalendar 

·         RadScheduler

·         RadDock

·         RadEditor

·         RadFormDecorator 

·         RadListBox

·         And many more

 

These pre-built components integrate seamlessly with the Translation Manager application and, together, deliver an exceptional user experience.

“The main advantage of Telerik controls is the high-quality user interface,” says Pasternak. “Our users are high-maintenance customers and require a lot of personal care. By using Telerik, we can provide the capabilities they need out of the box, without a lot of development work. The controls are so customizable, and they contain virtually all the functionality we can imagine our users will need.”

 

Moving Development into the Fast Lane

The Telerik tools also made a big difference internally in managing the huge migration project.

“Telerik brings a holistic approach to project development,” says Pasternak. “The controls are consistent, so no matter what our developers are trying to do, they can speak a single language, Telerik, and almost no additional explanation is necessary. It really reduced our workload.”

OOONA also found the Telerik buttons and built-in skins to be extremely helpful. “We didn’t have to devote resources to styling our product,” says Pasternak. “The skins and RadFormDecorator gives users 18 skins, providing lots of flexibility to customize the experience while maintaining consistency of design throughout the application. Ultimately, that meant we could spend our time focusing on functionality, not appearance.”

The company also benefited from Telerik’s fast, comprehensive support. 

“I cannot talk about Telerik without mentioning the superb support team,” says Pasternak. “For every problem we had, and I mean literally every problem, Telerik provided a solution, including code samples and referral to online demos. It was simply amazing. While support was not our chief consideration when we purchased the Telerik products, in hindsight, I would rate it among the most important benefits we received.”

 

Delivering More – For Less

Today, Translation Manager is being used by translation and production companies worldwide, representing hundreds of users. The customer response to the updated application has been overwhelmingly positive. Indeed, multiple users have written OOONA to describe how the application has transformed their business, and the excellent user experience it provides. 

For OOONA, the Telerik RadControls for ASP,NET AJAX allowed the company to deliver a better product, in much less time than expected. For a company serving a demanding user base with a relatively small group of developers, this represented a significant victory. 

“As a small technology company, we need to get our product out on the market as quickly as possible,” says Pasternak. “The out-of-the-box features from Telerik were an excellent strategy for us, and allowed us to maximize the value of our investment in time and resources. Using the Telerik controls, we were able to complete the product four months ahead of schedule and under budget. And, we got a lot more than we bargained for, as the Telerik controls gave us features and capabilities that went well beyond what we had initially planned. My advice to any developers contemplating a project: use as many Telerik controls as you can.”

 

Learn More

To find out more about Translation Manager, visit: http://ooona.net/products/translation-manager/overview , 

and the G.P.S. Magic blog at: http://gpsmagic.blogspot.com/.

For more information about Trans Titles, visit: http://www.transtitles.co.il/english/.

For more information about Telerik’s RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX, please visit: http://www.telerik.com/products/aspnet-ajax.aspx