Trados 7 versus SDLX 2005 advice Thread poster: Frits Ens
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Frits Ens
Netherlands
Local time: 11:35
Member (2006)
English to Dutch
+ ...
We are trying to evaluate the above mentioned CAT software. Can anybody give some feedack on:
- user friendlyness
- price-performance
- stability of the software
- speed with which support is offered or bugs are fixed
- other useful information?
I am an experienced Transit XV user, and currently trying to get more customers by selecting another CAT.
Thanks
Frits
| | | | | We will have sales on both this month | Sep 8, 2005 |
FYI, we will run group buying sales on both products this month.
| | | | | I prefer SDLX | Sep 8, 2005 |
The only Trados version I have experience with is Trados Freelance 5.5. I don't know how much Trados has improved since then, but in my opinion SDLX 2005 is a lot better in almost every respect. Better, cleaner interface, better stability, easier to use. SDLX has its problems too (never ever rely on SDL's "100% Trados Compatibility Guarantee") and sometimes crashes for unknown reasons. But Trados 5.5 is absolutely crawling with bugs, and basic actions such as copy/paste or search/replace can be ... See more The only Trados version I have experience with is Trados Freelance 5.5. I don't know how much Trados has improved since then, but in my opinion SDLX 2005 is a lot better in almost every respect. Better, cleaner interface, better stability, easier to use. SDLX has its problems too (never ever rely on SDL's "100% Trados Compatibility Guarantee") and sometimes crashes for unknown reasons. But Trados 5.5 is absolutely crawling with bugs, and basic actions such as copy/paste or search/replace can be a major pain.
The best reason for chosing Trados is the fact that it's industry standard and many agencies won't give you any work if you don't use Trados.
Hope this helps,
Johan ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jo Macdonald 
Spain
Local time: 11:35
Italian to English
+ ...
I've been using Sdlx for several years (updated on a regular basis and now running 2005) and just installed Trados7 and Multiterm.
I've been very happy with Sdlx, it crashes occasionaly but nothing disastrous, just a minute's work lost.
It doesn't like hefty doc files with a lot of images and I normally save an rtf file and remove the images to work on this file, then replace the images in the finished translation. It will only work on rtf files not docs. The excel filt... See more I've been using Sdlx for several years (updated on a regular basis and now running 2005) and just installed Trados7 and Multiterm.
I've been very happy with Sdlx, it crashes occasionaly but nothing disastrous, just a minute's work lost.
It doesn't like hefty doc files with a lot of images and I normally save an rtf file and remove the images to work on this file, then replace the images in the finished translation. It will only work on rtf files not docs. The excel filter didn’t work for me, made a right mess of the result.
You can apply a TM to get 100% and fuzzy matches then apply a termbase to change common words in the no matches. Speeds the job up no end.
You always have the original on the left as reference.
In 2005, and 2003 I think too there is now a "join white space" function for copy/paste so this saves you some time when moving words but unfortunatley it's not an intelligent copy/paste like in Word so you do have to take the time to remove extra spaces in front of or after words. Sounds silly, but this actually does make quite a bit of difference and it was one of the things I recommended Sdl add to earlier versions.
Sdlx is not as popular as Trados and some people want to work with just that.
I have limited experience with Trados but I'm already finding ways of doing things I could do with Sdlx too.
See the threads in the Trados support forum, especially this one:
http://www.proz.com/topic/38279
I am having some run-time issues with Trados 7 and Word 2000. I think these are mostly due to clashes between the Word toolbars and Trados toolbars in Word. In fact several times I've solved these probs by deleting the Normal template to create a new one. Still working on these issues, see this thread:
http://www.proz.com/topic/38215
Sdl support is on the ball as usual providing excellent assistance.
Trados seems to be a more work-friendly environment, as Word is a word processor while Sdlx isn't. You can also work on the doc as if it’s a write-over original with the embedded text hidden. However if you want to avoid a lot of repeats, see above thread on applying termbases without dirtying up the original.
I would say Sdlx is easier to start using than Trados even though the latter runs with word, it's just easier to understand and the manuals and tutorials are more straight-forward imo.
I had an issue with an agency using Trados when it was first released. Bad translations used to pre-translate jobs, translator's work used to pre-translate that of other's without either being informed or any authorisation. 100 matches that weren't and were not paid at all. You can end up either revising things free, or delivering a finished product that’s half tripe, not good. So you have to be careful not to treat the translator like a machine and that the quality of your work doesn't drop drastically.
- user friendlyness
Sdlx is easier to start with, Trados works on docs with images
- price-performance
When I bought Sdlx it was much cheaper
- stability of the software
Sdlx crashes occasionally but doesn't seem to have any issues otherwise, Trados 7 seems to have issues with Word 2000 at the mo, almost every time I open or close a Word file or use the spell checker.
- speed with which support is offered or bugs are fixed
Both within a day of first report, same Sdl top-techo now. Then followed sometimes on an hourly basis, excellent assistance.
- other useful information?
What do you want to know?
Hilarious, I just went to spell check that and I no longer get the spell-check window. Word says it’s checking it and thinks about it, it says the spell check is complete but it’s not because it doesn’t find simple spelling errors.
Wunderbra, my spell-checker is kaput.
Oh well, tomorrow’s another day.
All the best
Mac ▲ Collapse
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Frits Ens
Netherlands
Local time: 11:35
Member (2006)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Trados / Sdlx or..... Transit | Oct 26, 2005 |
Hello Mac,
Thanks for your detailed information. In the end we purchased Trados7. Not because I think it is a particularly good tool, but because many customers/agencies are using it.
I found it easy to start with, with a clear interface. However, in terms of functionality and handling capability it is no where near as powerfull as another tool I am using, TransitXV.
The latter can also handle a lot of different file-types, including e.g. Framemaker MIF files, xls, ppt, ... See more Hello Mac,
Thanks for your detailed information. In the end we purchased Trados7. Not because I think it is a particularly good tool, but because many customers/agencies are using it.
I found it easy to start with, with a clear interface. However, in terms of functionality and handling capability it is no where near as powerfull as another tool I am using, TransitXV.
The latter can also handle a lot of different file-types, including e.g. Framemaker MIF files, xls, ppt, html, rtf, txt, etc.
It also has no problem with handling very large documents with lots of graphics.
When I have time I would like to give some more detailed examples of what I am missing in Trados....
Kind regards
Frits ▲ Collapse
| | | | Richard Payne (X)
Local time: 10:35
Spanish to English
| Trados 7 Versus SDLX 2005 | Dec 5, 2005 |
TransAction wrote:
We are trying to evaluate the above mentioned CAT software. Can anybody give some feedack on:
- user friendlyness
- price-performance
- stability of the software
- speed with which support is offered or bugs are fixed
- other useful information?
I am an experienced Transit XV user, and currently trying to get more customers by selecting another CAT.
Thanks
Frits
Hi Fritz!
I would highly recommend Deja Vu X - DVX (See the Atril web site at http://www.atril.com/ for a report by expert Michael Bennis. He puts DVX at the top of his CAT purchase list in his article posted on the web site.
I have used Deja Vu for years (latterly Déjà Vu X - DVX) and I can highly recommend it. It is very user friendly, fully integrated and powerful. I also bought SDLX 3005 and I am happy to use that CAT program too, which has a similar interface to Deja Vu X.
However, I bought Trados, purely on the basis of industry demand and personally found it user unfriendly, though some people swear by it. But it sits on my shelf, a white elephant!
In any event I understand that DVX (Deja Vu X the latest version) is compatible with Trados, i.e. Trados files can be imported so that one can work in DVX and then output to a form of Trados that can be cleaned up by the agency.
No doubt now that SDL has purchased Trados the two CAT programs will have interchangeable formats. Hopefully they will also make it possible to import/export Deja Vu X files from/to Trados/SDLX as the Deja Vu X user base is expanding rapidly by all accounts.
Do take a look at Deja Vu X (DVX). An evaluation version can be downloaded from Atril. I think you will like its user-friendly interface, integrated suite of programs and power. Note: I have no axe to grind, I simply like Deja Vu!
Kind regards
Richard
[Edited at 2005-12-05 16:07]
| | | | Richard Payne (X)
Local time: 10:35
Spanish to English
| If you like SDLX You'll love Deja Vu X (DVX)! | Dec 13, 2005 |
Johan Jongman wrote:
The only Trados version I have experience with is Trados Freelance 5.5. I don't know how much Trados has improved since then, but in my opinion SDLX 2005 is a lot better in almost every respect. Better, cleaner interface, better stability, easier to use. SDLX has its problems too (never ever rely on SDL's "100% Trados Compatibility Guarantee") and sometimes crashes for unknown reasons. But Trados 5.5 is absolutely crawling with bugs, and basic actions such as copy/paste or search/replace can be a major pain.
The best reason for chosing Trados is the fact that it's industry standard and many agencies won't give you any work if you don't use Trados.
Hope this helps,
Johan
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