Fadeyev.net

It’s been a while since the last post. I’ve certainly not abandoned the Interlate project — instead I’ve actually been working very hard on it and have introduced a few major changes.

One of the things I’ve noticed was that I was trying to implement far too many features; there was the comments, the forum, the rating system, the ranking system, internal messaging system etc… It was far too much. I’ve decided to scrap most of it and start again — start again with a greatly reduced feature set and a much more focused business model.

Interlate shouldn’t do everything, because trying to aim too high will most likely result in a failed application. Interlate should do something focused, and it should do it well. It should do it very well if it’s to succeed as a business. I’ve scrapped the idea of Interlate as a one stop translation portral, and instead I’m creating a simple translation job board. A job board where clients can advertise jobs, and translators can post quotes on them.

It’s very simple, but at the end of the day this is all that’s needed. People are there to post jobs and to find jobs — the application shouldn’t get in the way. I’m thus making a very streamlined job board for translators. There will be a directory of translators as well, so clients can search for translators directory if they want to — this should be fairly easy to add.

With a reduced feature set, the code has gotten much much simpler, and the user interface has become beautiful. Here’s what the current version of the front page looks like (with a couple of dummy jobs filled in): 

As a first post in the new blog, I’d like to introduce a project that I’ve been working on recently. It’s a web application written in Ruby and powered by the Ruby on Rails framework. The app is called Interlate.

So, what does it do? Interlate is simply an easier way to find translators online — and for translators to find work. Indeed, the name is a mixture of two words: internet and translate.

Interlate will be a place where people who need anything translated professionally can post their job, and translators (freelance or agencies) can browse and apply for those jobs. It’s a marketplace for translation jobs.

The core benefits that Interlate will provide is ease of use and ease of communication — I’m trying to make a system that will just get out of your way when you use it and a system where users can communicate with ease. I’m focusing on creating clean, simple and context sensitive user interface and also providing various communication channels.

For example, you can leave comments on the job itself so that the author can answer questions or concerns, there will be an internal private messaging system so you don’t have to reveal your email to everyone and there will also be forums for general community discussion and feedback.

Interlate is currently in early development stages, but getting to a point where I think I can begin to show off the different features — but I’ll leave that to the next set of posts which I’ll be sure to write soon.