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Traducción

I came across an article today talking about Facebook adding a feature with translations. Similar to Google Chrome feature, which allows the user to translate the page to your language. Before I found this I was working on a new design for the app so I happen to think about that and how I can apply some feature like that.

I've been thinking about translation because I know this will be something that a lot of teacher will need to communicate with parents. When I first starting thinking about this feature I thought that the parent will have a default language set and in what ever language the teacher sends it, the parent will receive it in the language the parent set it as. So all the translation will be done in the background leaving the teacher with nothing to do, just click send and it will automatically be done. Now translating something will not always come out meaning the same thing when it's translated. Perfecting this is something that will take time and will need user input and learn over time what the teacher/parent is meaning when they send their message.

What Google Chrome and now Facebook will just allow for the user to translate the page, but this will unfortunately will not work on a phone when the user wants to translate the language to their language. This is a great feature for online use and something that we can use. Now this can go somewhere though. It will lead to do better things that will allow people to communicate with others from different parts of the world.

I think for this kind of application the best thing and most efficient way to communicate in different languages is...

• Have parents set a default language in which they want to notified
• Translation will be done in the background 
• When a parent replies the teacher will receive the message in English
• Again all translation will be done in the background

Now I bet you have some questions or concerns about how this can actually work. Well I haven't tried it out yet, but with the technology that we have I think it's possible to make. Now some questions might be...

• Will the user be able to see what they send?
• What if the user sends a smiley face?
• Can the user send it in the same language as the end user?
• What if there is a spelling/grammer mistake?
• How fast will the translation be?
• What languages will be offered?

These are just some of the questions that might be thought of plus much more. This is just the beginning phase, which will mainly be focused on testing. 

Any questions or concerns that you have please feel free to let me know and comment or email  me. 

Enjoy Fall and Happy Halloween! 

New Homepage!

From some inspiration from features and looks from other sites that I like I combined it and made it into something that I think will look sleek and simple to use. Here is an example of what I started with. Of course there are more, but this is just one example that I am showing.

I'll like to get some feed back on this and what you think and what does/doesn't look right. Anything that I can change will be really helpful so your input will be helpful. Hope you like it and more will be coming soon. Have a nice weekend and great start to the next season.

Some things to notice while looking at the homepage:
Left column:

• Class list: Classes that the user inputs to keep track of all the classes they the user has to teach. Also color coded if the user chooses to do so, makes it easy to distinguish one from another.
• Tags: Tags are also known as labels. When the user sends a new message they will have the option to choose which tag to send. Example: Homework, Test, Detention. This is to keep track of all the messages being sent and for analytical purposes. Also very easy to find all the homework messages or detention messages.

Middle column:

• Subject line, Parents name (mobile or email), Date and Time. This is all self explanatory. 

Right column:

• Settings: There are two options in this section. Languages is super important to me. The user that sends the message needs to be able to communicate with the end user in a easy way. Each user will have there default language so when a message is sent to them they will see in the language that they have assigned it to receive it. The user can also change it if they prefer too. Schedule is another important feature to have. The user can have a specific time to send it so the end users are not interrupted in their work or other personal reasons. 

Hope this all makes sense. Thank you for your time!

AlertU/Remind101

I started school already and I am still getting use to it, like the schedule, homework, people, campus etc. Although I haven't been doing as much as I have been doing over summer on the project I've still been thinking about during the day and while I'm sleeping. The reason that I wanted to post something up today is because while I was heading to my first class on Monday I saw a flyer on the wall and it was a notification system for students to send in a text message and receive alerts from the school in case of an emergency. This is great because almost every college student has a phone, which they use in or outside the classroom. After class I went on my computer and went to the website AlertU. I explored through their website to see what they were doing and I was impressed of the product. So this got me thinking about what I want to create and then I also remembered that Remind101 just launched so having these two products is really useful to compare. In a way from the video demo of Remind101, their product is similar to AlertU. Same process in users texting a code to subscribe and other features that are similar, but there is one key feature no one has mastered yet. I'm still planning on doing this and make it available for schools/parents.

There's more to add but I have a class to attend.

By the way the new Blogger interface is nice. I love the simplicity and colors. 

Pause

Summer is almost at it's end for me and that means that I'll soon start college. I've enjoyed this summer for many reasons, like going to Google once or twice a week, meeting amazing people and maybe most importantly eating delicious food. I'll miss walking down Shoreline Blvd in the mornings to meet with Suz. The crazy things that happen at Google like flash mobs etc. (If you've visited Google you know what I mean)

When I was not at Google I was home, in my room on the computer. Well not all the time I would go out and do thing a normal teen age boy would do. Like, record video and take photos when Leticia and Maureen would invite me to their Design Thinking workshops, which are always fun to be at. Road trips with the family and exploring places that we have never visited before.

I enjoyed my summer project, but this is not the end of it. Once I'm settled I'll continue with this application. This is something that I feel educators should have and be available as soon as possible. The title of the Blog is called Summer App Project, but that will soon change.

I want to Thank You!, if you have been following me through this journey and don't forget about this because I will soon be back. Enjoy the rest of your summer and talk to you soon!

Recipe

Google Voice, Google Translate, Gmail and Google+ Circles. Putting all these into one pot will make this mockup/application that I am creating. The layout is simple just like Google Voice it has a thread of all the messages from the same person, which keeps it all located in one place to look when reading from one parent to teacher. On the left column there's a circles sections that shows all the groups/circles that the teacher has and if it clicked on it will display all the parents/students that are in the circles. Each circle is for each class the teacher has. This will allow the teacher to send one notification to the entire circle which will send a text message to all the parents within that circle. While sending it will be translated in to the default language that the parent set as.

Version 0.0.1 NOW AVAILABLE !

Version 0.0.1 is out now. I've been waiting and wanting this to be out. I finally decide to make a demo of what I've been working on. Of course this does not have all the elements that I want, but it's just to give you an idea.

Some features that you will see when Composing a new SMS are being able to set a specific time and date that the teacher will want to notify the parents. The reason I choose this to include this feature is so that the parents aren't being notified when there working.

Another feature that you might see is when the name of the parent to whom it will be sent to in inputted the default language will appear on the bottom of the "To:" box. Of course it has  a drop down option if the teacher wants to notify a specific group(class).

For the Contacts some features that will be there are basic information such as the parents name along with the students name (in grey). Also labeling it the first person as the Primary parent to contact or having the option as a secondary for having both parents being notified at the same time if both parents choose too.

Again this is just a special release, but more will be coming soon. Let me know what you think. What I can change, what you suggest any feedback will be awesome. Thanks!

If you want to original PDF shoot me an email and I will be happy to send you a copy so you can try it out.

Keep enjoying your summer!