CATALYST includes several visual editors which work in a WYSIWYG manner. Each visual editor can validate translations automatically. In addition, glossary support and spell-checking are included in all editor environments.

QA of large localization projects is supported by a suite of tools ranging from layout, clipped text and duplicate hotkeys validation to the detection of missing parameters or controls and spell-checking. The Runtime Validation Expert detects errors introduced by dynamic dialogs and text substitutions as the translated software is running.

Software engineers can develop custom editors and validators using the CATALYST Software Development Kit (SDK). Any text file can be parsed and included into the translation environment by using CATALYST's Text Parser Expert. Support for JavaScript, CGI, Pearl, ASP and .NET is provided through Alchemy's source file editor. Furthermore, CATALYST's Visual Comparison Expert enables engineers to determine the differences between product revisions and their impact on QA and translation schedules.

Finally, CATALYST incorporates a number of essential project management tools ranging from basic word count reports to more complex update word counts. A memo function enables the user to send messages to translators and track revisions and translation histories.

What's new? Alchemy CATALYST 5 (version 5.01 build 3047) provides several new functions and enhancements.

ezParse. Development of custom parsers without coding: Combining the power and flexibility of regular expressions with CATALYST's visual development environment, ezParse enables the user to develop text parsers for almost any file type. ezParse supports popular encoding systems such as UTF-8, UTF-16 and Shift-JIS.

Visual XLIFF enables the direct localization of XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format) documents either as raw XML files or visually in WYSIWYG mode within the familiar CATALYST project manager.

CATALYST's new Project Manager in visual WYSIWYG mode.
Enhanced Translator Toolbar features integrated glossary

New licensing technology. GoMobile introduces the ability to borrow licenses temporarily from any machine on the local network or even by logging into the LAN through the Internet. The user must request a new license file from info@alchemysoftware.ie in order to enable this feature.

Enhanced Microsoft .NET Visual component. In addition to the support of .NET source files (RESX), the user can now translate, test and engineer .NET binary application files. Also, one can now build language assemblies directly from Project TTK files and insert satellite assemblies and resource only DLL files.

Redesigned powerful Translator Toolbar. CATALYST's new Translator Toolbar centralizes all activities and functions for translation in one highly intuitive interface that includes an advanced glossary manager, visual tag editor and integrated spelling and validation tools. Each of the windows in the Translator Toolbar has an Accelerator Key for quick access, and Accelerator Keys have been added for automatic selection of items 1 to 9 in the glossary list.

Redesigned project translation environment. The enhancements include a new Quick Launch Taskbar for CATALYST's Experts, new toolbars for visual editors in WYSIWYG mode and a completely new Project Navigator that combines Replica and advanced filter functionality in a simple-to-use interface. The Project Manager also features a new User Profile Manager to help the user with the configuration of many of the tool's advanced features and to provide easy find and reset options. User profiles can be managed and shared among team members.

The Enhanced Secure XML Environment now provides exception lists for text segmentation and introduces Nav-Points (Navigation-Points) which allow the user to take greater control on the display of XML documents and help him or her to split large XML files into smaller segments using Nav-Points as reference points.

Use & evaluation. CATALYST 5 corrects and improves several shortcomings I observed when evaluating version 4.

First, CATALYST's main interface, the Project Manager, finally uses the workspace area intelligently and economically, providing even old-fashioned users of a 17-inch monitor with sufficient space to do their jobs. The new windows arrangement is supported by adding three easy hide-and-show buttons for the most important supporting screens and by way of an easy dock/undock feature of almost all windows of the graphical user interface, especially the Translation Bar.

Second, the Translation Bar now concentrates all important information to support the translation process. It displays a list of fuzzy matches for the selected source string but still lags behind real TM solutions by not providing the percentage values of concordance. In addition, the Translation Bar now also offers visual display of in-line tags in XML/XHTML-based files.

Third, CATALYST 5 does not provide any improvements in the processing and translation of Help/RTF files nor the documentation of those features. As this also reflects the significance the handling of those file types has for the Alchemy Software developers, this feature should be ceased and left to specialized tools or TMs.

Fourth, CATALYST 4 was the only software translation tool supporting XML. Now almost all of its competitors offer some XML support, but CATALYST 5 still offers the most visual and by now seasoned approach, which now also features a "TRADOS-like" display of in-line tags.

Fifth, unfortunately, CATALYST is still quite expensive, aimed mostly at software localization engineers. Translators will even have a bigger problem than in version 4 to fork out at least €3,999 for a CATALYST edition providing support of leveraging previous translations whereas the only reasonably priced edition (Translator Edition at €699) does not offer this feature. It is a good suggestion to buy all needed components when you first purchase CATALYST and take advantage of the current special or you might end up spending an additional €400 or €1,000, respectively.

Last, the developers of CATALYST 5 took seriously my observation about the insufficient program Help, remodeled the entire documentation material and also provided some nice tutorials to jump-start learning to work with this powerful tool.

Among CATALYST's new features, I was most amazed by the advanced visual database tools featuring the Database Rules Editor for a fast and guided selection of translatable data content by entering simple SQL statements. Although the use of the rule editor is pretty straightforward, a basic SQL reference would be helpful either located in the help or as a convenient table with drag-and-drop support. Furthermore, it might be time saving and helpful to assist the user with suggestions to locate translatable fields.

Database Rules Editor: Select data content by entering SQL
statements; drag-and-drop specified data into project

This also applies to my second favorite: the new ezParse tool to build custom parsing rules for text-based file types. Again, a more detailed documentation or better a support table enabling drag-and-drop of expressions and coding would be more convenient.

A third great novelty is the convenient new licensing technique GoMobile, which is by far more convenient than a dongle or a simple SoftLock mechanism.

Exciting enhancements are the direct support of .NET binaries extending the earlier support of just .NET resources, the central administration of all user settings and the direct implementation of TIDY functions for an internal preprocessing of malformed XHTML.

I am, in contrast, not satisfied with CATALYST's current visual support of XLIFF. As the implementation does not support source and target in-line tags, many files can not be parsed and can only be processed as raw XML files losing all WYSIWYG options.

Up to now, a user could only connect CATALYST to TM solutions by means of exporting either a tab-delimited text file or a basic TMX (Translation Memory eXchange) file. Version 5 elaborates the later option to conform with TMX 1.4 and support the extended Level 2 options with support for container, content and segmentation that allow a user to recreate the translated version within any other tools supporting TMX Level 2. Like most other tools, however, CATALYST is currently not officially TMX certified. In addition to the two-way exchange through TMX, the user can use any TRADOS TM by leveraging with a TRADOS workbench.

In conclusion, Alchemy CATALYST 5 provides many great new features and valuable enhancements which make one of the best software localization tools even better. However, CATALYST is more than ever the Rolls-Royce within these tools and therefore often not really an option for freelance translators or small agencies unless they can take advantage of the free Translator/Lite edition. This, however, only allows them to process projects which were created and preprocessed by a client who owns the Developer/Pro Edition.