Writing the documentation for software like DMXControl 3 is almost as time-consuming as programming itself - especially when we take a look at the range of functions of DMXControl 3. In addition to the program functions that you have to deal with every day, there are also numerous things that you only come across in the second or third step. In addition, just like the program code, the documentation is also subject to continuous change. The following task is to include the new program functions of the software to the documentation in words and pictures. Changes to the numerous program functions must also find their way into the documentation. And last but not least, when re-reading a text passage, we realize that the original version was not well formulated, or we notice in the context of an exchange on a question in the forum that important information on a program function is missing at precisely this point. The latter usually results from the fact that one or the other is initially regarded as logical until a demand is made. To eliminate such points as far as possible, there is also a bug tracker for the manual, just as there is for DMXControl 3 as software.
After we were at least able to provide a tutorial for the release of DMXControl 3.0.0 in 2012 and describe the basic mode of operation in it, a proper manual effectively only existed on paper. As a result, even quite simple questions were often asked several times in the forum with a time lag. Ultimately, this mainly affected the programming of DDFs. We were able to remedy this significantly in 2017 and 2018. However, documentation for DMXControl 3 itself was still a long time coming.
It wasn't until 2019 that things really got going. But even if the German documentation steadily increased in scope from this point onwards, we have primarily dedicated ourselves to the documentation in German. We had already considered translating some of the supposedly completed articles into English quite early on, because DMXControl 3 was also attracting increasing attention in English-speaking countries and is being used more and more. However, we postponed this for a long time. This was not only due to the considerable number of Wiki articles that our documentation had grown to in the meantime. It was also technically challenging because almost all articles contained tables and other wiki-specific elements in addition to continuous text. It would not have been possible to have the articles translated completely by machine with a manual check.
The tide turned with AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Copilot, which have been available to the public for a good three years now. These are not only able to translate continuous text in increasingly better quality. They can also handle wiki-specific elements at the same time. This enabled us to transfer the entire wiki article and have it translated automatically, depending on the scope. However, not only our heads were spinning, but also ChatGPT. The tables in the article Switching from DMXControl 2 to DMXControl 3 in particular forced the AI down. This meant that work on translating the table was stopped cell by cell and it was therefore not fully translated. Fortunately, this was the exception, so that most of the articles could be transferred to the English wiki after translation with little rework.
In 2024, we had already made our first attempts here with an AI-generated translation of our wiki articles for the documentation of the DDFs. Although the results were satisfactory and the workflow was manageable, it would take us until the end of February 2025 to tackle the big chunk. In addition to the actual translation, numerous accompanying activities were also required following the update of our wiki last November. For example, we had to adapt the design of the English wiki to the German one. Some templates required various adjustments or had to be created from scratch in the English wiki. As we were largely aware of this, the marketing team arranged to meet on a Saturday and Sunday to implement all these points in a focused manner and with a great deal of hard work.
We are therefore pleased to report that the documentation for DMXControl 3 is now available natively in our English-language wiki. This should please our English-speaking users, as they are no longer dependent on additional translation tools, which may introduce an additional level of confusion here - because not every term is always translated in the same way.
Finally, we would like to point out that in future the German wiki will always be a little more up to date than the English version. We will then transfer updates to the English wiki in larger packages at irregular intervals - especially in the event that the content of an article changes several times.
We therefore wish our English-speaking users in particular lots of fun while browsing.
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