Autoskipping of segments

When autoskipping is enabled, OmegaT will automatically
skip segments which conform to inclusion and exclusion
rules in the autoskipping setup. The segments will
still be displayed, but when the translator uses ENTER
or TAB to move down or up to those segments, OmegaT
opens the segment for just a split-second (long enough
to check it against autoskipping rules), before
automatically moving on to the segment after it.

Suggested integration into the program code:

When OmegaT opens a new segment (when ENTER or TAB is
pressed), it passes the text content to the autoskipper
module, which examines the text. If any of the rules
apply, the autoskipper tells OmegaT to go straight to
the segment after it.

The autoskipper should only be invoked with the user
presses ENTER or Shift+ENTER or TAB or Shift+TAB.
Autoskipped segments should not be added to the TM
(even if "copy source" and "allow to be equal" is
enabled in the Workflow setup). When the user uses
Ctrl+N or Ctrl+P, or double-clicks the segment,
autoskipping is not invoked and the user is able to
edit the segment and let it be added to the TM as
usual.

One way to ensure that autoskipped segments are not
added to the TM, is to have OmegaT simply delete
whatever contents is in the target text field before
moving on to the next segment. This way, even if the
user has "copy source" and/or "allow to be equal"
enabled, OmegaT won't add anything to the TM because
the target text field is empty when it validates the
segment and moving on to the next segment.

Autoskipper rules:

Preferably, the inclusion rules should be four-tiered
and should cascade.

* Inclusion rules

ON: When a segment contains certain single characters
or certain sequences of characters, OmegaT applies
autoskipping to that segment.

OFF: When a segment contains certain single characters
or certain sequences of characters, OmegaT does not
apply autoskipping to that segment.

* Exclusion rules

ON: When a segment does not contain certain single
characters or certain sequences of characters, OmegaT
applies autoskipping to that segment.

OFF: When a segment does not contain certain single
characters or certain sequences of characters, OmegaT
does not apply autoskipping to that segment.

If a four-tier system is too complicated to implement
at the moment, a two-tier system (using only IncON and
ExcON) or even a one-tier system (using only ExcON)
might still be useful.

Advantages:

The advantage of the autoskipper is that the user can't
accidently edit a segment which is meant to be
excluded, and he can still see all the stuff which is
written inbetween the text which he is meant to edit.
He can even translate an HTML file, then, while seeing
all of the HTML code. The autoskipper might also make
it easier for people to translate any inhouse version
of XML without the need for any other filter except
OmegaT's generic plaintext filter.

My request for the autoskipper could basically replace
my request for a tagger. The advantage of the
autoskipper over the tagger is that the use needn't
edit the source text before starting the translation,
and nothing it added-and-removed to/from the source
text itself which might be left over and sent to the
client by mistake.

With autoskipper enabled, I think it would
theoretically be possible to tell OmegaT then to
autoskip all segments that contain bold text or italics
too (based on the OmegaT tag for it), but I don't
really see how that might be useful for translators.

With autoskipper, a translator translating HTML, using
OmegaT's HTML filter, can tell OmegaT to autoskip all
links and images text, for example, if the translator
is confident that they needn't be translated. But
since the text is still displayed, the translator can
still translate such segments if he sees one that needs
to be translated, by using Ctrl+N/P or double-clicking
the segment.