This software is copyrighted by Duxbury Systems, Inc. (DS), and sold as a LICENSE TO USE according to the class of license purchased. As derivative works, fonts created by this software are copyrighted as well. The normal license, applicable unless otherwise stated on your invoice or by other written agreement, is for a "single-user"; that is, the software may be used by one natural person on one computer at any one time. Even in cases where the software is received in more than one format (e.g. on from the web and on CD-ROM), there is only one license and the same "single-user" restriction applies. Customer may make copies, including backups, necessary to support valid use of the software, but no other copies. Customer must ensure that all copies bear the same copyright notices as appear on the originals.
If the software was purchased as a "site license," the license to use is for simultaneous usage by multiple persons on multiple computers owned by one organization in one building or group of buildings sited contiguously.
If the software was purchased as an "organizational license," the license to use permits simultaneous usage by a limited number of users on a limited number of computers owned by one organization, or members thereof. Usage is not restricted geographically. The limited number of users is by agreement.
DS WARRANTS its software products to operate to customer's satisfaction for a period of 90 days. DS will refund, to the original purchaser from DS, the price paid DS for microcomputer software if returned in that time. For minicomputer software, such refund will exclude any DS installation expenses plus DS time at DS service rates. Except as may be required by statute, DS makes no other warranties, disclaims warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and assumes no liability for incidental or consequential damages.
License for Demonstration Software: Duxbury Systems, Inc. restricts your use of the demonstration disk to evaluation of the product. You may make entire copies of the software for the purpose of making the demonstration disk more widely available. You may not copy individual files from the demo disk (or from your hard disk directory containing the demonstration copy of MegaDots) for any specific purpose not related to the evaluation of this software.
(see below for answers to some commonly asked questions concerning the License and Warranty statement)
Q: If I purchase an update, may I give away my old manuals and disks?
A: No. Updating does not mean that another license has been issued, which is why updates are offered at a lower price. In any event, we recommend at least keeping your original disks because you may need them.
Q: May I install my single-user software at home and at work?
A: Yes, so long as both copies are not being used at the same time.
Q: May I install MegaDots on a network?
A: Yes, but you must have some system in place to insure that the number of users never exceeds the number permitted by your license(s). Most networks provide some way of doing this. See your network supervisor for suggestions. Reasonable administrative procedures may also be used.
Q: How do I know if I have something other than a single-user license?
A: A special license, such as a site license, will be indicated on the invoice and in the text of the license number itself.
Q: Can I install MegaDots on two or more computers in the office?
A: As with a network, you must have some system to insure compliance with the number of users permitted with your license(s). In other cases, you will need to purchase a license for each computer.
Q: My company bought this software for me. If I leave the job, can I take the software with me?
A: It depends. If the company bought the software, it remains the property of the company unless it is given to you. See the next question for more information.
Q: Can I sell or give away my software?
A: Yes, under the following conditions: (1) you provide the entire package, with all disks, manuals and subsequent updates, (2) you do not keep any copies, and (3) you inform the buyer or donee that she or he is subject to this license agreement, and provide a copy of it. It is also a good idea to put the transaction in writing and SEND US A COPY so the new user can receive support.
MegaDots was designed by David Holladay, Aaron Leventhal and Caryn Navy. Most of the software coding was done by Aaron Leventhal. John Boyer worked on the math translator add-on. Peter Sullivan has removed some very stubborn bugs.
A thank you goes to all those who have made suggestions and have assisted us in the production of quality software. A special thank you to those who helped us in the early days when it looked like we would never get this bird to fly. This list includes: Susan Christensen, Warren Figueiredo, Valerie Edwards, Mandy Thompson, Gloria Buntrock and many others.
CHICKEN.MEG -- 6-2
SONGS.WP5 -- 6-13
RJ-CAKE.HTM -- 6-18
HTML.MSG -- 14-3
prelim-b.meg -- 17-5
Welcome to MegaDots! You are using the new generation of braille production software. MegaDots was created to make braille production easier and braille more accessible.
Even if you are new to computers or new to braille, MegaDots guides you into producing braille with the most exacting standards. The more you already know, the faster you will be able to use MegaDots' advanced features to their fullest extent.
MegaDots is a word processing program that knows the rules for braille. The style system is an innovative approach to document layout. Each style tells MegaDots exactly how to format one kind of paragraph in both print and braille. For example, the paragraph you are reading is Body text, and this chapter's top heading is marked as Heading level 1. Other style names include List, Menu item and Poetry. Once you learn which of the intuitively named styles you need and how to use them, making good braille is a snap.
At the touch of a key, you can view your document in print or braille. You can work with your document in two modes: "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG), and "Show Markup". In WYSIWYG, as you edit, the changes you make instantly transform your document, always showing how your pages will look in the final output. Alternatively, being in "Show Markup" gives you the ability to see all the commands that shape your document.
There are several different ways of viewing the braille text on the screen, including braille dots. Or, at any point during your work, ask MegaDots to produce an inkprint or braille copy on paper.
Whether you are sighted or blind, MegaDots has many features which help you to use it easily and efficiently. The features tailored for blind computer users make MegaDots easy to access with voice output, paperless braille displays and large print software. When you tell MegaDots that you are accessing it with one or more of these tools, it makes the screen layout compatible and gives you the information you need to work comfortably. MegaDots can even generate large print on the screen without any additional large print software. MegaDots also has a familiar look and feel for sighted computer users. The pull-down menus, colorful screens and point and click mouse interaction make working efficient and fun.
Often your document will come from somewhere else. MegaDots imports documents from many different file formats used by programs in DOS, Windows or the Macintosh. It also imports braille documents. When you import a file into MegaDots, the program looks at each paragraph and guesses which style it should be. To ensure that your output is high quality braille, you need to verify that each paragraph is labeled with the correct style.
The MegaDots package contains the following items:
Use the menu of documentation from Start Menu,
Duxbury, MegaDots Documentation. The MegaDots
All MegaDots documentation can be produced in braille easily from within MegaDots. The User Manual, the Reference Manual, and the Interface Guide are also provided in Microsoft Word format so you can produce your own inkprint copies in the font size of your choice.
The User Manual is a comprehensive step-by-step guide to using the MegaDots software and its applications. Although it was written with the new user in mind, some of the chapters are more specialized, intended for those with more experience in braille transcribing or word processing.
See Chapter 2 to learn about installing MegaDots. See Chapter 3 to lead you through your first steps as you begin using MegaDots and doing some basic editing. See Chapter 4 about using paragraph styles.
Chapters 6 through 10 cover basic aspects of the software: setting your preferences, a software tutorial, file import, working with simple documents, spell checker, and printing documents.
See Chapter 21 if you need help Troubleshooting issues with MegaDots.
The Command Summary lists the commands used in MegaDots. Since the Command Summary is the only documentation supplied in braille, it also has some basic information about getting started (in the last section).
The Reference Manual is the core of the MegaDots documentation. Organized alphabetically by topic, it gives information on the various tasks, terms, concepts, and prompts that come up when you are using MegaDots. Once you have learned the basics of MegaDots, you will probably use this documentation the most, whenever you need help on a particular aspect of MegaDots or braille. You can access this material by pressing F12 anywhere in MegaDots. Then select the topic you want from the list. You can press F1 twice to get help on selecting an item from a list.
The Interface Guide gives information about connecting specialized equipment (including embossers) to your PC.
For those who hate computer manuals, read enough of the documentation to get oriented to what MegaDots is and how to make best use of the software. We suggest that you read Chapters 3 and 4, and skim Chapters 5 and 10. Make extensive use of the Reference Manual (press F12 at any point in the program).
We do not encourage you to explore MegaDots without reading the manual. MegaDots is a rich program with many features designed to serve your needs. The documentation was written with the new user in mind and is easy to read and understand.
Here is the list of absolute requirements:
Here is a brief summary of MegaDots' features, with some pointers to more information:
MegaDots allows you to create, edit, and format text and to perform all the basic functions of a standard word processor. See Chapter 3.
The MegaDots style system lets you give one simple command to format each different kind of paragraph. Each style command takes care of all the details of formatting that kind of paragraph in both inkprint and braille. See Chapter 4.
MegaDots offers several different "user interfaces" to make working with MegaDots as comfortable as possible for users with different needs. For those using voice output, refreshable braille, or large print screens, MegaDots provides accessible information and makes the screen layout free of clutter. See Chapters 3, 13 and 14. Sighted users get an intuitive interface with pull down menus and mouse support.
When you need more information on the current screen, menu, or prompt, just press F1 and helpful information on that topic emerges. In addition, by pressing F1 twice, you are told what kind of information window MegaDots is using and how to deal with it.
The comprehensive information found in the Reference Manual is accessible from anyplace in MegaDots by pressing F12.
You can call up any chapter of the User Manual by pressing F11.
The Help Screen Index allows you to access any help screen on any subject from anywhere in MegaDots by pressing F10 H H from the Editor.
When you use MegaDots, you can keep a number of documents open simultaneously. MegaDots keeps them all in memory so that you can switch between files instantaneously and move text from one file to another.
MegaDots imports about 60 different kinds of files, using file conversion techniques to bring the text into MegaDots, roughly retaining the formatting information from the original file (WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, ASCII, etc.). MegaDots also exports to files of these different types, making a copy of the text of your MegaDots document with roughly equivalent format. Together, these capabilities allow you to share work with co-workers and others who use different word processors. See Chapters 7 and 20 for more information.
This feature lets the user enter, translate, and produce technical braille (braille using the Nemeth Code for mathematical notation). See Chapter 22 for information on getting started with MegaMath. Using the Nemeth style sheet turns on MegaMath. There is a list of math symbols in the Nemeth Help (F10 H N). This feature used to cost extra in previous versions of MegaDots.
MegaDots gives you the choice of grade one braille or grade two braille. You may want to customize your braille translation. Beginner Braille lets you select which contractions or short form words you want in your braille. Some students learn best reading braille which is between grade one and grade two. For example, you may want to start off a student just learning the ed, er, and sh signs. Later, once they have learned all the contractions, you can introduce the short form words. See Chapter 15 for the details. This feature used to cost extra in previous versions of MegaDots.
MegaDots' ability to import files of different types lets you work with files created with optical scanning. In addition, the file importer and the spell checker have some special features to speed up the processing of scanned documents.
MegaDots' simple find option lets you search for text, exactly as you typed it, and then optionally replace it with something else throughout the file. The more flexible complex find option lets you search for more context-sensitive items, such as any three digits inside of parentheses, and then optionally change them throughout the file. You can also combine many rules for changing text in a single rules file, and perform all of the changes automatically with a single command. See Chapter 12.
The macro system lets you save multiple keystrokes in a macro command along with a single keystroke combination to call the macro. Then pressing the calling keystroke combination performs all the keystrokes that you saved in the macro. By saving your frequently used keystroke sequences in a macro, you can speed up repetitive work and make it less tedious. Macros are saved onto disk files which can be edited if necessary. See Chapters 5 and 18.
The user can choose between several kinds of audio prompting that use spoken messages or sound effects. MegaDots has several options to help blind users use speech to read braille material.
MegaDots' own large print screen option enlarges the characters on the screen by doubling their height and width. When you are using this option or a separate screen enlargement program, MegaDots automatically limits what is on the screen so that you can see everything in enlarged characters.
MegaDots can produce large print output on virtually all kinds of inkprint printers (laser printers, dot matrix, and inkjet printers). You can choose whatever font size you need.
(note: Print quality varies between different printers depending on the printer features available.)
When you access MegaDots with a paperless braille device, messages and prompts appear on the braille display. In addition, all the screens appear in grade two braille with lines that correspond to your braille device.
The MegaDots braille translator is extremely accurate. MegaDots produces high quality braille in grade two, grade one, and Computer Braille Code, letting you switch easily between these braille codes within a document. MegaDots also translates from braille to inkprint.
When you translate an inkprint document into braille and then back to inkprint, you get the original document, together with any changes you made in braille, without errors introduced by translating back and forth. This gives you the astonishing freedom to view your document and/or make corrections in the form you feel is the most appropriate at the time, translating back and forth when you need to.
WYSIWYG (pronounced wizzy-wig) is computer jargon for What You See is What You Get. In this mode the screen displays what the braille pages look like, allowing you to edit in braille, effortlessly seeing the consequences of your changes on the braille layout.
MegaDots offers five ways to view braille: ASCII, Small Dots, Big Dots, Special Font and Expanded Display. See Chapter 5.
MegaDots lets you use the full keyboard or use six keys as a simulated six-key braille keyboard. See Perkins keyboard entry in the Reference Manual.
Two forms of "auto correct braille" are available. They let you edit a braille document with MegaDots either correcting any mistakes in your braille data entry or translating your inkprint data entry into braille continuously as you work.
A proofing bar is a highlight that stays on the line
with the cursor. By drawing attention
When Transcriber View is turned on, the inkprint uses the same indent, runover and blank lines as the braille. It also shows transcriber notes. This inkprint display is designed for braille transcribers who are concerned about the format of their inkprint entry. To turn this on, look in the new "Advanced Features" screen of the Preferences Menu.
This feature lets you insert braille text into your document. Press control-F5, enter the inkprint text, and press return. If you are currently in braille, MegaDots turns the text into braille before inserting it. The inserted text is "still warm" -- it is highlighted in your document which allows you to easily proofread it as well as delete it, copy it into the clipboard or anything else. This is an easy way of inserting braille without having to subject your document to a round trip translation. As a bonus surprise, after you press control-F5 you can use F2 to pull up a list of past insertions. Properly used, this feature offers a few dozen tiny clipboards.
MegaDots automatically generates braille files marked with Linear Braille Format indicators for VersaBrailles and other linear braille devices.
There are now ten different forms of Simulated braille output for inkprint printers, providing convenient braille proofreading for sighted persons. See Chapter 10.
When you make interpoint braille (using both sides of the page), MegaDots automatically moves to an odd numbered (front) page where it needs to. You can also suppress running heads and page numbering on even numbered pages.
MegaDots makes it easy to create the inkprint page
indicators used in textbook format
A simple pull-down menu accesses the specialized items used as separators in braille magazines.
MegaDots produces braille restaurant menus, bus schedules, and other items to help your business comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Materials in computer notation can be brailled as easily as standard literary text.
MegaDots supports British Braille (with or without capitalization). British braille uses slightly different translation and a substantially different braille format. MegaDots is a unique bridge: a file formatted for British braille can easily be produced in North American braille and vice-versa. Chapter 17 explains how to create British braille.
MegaDots can produce foreign language material in grade one braille, showing accented letters with a simple accent mark or with the special symbols described in the rules for brailling textbooks. MegaDots supports Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese.
With a simple command you mark a heading's level in the structure of the document as 1, 2, 3, etc., and MegaDots takes care of all the details of formatting the headings in both inkprint and braille. MegaDots comes set up to do level 1 headings in braille as major headings (centered) and level 2 headings as minor headings (blocked in cell 5). It is also easy to change these settings to fit your own needs. See Chapter 5.
You can select how inkprint emphasis shows up in braille. Choose braille italics, braille boldface, color and heading emphasis indicators, etc.
You can switch between 8 different ways of formatting a table in braille with a single command. The tables rules approved by BANA in 1996 are automatically supported. MegaDots works out all the formatting issues for you.
MegaDots automatically takes a list of items and lays out the rows and columns of columnar material.
The special Create Contents feature builds a table of contents based on the headings that occur in your text. Works with North American or British braille formats.
MegaDots automatically formats footnotes in literary, textbook and British format braille.
If this feature is on, every time you save a MegaDots
file, the previous copy is saved under the name *.BAK first.
To turn this on, look in the new "Advanced Features" screen of the
Preferences Menu.
You can have MegaDots save your current work every so
often (you specify how many minutes between saves). Each document is auto
saved only if it has been changed. If it has, it's saved with a
.SAV extension. To turn this on, look in the new "Advanced
Features" screen of the Preferences Menu.
By pressing Control-J G <space>, you can see a list of all the headings in your document. This lets you quickly find the section of text you are looking for. It can also instantly show if the pattern of headings is inconsistent.
Your MegaDots software package contains an installation CD-ROM and a card giving your MegaDots Serial Number and Password.
You need administrative privileges to install MegaDots.
c:\Program Files\mega23.
c:\Megawork. Note that the
Tutorial (Chapter 6) is based on using c:\Megawork.
c:\mega, and
c:\mega exists on your system, you are asked if you want
personalization files copied into the new directory. Do not do this if
copying these older files would over-write something important. This
choice is supplied in case you have an earlier copy of the software
installed, and you want to retain the files that make MegaDots work
efficiently for you.
You cannot install MegaDots 2.3 on a pure MS-DOS system since it uses a Windows-based installation program. You can install MegaDots 2.2 on a pure MS-DOS system if this is a concern.
MegaDots was written as an MS-DOS program. It still is an MS-DOS program. The new Windows Installer sets up all the Windows icons and shortcuts for you. When you run the program, it is an MS-DOS program. This means that you cannot use the Windows clipboard to move material in or out of MegaDots (except in the limited way provided by the Windows control menu). It also means that you need to use short (8 dot 3) file names to locate files on your computer. However, MegaDots can read Windows files and can output to Windows devices. But do note that there are some inexpensive Windows-only printers that do not work with MegaDots (see Chapter 5).
The installation should produce the following
directories: a Program Directory (usually c:\Program
Files\mega23) and a work directory (c:\megawork).
There should be the following icons on your Desktop:
There should be a Duxbury Group from the Start Menu, Programs. The Duxbury group should have the following icons:
The file extension MEG is registered to MegaDots.
If you have one or more JAWS or Window-Eyes directories, the MegaDots script files are copied into them automatically. If you use MegaDots with speech, see Chapter 13 for additional information on avoiding problems, such as sluggish Eloquence speech in MegaDots.
Previous editions of MegaDots had two add-on programs, Beginner Braille and the MegaMath Nemeth Mathematics Translator. They are now built in. You do not have to pay extra to get the features of these powerful additions to MegaDots. The documentation for Beginner Braille and MegaMath are now integrated into the MegaDots User Manual.
This chapter orients you to MegaDots, with instructions on creating, editing and saving a document. It also explains everything there is to know about getting around MegaDots itself. After you read this chapter, it is essential that you also read Chapter 4: Using Styles, Chapter 5: Your Preferences and Chapter 6: Tutorial.
At this point, if you are using voice, refreshable braille or large print, you should have set MegaDots to work with your particular technology. Also, you should have a working directory where you want to keep your documents. If you have not done either of these, or need help launching MegaDots, follow the instructions in Chapter 2 under the heading Launching MegaDots.
Click on one of the desktop icons for MegaDots 2.3. When you launch MegaDots, it takes you directly to the Editor. This is the blank part of the screen where your cursor is blinking, inviting you to type and edit a document. Important document information is shown on the Status Line at the bottom of the screen.
If you are not using access technology, the Main Menu is already visible on the top line of the screen. In either case, press F10 to get into the Main Menu. If you're using voice, refreshable braille, or large print, the Main Menu will appear on the upper left corner of your screen, arranged vertically. The Main Menu reads: File, Edit, Styles, Document, Tools, Preferences, and Help. Each of these choices leads to another menu in MegaDots.
To select any of the menus listed, press the first letter of the name, or use the right and left arrow keys. If you are using a mouse, you may use the mouse cursor to select a menu. Access the File Menu from the Main Menu by pressing F. Do some preliminary exploring of these menus. Move item by item with the Up and Down Arrow keys. Press Escape whenever you get too far or want to back up one level. Arrow to another place in the Main Menu and press <Enter> to enter another menu.
Once you are finished touring the menus, press Control-E, the shortcut which takes you to the Editor from anywhere else in MegaDots. This is the same as pressing Escape enough times to go all the way back to the Editor.
The File, Edit and Styles menus are useful mainly when you are first learning MegaDots. For each item listed, the menu shows you a shortcut for that command. The File Menu shows that the Translate command has the shortcut F5. It is more convenient to press F5 when working on a file than to find your way to the File menu, then the Translate option, and then back to the Editor. These shortcut keystrokes work only from the Editor. For a list of commands that can be used at all times see "The Most Important Keys in MegaDots" on your Command Summary.
The Edit Menu contains the most common editing functions. Delete, copy or emphasize a portion of your text. Jump To a line or page number. Select an item to put into your document from the Insert sub-menu, which contains all items that cannot be typed in directly on a keyboard. These commands are all described later in this chapter.
The Styles Menu is where you go to find the appropriate style for a paragraph in your document. Each style tells MegaDots how to format a paragraph in both inkprint and braille.
The Styles Menu offers logically arranged lists of styles called style groups. This makes it possible to find the style you need more quickly. Headings are in the Heading Group. Body text and List are in the Body Group. When you don't know what group a style is in, you can use the All Group. Please read Chapter 4 to learn about styles. There is also the Interpret format command, that offers advanced information and control of document format and styles. This feature is discussed in depth in Chapter 7.
The Document Menu lets you customize how MegaDots handles the document you are working on. In its screens you fill out forms to Control how MegaDots translates, formats and prints the document. As described in Chapter 5, you change the standard upon which newly created documents are based by entering the same information in equivalent screens under Preferences, New Document.
The Tools Menu lets you run the more powerful features built into MegaDots such as Find and Replace, Create Table of Contents and the Style Sheet Editor. This is also where you start up the Spell Checker feature.
The Preferences Menu lets you fine tune MegaDots for your own needs. Customize how the MegaDots Editor works, set up your inkprint and braille printers, and make use of Macros. As was noted earlier, this is where the New Document preferences are set. Once you get comfortable in MegaDots, read chapter 5 to set up MegaDots to your individual taste.
The top menu bar Help is labeled Help=F1
to remind you to press F1 at any time for help specific to what you're
doing. In the Help Menu itself there is information on
general topics. For example, the Interface Guide contains detailed
instructions on using MegaDots with braillers and access technology. In
addition, the Reference Manual contains hundreds of topics relating to
using MegaDots. It is available from the Help Menu or anywhere in MegaDots
by pressing F12.
We are now ready to create your first document. We will also explore editing, saving and translating, as well as the basic nature of interaction with MegaDots.
When you begin MegaDots with a fresh document, it starts you off in the Body text style. Here are some things to keep in mind when you are entering text:
MegaDots is designed to make creating documents as easy as possible, with as little formatting work done by you as possible. All you have to do is type, and press <Enter> at the end of each paragraph to specify a paragraph break. All indentation, line spacing, etc. is handled by style choices.
Enter a "Dear Abby" letter, which we will use to practice the editing features. Make sure it has at least four medium sized paragraphs. When you are done, use the Left, Right, Up and Down Arrows to move the cursor to the capital A in Abby. Press the delete key once. This is how you delete a single character. Now type in a capital B and a small o. As you type, watch the new text push the old text over. This is called Insert mode.
To change old text by typing over it with new text, turn off Insert mode by pressing Insert. The Insert key is a toggle, a keystroke which switches a feature on or off. Whenever you use a toggle, the Status Line informs you of the current setting with a short message, such as "Insert off". In addition, when MegaDots is used with speech, two rising tones indicate a mode is switched on, and a flat tone indicates it is switched off. Finally, when there is a top menu bar, MegaDots shows Insert mode is on by displaying an <INS> indicator in the upper right corner.
The bottom line on the screen is the Status Line. It is filled with information relevant to where you are in a MegaDots document. Sometimes it contains a message. If you've been following along exactly, right now it says "Insert off" and you need to press any key, such as Left Arrow, to get the normal Status Line information back.
The first letter (I or B) indicates whether the
document is in inkprint or braille. The letter is followed by an asterisk
when you have made changes since you last saved this document. Since you
have not yet saved your letter, the Status Line shows I*.
The name of the document follows immediately. Right
now, the Status Line shows that your document is called
untitled.meg, because you haven't named it yet. If you are
not using large print or refreshable braille, MegaDots lists the full
path name, which prefixes the file name with a drive letter
and name of the directory the file is in. Otherwise MegaDots may
abbreviate the name to just UNTITLED to save room. You can always get the
full path name of a document by pressing Control-W D. When you learn how
to open more than one file at a time and cycle through them, the name on
the Status Line lets you know what document you're
Save your document right now by pressing F4. This
command takes you out of the Editor to ask what you want to call the file
when you save it. You have the chance to accept the name
untitled.meg by pressing <Enter>. Since this is
non-descriptive, type in the name bobby.meg and press
<Enter>.
Now that you have saved and returned to the Editor, the asterisk has disappeared, indicating you have saved all of your changes.
In the middle of the status line is the cursor position: first the page number, then the line number, and finally the column number. For example, if you are on page 1, line 3, column 17, it is indicated by "P1 L3 C17". You can also find out the line and column by pressing Control-W L. You can find out the current page number by pressing Control-W P.
The next item on the Status Line indicates the style of the current paragraph. Your Status line should say Body text. Some styles, such as Outline, are hierarchical; MegaDots indents each new level further than the previous level. The hierarchy is shown by a plus sign and a level number. In an outline, the status of a main entry shows as "Outline+1," while the status of a sub-entry shows as "Outline+2." You can also get the style information by pressing Control-W G.
The final item on the Status Line varies in inkprint or braille. In braille the name for the braille cell at the cursor is shown. Inkprint displays the type of emphasis, such as Normal or Boldface. There is no room for this final information if you use refreshable braille with 40 or fewer cells or large print. To get the same information, type Control-W C.
Press F5 to translate your text into braille. The different ways braille is displayed on the screen are called braille views. MegaDots chooses an initial braille view that depends on the type of access you use. If you are using access technology, the view you start with is the only one that will work well for you. If you are not using access technology, take a moment to try the five braille views:
If you are using refreshable braille, stay in ASCII. This is the only way your device will display the correct braille. If you use voice access, the default Expanded braille view allows you to read braille as spoken text and still edit cell by cell. In either case, press Up or Down Arrow to read each new line. This is easier than review mode because you don't need to stop at the bottom of the screen. However, since this skips over blank lines and page breaks, it does not divulge the text's formatting. To check the document's layout, go into Cursor Go Everywhere mode with Alt-E. This is similar to review mode except that you're not limited by the top and bottom of the screen. You can put your cursor on any braille cell or position in the text. This is important for proofreading the format but is not needed when you are editing content only. If you use speech synthesis and really want to go into review mode to check each cell, type Control-Z D A first to get the ASCII braille view.
You may have noticed that the Control-Z command that we used to change braille views first brought up the Zippy Menu. The Zippy Menu contains useful shortcuts and is discussed at the end of this chapter.
Remember as you cursor around your braille document that the bottom right of the Status Line shows the name of the braille cell you are on.
Once you find a braille view that you like, you may want to experiment with entering some braille. One method is to use the same characters as ASCII braille uses. For example, type an exclamation point to get the "the" contraction.
The easiest way to enter braille is to press Control-F5. MegaDots pops up a window where you can enter in any inkprint text you like. When you are done, press Enter, and MegaDots translates and inserts the text right into the braille, and highlights it for you so that its easy to read. If you like it, press Control-X to turn off the highlighting, otherwise press Control-D and it is deleted.
Another braille entry method is to use six-key Perkins keyboard entry. For this feature to work, during MegaDots installation you should have answered yes to the six-key Perkins keyboard question. If not, you can rerun the installation program and choose to install six-key keyboard support. Press Alt-Scroll Lock to toggle Perkins entry. If you have a top menu bar, MegaDots should display the number <6> in the upper right corner. Type braille by using the middle row keys S, D, F, J, K and L in combination. To learn more about Perkins entry, or if it doesn't seem to work, see Chapter 21: Troubleshooting. When you are finished with Perkins entry, toggle it off by pressing Alt-Scroll Lock again.
After you have explored enough in braille, press F5 again to return to inkprint.
You're ready to begin editing large bodies of text. Many editing tasks are made easier by using block marking. With it you can delete, duplicate or emphasize an entire area of text at once.
In your "Dear Abby" letter, find a phrase to delete. To mark the block, move your cursor to one end of the phrase and press Control-X. This is like dropping an anchor. When you move your cursor to the other end of the phrase, all the text in between your cursor and the anchor is now marked, or highlighted. To delete the marked text, press Control-D.
Let's italicize the word "Dear". Move your cursor to the beginning of the word and press Control-X. Use the Right Arrow to highlight the word. Control-F puts you in the Markup Text Menu, which can also be reached from the Edit menu (F10 E F). From here you can emphasize your text any way you like. Choose Italics by simply pressing I. This takes you back to the now italicized word "Dear" and turns block marking off.
The method just used is inconvenient if you want to emphasize something new as you type it, instead of correct it afterward. In this situation, press Control-X and start typing. The text becomes highlighted as you continue typing. When you have entered the end of the text you want to emphasize, issue the Control-F command.
When you perform an action on text highlighted with Control-X, MegaDots assumes you are finished and unhighlights it. However, you may want to do something else to the text. For example, you can mark it as both grade one and italics. To do this, mark it using Shift-Control-X. This holds the highlighting on until you press Control-X to turn it off.
Up to this point you have been using the Editor in the WYSIWYG display. WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get, because it shows how your document will appear on paper. The MegaDots Editor has two more ways of displaying the format of your document: Format Markup and All Markup. We also refer to either of these views as Show Markup. Format Markup displays the text with its internal formatting commands. All Markup is the same as Format Markup, but it shows translation commands too. We'll stick with Format Markup for now.
Use Alt-W to toggle from WYSIWYG into Format Markup.
Before the first italicized letter in "Dear" is the Begin Italics markup
command. This consists of the letters E and i (Emphasis italics), enclosed
by left and right arrows. After the word "Dear" is the End Italics markup
command. This is the same except for the backslash in front of the letter
E. The markup is consistent for each type of emphasis entered from the
Control-F menu. For example, the markup for boldface uses "Eb". If you do
not know what a markup command represents, put your cursor on it and press
Control-W C. See Supplement 5 for a list of the other markup
You can delete the italics command in Show Markup mode. Move your cursor to the Begin or End Italics command and press Delete. Both markup commands disappear.
This is a good time to talk about the Long lines wrap toggle (Alt-L). When this is on, everything fits on your screen so you can view and edit it all without using any special controls. Usually, with a large print program you have to pan around and with refreshable braille, you have to move left and right. When this feature is on, you don't get the exact WYSIWYG display, but editing is much easier. If you use large print or refreshable braille, Long lines wrap defaults to being on.
Long lines wrap is also useful to any user when the lines of text are longer than the width of the display. This may happen when working with a laser printer or compressed text, for example. Remember that Long lines wrap does not affect the final format of your document, so you can toggle it as much as you need. Before printing your document, you may wish to turn off Long lines wrap so you can check the format, as page breaks and page numbers may be different.
Another important feature of block marking is the ability to move text from one location to another. This is useful when you want to rearrange or repeat text, or bring things together from several places. You can even move blocks of text from other documents. Here are the commands to transfer text from one place to another.
Highlight one of the paragraphs in your letter with
the Control-X command. Put the end of the highlight at the beginning of
the next paragraph. This includes the end of paragraph <Enter>,
displayed as an underlined less than sign (<=) if you are
in Show markup mode (Alt-W toggle).
Control-K (Kut) cuts and deletes the block from the current position and moves it to the clipboard, which acts as temporary storage for text. Once the block is in the clipboard, move the cursor where you want to put the text and press Control-P to paste in the block. Use Control-P to paste it in as many times as you want -- there is no limit.
If you want to duplicate some text, use Control-C to copy it into the clipboard. The highlighted text stays where it is and also goes into the clipboard.
When you Kut or Copy text into the clipboard with Control-K or Control-C it replaces what was clipboarded before. If you want to keep what was in the clipboard and add more to it, use Alt-K (Append-Kut) or Alt-C (Append-Copy) instead.
Now that you have learned basic editing, you are ready to learn the shortcuts. Some editing commands are called MegaDots Verbs, because they perform an action only when you give them text on which to perform it. The following commands are Verbs: Copy, Delete, Format, Jump to, Kut, Trans, Voice and Where Am I.
If you call on a Verb command while highlighting text, it works on the highlighted area. Otherwise, MegaDots asks you what to do.
For example, press Control-D. MegaDots asks "Delete what?" and gives you the Object Menu: Character, Word, Fragment, Line, Sentence, paraGraph, Page, Heading area or Document. If you select paraGraph, for example, MegaDots will delete from your cursor to the end of the paragraph. This is often more convenient than highlighting the text first. Remember that G is for paraGraph, and P is for Page (P is bigger than G). If you need help with any of the Object types, put your cursor on the Object type and press F1.
Another example is putting a word in Boldface. Instead of using Control-X, it is much faster to type Control-F W B for Format Word Boldface.
Another handy shortcut is to use Control-Delete, instead of Control-D W to delete a word. In addition, Control-Backspace deletes to the beginning of a word, which is easier than using Backspace to delete characters when retyping an entire word.
You have learned how to move around your document with the four arrow keys. Take some time to play with these even faster ways to move your cursor:
The Jump To command is another MegaDots Verb. Use it to move to an exact place within your document. For example, Control-J P lets you specify a page number to jump to. You may want to write down line numbers of important places in your documents; you can use Control-J L (Jump To Line) to go straight there. Finally, Control-J G brings up a list of paragraphs and their styles that are in your document. You can browse it and press Escape to go back to where you were, or press <Enter> on a paragraph you actually want to move to.
Another quick way of navigating your document is Bookmarks (Alt-J). Bookmarks allow you to "tag" specific locations in your document, and return to these locations at any time with a few keystrokes. See Chapter 18 for more information on Bookmarks and other efficiency tips.
MegaDots has a consistent user interface designed to be friendly to all users. The purpose of this section is to give detailed information about how to navigate through MegaDots, such as which keys apply to what screens. To some users, this is a very natural process. However, if you just jump in and use the program, you may miss some valuable features and shortcuts. If you are planning to train others in MegaDots, please read this section carefully.
The needs of sighted and blind users diverge when it comes to the screen layout. To sighted persons, overlapping windows have an "intuitive" appearance. To a blind person, reading only what's inside of the most recently opened window can be a major struggle.
If you are using access technology, the window you are working on is always in the upper left corner of the screen and all decorative extras and other windows are completely hidden from view. The name of a window is always on line 1, line 2 is blank, and the information starts on line 3. If you are using voice access, Control-V will read the entire contents of a window.
Every window in MegaDots falls into one of the following categories: help, menu, list, user list, form, and quick form. The following keys are used in every window:
In any window in MegaDots you can press F7 to print or braille everything in that window. To quickly find out where you are, press Control-W. Control-W anywhere in MegaDots gives you orientation information. If you are using voice, pressing Control-V will read the contents of the window.
To get help on what you're looking at, press F1. The help may be several screens long, so scroll down until you see "Press Escape to end message". This is the last line. As always, pressing Escape takes you back to where you were before.
If you are really lost press F1 again, from the first help screen. The second help screen gives you generic information about the kind of window you are dealing with: how to navigate through the window, make changes, save your work, etc.
Help on general topics, such as where to go for more information, is in the Help Menu (F10 H).
Remember that pressing Control-E will always bring you back to the Editor, and Alt-X takes you right to the Exit menu.
Here are some keys to use in Menus:
Sometimes there is a shortcut "hotkey" available
for an item on the menu that allows it to be used from the Editor. If
there is, it is listed next to the item. In addition, the greater than
symbol > indicates choosing this will bring up a submenu.
Ellipses (...) indicate information will be requested from the user.
Several MegaDots menus are essential. One is the Alt-X Exit Menu, which contains three choices: Yes, exit now; No, return to Editor; and Save, then exit. It warns you how many documents will lose their changes if not saved. On a color screen this is like a traffic light: green means it is safe to exit, red means stop and check.
The Insert Menu, which you can get by pressing Control-Insert, contains items such as page breaks, guide dots and special characters. Finally, the Control-Z Zippy menu switches between different Editor views, and is the quickest route to layout Control.
Here are some keys to use in Lists:
A list is similar to a menu, except the list of choices may not all fit on the screen at once. Lists are also alphabetized.
Lists allow for "incremental search." To try this, press Alt-B, the hotkey for pulling up the Body Styles list. As you type in each letter, the highlight moves to the next style that begins with what you have typed so far. To select the style Letterhead, type in just LET. Typing in just L or LE puts you on Left flush, because it comes before Letterhead.
Whether you use the Arrows or incremental search, press <Enter> to select the item.
A very important list in MegaDots is the on-line Reference Manual. Press F12 to pull up the list of topics. Browse through the list or go directly to an item by using incremental search. Entries contain definitions, step by step instructions, and pointers to more information. For example, to learn about accented letters in MegaDots type ACCENTED <Enter>.
Here are some keys to use in Forms:
A form is a window with multiple questions, or fields. Answering them correctly is important, because this is how you change the way MegaDots behaves.
When you press F9, an alphabetized vertical list of all the form's questions appears. Because this is like any list in MegaDots, you can arrow around or type the first letters of the name of the field you want in order to find that selection. Now press <Enter> to move there in the form.
When you move to the question you want, you can press F2 to choose from a list of possible answers. If you still don't know what to do press F1 for help. Sometimes when a question asks for a number there are too many choices to have a list of them. Enter the information manually by just typing it in and pressing <Enter>. If you press <Enter> before typing the answer, the cursor will move into the information and you can edit it. When you press <Enter> to accept an answer, you are automatically moved to the next field.
To accept all the changes you have made in a form, you must press F10. To cancel changes in a form, press Escape or the right mouse button.
Here are some keys to use in Quick Forms:
A quick form is a form with a single question that must be answered for MegaDots to perform a command. For example, when you press F3 to Open/import, MegaDots asks for the name of the document. If you give it a valid file name, MegaDots brings up the document. Press Escape to cancel the operation.
Here are some keys to use in User Lists:
A User List is a List that you can change and add things to. For example, you can add to your list of Braille Devices under the Preferences Menu. When you do that you must also supply information on your specific brailler. You probably haven't gotten this far. You set up your brailler in Chapter 5: Your Preferences.
Selecting an item in a User list is different than in a list, because you can change the information associated with that item, such as the Carriage Width for a brailler.
This information is presented in a MegaDots Form. Once the information in it is completely correct, you press F10 to accept it. However, you must also press F10 in the User List itself to keep any of these changes.
For sighted users, a mouse makes it easier to move through menus. The left mouse button lets you select an item from a menu. The right mouse button acts like an Escape Key, closing any window.
In the Editor you can click anywhere in the text to move the cursor there. Clicking and holding the mouse somewhere on the window border scrolls the text in that direction.
Once you mark a block, pull down the Edit Menu and click on Format. Your block is still highlighted, and with a click in this menu you can choose to mark it as italics, underlined or anything you desire. Cancel the command by pressing the right mouse button.
To end a highlight and return to normal editing, click anywhere in the text.
Many windows have reminders on the bottom telling you the keystrokes available, such as F1=help, F10=Done, etc. These are actually buttons you can click on to save time.
MegaDots contains special features for users who rely on speech output. The Control-W Verb Where Am I, which is useful to any MegaDots user, is especially handy with voice.
Another MegaDots Verb, Control-V (Voice), is useful only with voice access. Outside of the Editor, Control-V reads the contents of any window. Inside the Editor, Control-V brings up the Voice What? Menu. Press Control-V G to hear the current paragraph, or Control-V D to read to the end of the document.
Reading stops when you press any key. For many speech output users, stopping the speech leaves the cursor at what was just heard. If this works for you, the speech may sound somewhat jerky.
Control-V even reads braille as if it were print, something screen reading software does not do. Use Control-V L when you need to know how the braille lines divide, without having to decode ASCII braille.
Each paragraph in a MegaDots document has exactly one style. A style is a label which designates all aspects of both the inkprint and braille formats for the entire paragraph. The style remains the same throughout a paragraph.
Most word processors do not require the use of styles. Instead, the user issues detailed formatting commands, such as "center this text", or "use the Helvetica font". This approach lets you fashion your inkprint how you want it to look. There is a rich variety of inkprint formats. For example, a top level inkprint heading may be boldface or normal, centered or left justified. In contrast, braille has very strict formatting.
An increasing trend in word processing is to use styles. Styles create consistently formatted text. MegaDots uses one style for each paragraph because in braille, each paragraph's format is patterned after a clear and distinct model. For example, a braille Heading level 1 is always centered, has a blank line above it, and can never be on the last line of the page.
Styles take care of the details of braille format. Once they are applied, MegaDots also creates consistent, well-formatted print and large print.
You can label a paragraph with a style from anywhere within the paragraph. Label several paragraphs at once by highlighting them with Control-X. Then press Alt-A to pick the style you want from a list of all available MegaDots styles. To get a description of a style, press F1 (help) on that style in the list. Each style on the list has an intuitive name that describes how the paragraph is used. For example, the most commonly used styles in MegaDots are Heading level 1, Body text and List.
To learn the basics of using these styles, we'll
format a recipe for apple cake. Press F3 to open a document. MegaDots asks
you what document you are going to open. Type C:\Program
Files\mega23\practice.meg <Enter> to load the file called
practice.meg from the MegaDots directory.
Now we're in the Editor, at the beginning of the document where it says "Stina's apple cake". If you're not in Format Markup now, press Alt-W to toggle it on. It's easier to check and set styles when you're in Format Markup, because the end of each paragraph is clearly marked. Also, if you use voice, when you move to a paragraph with a different style, the new style is voiced.
Press Alt-A to pick the style. The first style on the list is Heading level 1. To accept this, press <Enter>. You are returned to the Editor where you see that "Stina's apple cake" is now centered with a blank line below it. If you look at the Status Line or press Control-W G, you will find the style is now Heading level 1. This is correct, so we'll move on to the list of ingredients.
Notice that each ingredient is its own paragraph, now labelled Left flush. The correct style for this list of ingredients is List. Press Alt-Down Arrow (move by paragraph) to move to the first item of the ingredients list. Now press Control-X to begin highlighting. Highlight down to the last ingredient. Don't go past the last ingredient's end of paragraph mark, or you'll effect the next paragraph as well. Press Alt-A to pick a style. Now type LI to move to the List style quickly and press <Enter> to select it.
The list is now formatted correctly. Paragraphs with more than one line have become outdented. This means that subsequent lines after the first are moved over to show they are part of the same paragraph.
In addition, MegaDots puts a blank line to show transition before the first item of a list and after the last. This brings up an important point. The styles automatically put blank lines where they belong. There are very few occasions in MegaDots where it is appropriate to enter blank lines by creating empty paragraphs. One occasion to create an empty paragraph is if there are two lists in a row, and the second one has no heading. Insert an extra <Enter> where the blank line should be. Be careful when you put empty paragraphs in your document; you do not want braille with extra blank lines.
Because the list of all styles is quite long, pressing Alt-A is a cumbersome way to select a style. MegaDots provides an easier way by dividing styles into eight logical categories, called style groups.
Most of the styles you will use are in the Body group
(Alt-B). In our practice document practice.meg, the baking
instructions need to be changed to Body text. Highlight all the
instructions and press Alt-B <Enter> to select Body
text from the Body group.
When you choose Styles from the Main Menu, you get the alphabetical list of style groups:
Some of the style groups are self explanatory if you explore them. To learn more about a style group, press F1 on that selection in the menu. In addition, you can press F1 to learn about an individual style when you are in a list of styles.
Some styles have sub-levels to a main level, or hierarchies. Some important examples are Outline, Poetry and Index. We'll enter a practice outline to learn how to set the levels. Start a new paragraph, and press Alt-B O to set the style to Outline.
Right now, if you query MegaDots for the style name, it reports Outline +1, because everything is on the main level. For this main level, type "I. The reasons I like Apple Cake" <Enter>.
Now you're ready to enter the second level of the outline. Press Alt-Right Arrow. Each successive Alt-Right Arrow moves us down another level to Outline +2, Outline +3, etc. Alt-Left Arrow moves us back up a level. Move to Outline +2 now, and type "A. It's so tasty" <Enter>.
Finally, let's enter a third level. This time we'll enter the text before setting the level. Type "1. Appley yummy" <Enter> "2. Sweet to my tummy". Now highlight the two items with Control-X and press Alt-3 to jump straight to the third level. Pressing Alt-digit in this fashion is a shortcut that moves right to the level you want. You now have an outline with three levels.
When you import a document, MegaDots guesses what the
style of each paragraph should be, and sometimes guesses incorrectly.
Blank lines in the original document help MegaDots guess the styles but
are removed in the conversion to MegaDots. When paragraphs
After you import a document, press Alt-I to learn more about the styles that MegaDots has assigned. You can use this screen as a means of just learning about your file, or you can use it to further manipulate the file. You can disallow the use of certain styles and then ask MegaDots to re-import the file.
From the Editor, you can spot incorrect styles by paging through and checking out any strangely formatted paragraphs. The Status Line always shows the style of the current paragraph. If you are using voice or refreshable braille, you can also review the current style by pressing Control-W G (Where Am I - Paragraph).
The most convenient way to check styles for voice users is to simply go into Format Markup view by pressing Alt-W. This enables MegaDots to voice style changes between paragraphs.
If you are using refreshable braille, checking styles is made easier by a markup view called Style Changes in Text. Normally, pressing Alt-W simply brings up Format Markup, but in refreshable braille, Style Changes is the default markup mode. It shows style transitions as commands right inside the text. Other users can access this feature from the Zippy menu by pressing Control-Z M S. Wherever there is a change of styles in the text, an extra line is shown on the screen which tells what the next style is. For example, when a Heading level 1 goes to Body text, there is an extra line in between the two paragraphs that says "Style = Body text". This prevents users from having to constantly review the Status line or press Control-W G.
You can also browse through all the styles used in your document with Control-J G. The browsing feature is quite powerful. When you are in this screen, you can actually use the same Alt commands to change styles and hierarchy levels as in the Editor. In addition, pressing Tab makes the current paragraph have the same style as the previous paragraph. To view only headings, press the space bar. This shows a basic outline of your document. Press space bar to move back to all paragraphs. From either view, you can press Enter to move to that paragraph in the document, or Escape to move back where you started.
A style sheet is a collection of styles and rules for page layout designed to create a particular kind of document. You can create different types of documents by just changing the style sheet. Each style sheet instructs MegaDots to format the text in inkprint and braille a little differently.
Style sheet selection is in the Document menu. Here are the style sheets that are currently shipped with MegaDots:
Most work in North America requires LITERARY or TEXTBK. Virtually everything in the United Kingdom uses BRITISH. When writing a braille letter, you may consider using NONUMS if braille page numbers are not needed.
All of the style sheets include a standard set of styles. You can change what each heading level means with Headings setup under the Document menu. This is explained more in Chapter 6: Tutorial.
You can also change the meanings of other styles and create new style sheets with the Style Sheet Editor, as explained in Supplement 4. However, MegaDots' styles have been planned very carefully, and there is usually no reason to change them.
If you only learn one thing about Preferences in this chapter, it is that you need to explictly save your preferences in MegaDots. If you like a change you have made, choose "S" to save your preferences. If you do not do this, your changes only last during your current session with MegaDots.
When you first get MegaDots, it is set up for a default environment with no prior knowledge of your individual needs and equipment. During the installation of MegaDots, there are options available for specifying your access technology. This gives you basic control over the initial appearance of MegaDots when you first begin. However, MegaDots has been built for flexibility, allowing you to change the way MegaDots looks and behaves. You are free to customize MegaDots to suit your work and enjoyment of the program. MegaDots can even be easily customized for a multi-user/multi-need environment. The key to customizing MegaDots is the Preferences Menu.
If you are a beginner, use this chapter to set up your Braille devices and Inkprint devices, and then see Chapter 6 for the Tutorial. Come back and use the rest of this chapter when you're ready to explore more of MegaDots and its options.
First we will make sure you have set up your Braille Devices and Inkprint Devices. Then you will be ready to see Chapter 6 (the tutorial) following this chapter.
From the Editor, press F10 P to get to the Preferences Menu. If you are using speech, refreshable braille or large print, and cannot read the menus, please see Chapter 2 for the initial setup.
In the Preferences menu and the Preferences forms you will be filling out, pressing the F1 Help key at any point provides guidance as you go through the process of setting preferences. When you're setting a particular item in one of the information fields, pressing F2 lists any appropriate choices available.
Before you can print a document, you must tell MegaDots what kind of ink printer you will be using and how it is setup and connected to your computer. Press I from the Preferences Menu so that you can enter information about your Inkprint printer.
The Inkprint Devices User List screen contains a list of all the ink printers that you have setup for use in MegaDots. If this is your first entry in the list, MegaDots will alert you and automatically prompt you to insert a new device by displaying the Printer manufacturers list. If there are printers already in the Inkprint Devices User List, either press F10 to accept the current printers list or press Insert to insert a new printer into the list.
If you can't find your exact model type, consult your printer's documentation to find what other types of printers your printer can emulate, or mimic. Press Escape to exit the current Inkprint printers list, then try to setup one of the models that your printer can emulate. See the next section in this chapter (Compatible Inkprint printers ...).
Once you have selected an inkprint device, you will be presented with the Setup an Inkprint Device window. This window allows you to modify how MegaDots communicates with your printer. If you wish to know what a setup field does, or if you need help in setting the value of a field, move your cursor to that field and press F1 to access the specific help screen for that item.
Not all inkprint printers are compatible with MegaDots. Often the most inexpensive inkprint printers are not compatible with MegaDots. The printers that are most likely to be compatible with MegaDots are those that support PCL 5, PCL 5c, PCL 5e or Postscript. PCL stands for Printer Control Language. Often you can find this information on your printer manufacturer's web page by looking up "emulations" or "printer languages."
If you are choosing an inkjet printer for use with MegaDots, note that quite a few HP printers are compatible in the DeskJet, OfficeJet, Business Inkjet, Photosmart, and Color Inkjet product lines. Many of these printers (with some exceptions noted below) support text printing from DOS applications like MegaDots. The best font support among inkjet printers can be found in the few HP models that have scalable typefaces built into their firmware. These include: the HP DeskJet 850, 855, 870, 890 (but not 895), 1100, and 1120 series; the HP OfficeJet 1150, 1170, and 1175 series; and the HP Business Inkjet 2250, 2280, 2600, and 3000 series. Other DeskJet, OfficeJet, Business Inkjet, and Color Inkjet models, and most PhotoSmart printers, have a limited range of bitmap font sizes built into their firmware. For basic monochrome laser printing from MegaDots, the HP LaserJet 1150 or 1160 should be adequate. Models numbered 1300 or higher are more expensive but give better performance.
Avoid the following HP inkjet printers, which are Windows-only printers. Don't try to use them with MegaDots: the HP PSC-1200, 1210, 1315, and 1350 series printers; the HP DeskJet 710, 712, 720, 820, 1000, 3250, 3320, 3325, 3420, 3520, 3550, 3650, 3740, 3745, 3840, 3843, and 3845 series printers; the HP OfficeJet 4110, 4215, and 5510 printers; and the original HP PhotoSmart Printer (with no model number).
In the HP LaserJet category, most printers are compatible with MegaDots. However, avoid the HP LaserJet 1000, 1005, 1010, 1012, 3100, and 3150 series, and avoid the HP Color LaserJet 1500, 2600, 3500, and 3550 series.
We have found the web site
www.linuxprinting.org to be a useful resource for making
reasonable inferences about inkprint printers which are compatible with
MegaDots. See printer.htm. for a list of printers based on the information
from this web site.
In the Connection port field, one choice available is MPRN (this appears in the list when you press F2). If your printer has a USB connection or a network connection, set the Connection port to MPRN (MegaPrn)
When you print to a printer set up with a Connection port of MegaPrn, you get a dialog box from the MegaPrn program listing your Windows printers, from which you select the desired Windows printer. The MegaPrn program is a simple printing engine which directs your output to the Windows printer that you select.
The MegaPrn choice is also available in setting the Connection port for a braille device. MegaPrn is also available for use as a stand-alone program to a direct a printer-ready file or a brailler-ready file to the printer or brailler of your choice.
After you have finished setting up a new inkprint printer, press F10 twice to save the setup information. MegaDots will ask you if you wish to make the new printer the default inkprint printer for all new documents. If you answer yes, the new printer will be set as the default inkprint printer (the default inkprint printer can be changed under Preferences - New Document - Inkprint Document Setup). All new documents that you create in MegaDots will automatically use your default inkprint printer. If you don't set a default inkprint printer for new documents, then all new documents will default to the generic inkprint type.
As with other preference changes, your changes are not
saved for future MegaDots sessions unless you use the Preferences menu's
Save preferences option and specify a .env filename for your
preferences file.
MegaDots 2.3 has built into it a program called Embossit 2.0. Embossit 2.0 is the embossing engine used in Duxbury DBT 10.5. It is an especially good tool for working with embossers that require special handling. These include the Tiger embossers, the Ohtsuki, the Gemini, and the Dot 'n Print. Note, however, that you should not use Embossit when your document includes graphics. You can use Embossit 2.0 to produce braille from MegaDots to any embosser hooked up to your Windows network.
To use Embossit 2.0, you need to set up a configuration within Embossit first. Use the Start Menu, Programs, Duxbury, Embossit 2.0. Set up a new configuration. If you have more than one configuration, Edit it and then click OK to make it the default. The highlight should be on that embosser when you restart Embossit.
MegaDots 2.3 can only emboss to your default Embossit configuration. Make use of the Embossit help file. to assist you to create an embosser configuration. Notice that you can connect to USB devices and network devices, which you cannot do from MegaDots without Embossit 2.0 or Megaprn.
When you set up your embosser Preferences in MegaDots, you need only three things:
Before you begin brailling, you must tell MegaDots what kind of embosser you will be using and how your embosser is setup and connected to your computer. MegaDots keeps a list of your embossers in the Braille Devices User List, which is accessed from the Editor by pressing F10 P B (just B from the Preferences Menu).
If this is your first entry in the list, MegaDots will automatically ask you to install a new device, and display the Braille Embossers List. (If there are embossers already in the Braille Devices User List, press <Insert> to insert a new embosser into the list.) From the Braille Embossers List, select your embosser model.
Once you have selected a braille device, you will be
presented with the Setup a Braille Device window. This window
allows you to modify how MegaDots communicates with your embosser, and how
your braille formatting is affected by the embosser. If you wish to know
After you have finished setting up a new embosser, press F10 twice to save the setup information. MegaDots will ask you if you wish to make the new embosser the default embosser for all new documents. If you answer yes, the new embosser will be set as the default embosser (the default embosser can be changed under Preferences - New Document - Braille Document Setup). All new documents that you create in MegaDots will automatically use your default embosser. If you don't set a default embosser for new documents, then all new documents will default to the generic embosser type. After you've answered these questions, MegaDots automatically saves your preferences.
Note: If you regularly use more than one embosser or share files with other MegaDots users, you may wish to unset the default embosser for new documents. You must also make sure that each of your already existing MegaDots files have no embosser set. Doing this will make your files "generic" files which are embosser independent.
Following is an explanation of the rest of MegaDots' preferences. It is important that you go over this information at some point, but if you have not read the Chapter 6 tutorial yet, we recommend you do that first.
environ.env.
As mentioned earlier, the default filename for
preferences is environ.env. When you start MegaDots, the
software automatically loads the preferences in the
environ.env preferences file.
When MegaDots asks you for a filename for saving your
preferences, just press <Enter> to accept the default name, or enter
a different filename with the extension .env. Why would you
create a different preferences file? You can save different preference
files for different people, or for different types of documents. You can
load different preferences files either from the Preferences Menu or from
the DOS command line when you start MegaDots. To start MegaDots with the
preferences file silly.env, type mega /esilly
<Enter>. Notice that there is no space between the
/e and the name silly.
When MegaDots is shipped, the default preference settings are designed for sighted persons. However, it is easy to change MegaDots from a sighted-oriented program to a program tailored for use with voice output, large print screen display, or refreshable braille display. For more detailed information about using access technology in MegaDots, see Launching MegaDots in Chapter 2, and see Chapter 13 (Access Technology). Also, please make use of the online help available by pressing the F1 key on each field of the Editor Preferences. There is a wealth of information available in these help screens that is updated faster than the MegaDots manual.
From the Editor, press F10 P E to go into the Editor Preferences. For further details on these prompts, make use of the help key (F1) on the individual prompts.
MegaDots allows for a regular full ASCII keyboard or a Perkins-style braille keyboard. This preference controls when the Perkins keyboard turns on automatically. You have the choice of Always, Braille, Editor, and Never. Always means at all times, even in menus. Braille means when you are dealing with a braille document, Editor means any time you are in the Editor, and Never means that Perkins-style keyboard will be invoked only when you specifically turn it on. MegaDots always lets you switch between regular and Perkins-style keyboard modes manually by pressing Alt-Scroll Lock at any point in the program.
Auto Correct Braille improves your braille data entry by using the full power of the MegaDots braille translators. If you use this feature, it only works when you are dealing with a braille document. The choices are N for No, B for Braille entry, and I for Inkprint entry. N means no auto correction (this is the default). B means that your data entry is in braille. MegaDots takes your data entry and does a back translation and then a forward translation into braille again to locate and fix any braille errors. I means that your data entry is in inkprint. MegaDots takes your data entry and does a forward translation into braille to minimize any braille errors. Experiment with this feature. It is very impressive when it instantly changes the braille on a character by character basis.
This option specifies your preferred on screen braille viewing mode. The choices are Big Dots (large braille dot patterns), Dots (smaller dot patterns), ASCII (uses the standard set of ASCII characters to represent braille characters), Expanded (each line of braille is back translated into inkprint except for the line containing the cursor), and Special Font (a unique font designed to clarify the braille contractions).
There is also a shortcut to setting the Braille View mode, outside of the Preferences Menu. In the Editor, just press Control-Z D.
Experienced braille transcribers may prefer Big Dots or Dots. Persons inexperienced with braille may prefer the Special font or the Expanded display. Blind users and the more computer oriented prefer the ASCII or the Expanded display. The Expanded display is designed to allow a blind user with speech to quickly examine the layout of a braille document without their voice synthesizer trying to pronounce ASCII braille. The Big Dots, Dots, and Special font modes require EGA or VGA graphics.
A note for Windows 95 users: if you are running MegaDots from an MS-DOS window on your Windows 95 screen (a window, not full screen), then Dots and Special modes will not work. You must either switch to ASCII or Big Dots modes, or use a full screen MS-DOS box.
Controls the appearance of the Big Dots on the screen. You have a choice of Heavy, Light, or No shadow dots.
Answer Yes if you are using voice output. MegaDots forces your screen reader to say certain prompts if it knows you are using voice output for access.
Answer Yes if you are using a refreshable braille device. This choice allows MegaDots to output prompts and help screens in braille.
Answer this question Y if you are using screen access technology (i.e. you cannot read the standard screen). The Simple Windows setting blanks out the rest of the screen when a window pops up. Answer this question N if you are not using screen access technology to use your computer.
This question changes the appearance of the main editing window in MegaDots. Answer this question N for a sighted-oriented screen layout: top line menu bar and a frame around the editing area. Answer this question Y if you would like to clear the screen of these distractions. In Unframed mode, the MegaDots program resembles the WordPerfect editing screen in which lines 1-24 are available for editing, with a bottom status line.
This prompt controls the degree to which MegaDots uses sound cues or uses verbal or braille messages.
This just sets the default value. You can switch at any point with Alt-E. Use "cursor go everywhere" if you are using access technology and you are reading a file for format. "Cursor go everywhere" lets your cursor land on blank lines (and other places where no text can be placed). This makes it easier for a blind user to know where the blank lines are.
Answer Yes if you are using an external large print program such as ZoomText or LP-DOS.
This just sets the default value. You can switch at any point with Alt-L. Long Lines Wrap formats the text to fit on your screen regardless of your output device, so please remember that this mode does not accurately reflect the final format of your document. Use "long lines wrap mode" if your output device has a wider carriage width than the screen display. For example, if your printing device has a carriage width of about 50 characters, and your screen display (large print) shows only 40 characters, you should use long lines wrap.
If you are using a large print program or a refreshable braille device, give the maximum display width. This value is automatically set by the /a2 through /a5 command line codes. It is set to 40 by /ar. If your refreshable braille display does not have 40 cells, then change this value.
If you are using a large print program, give the maximum display height. This value is automatically set by the /a2 through /a5 command line codes.
If you answer Yes, MegaDots goes into monochrome mode. This feature should be used if you have difficulty making out the letters on the screen because they blend into the background. This can be a problem with some older LCD laptop screens and monitors.
This gives the size of the characters on the screen. Use N for normal (80 characters across, with 35 rows), S for 43 or 50 rows of text, L for MegaDots large print program, T for tall characters, and W for wide. Use C rather than N to view an entire page of braille on the screen at one time in the ASCII, dots, or special fonts. This is the preferred choice for sighted braille transcribers. Do not use the Large, Tall, or Wide character sizes when you are using a large print program such as ZoomText or LP-DOS.
This just sets the default value. This choice displays formatting commands with your text. Set your preference for the method used when you first enter MegaDots: N for No markup (WYSIWYG), F for format markup and A for All format and translation markup. Format markup is just like reveal codes in WordPerfect. Alt-W toggles between WYSIWYG and either Format markup or All Format depending on which you last used. You can also use the Control-Z Zippy Menu to change the markup view mode.
A proofreading cursor turns the line containing the cursor bright green. This is highly useful for proofreading purposes (especially for braille transcribers). You can also toggle this on and off with control-Z P from the Editor.
This creates a larger cursor in and out of MegaDots. This is recommended for users with laptops, who may have difficulty locating the cursor. Another way to quickly visually locate the cursor is to press the ESC key in the editor. The cursor will flash and grow in size for a second, then return to normal.
If you use the feature, MegaDots automatically saves
your work after the specified time has passed. This protects you from ever
losing more than a few minutes work in the event of a system failure. The
automatically saved files have an extension of .SAV.
If you use this feature, MegaDots makes a backup copy
of your previous copy every time you save to an existing file. This
protects you in case you accidentally save bad data over good. The backed
up files have an extension of .BAK.
If you answer this question "yes", you lose the verbal prompt of the name of the new screen you are starting.
When the Transcriber View Mode is on, then the inkprint uses the same indent, runover, and blank lines as the braille. It also shows transcriber's notes. The Transcriber View does not use the dimensions of a braille page.
This option is used if a file operation (load or save MegaDots file, import or export a file, etc.) usually happens in only one directory. By specifying a default directory, you can simplify file operations since you do not have to specify the directory name. This feature is designed to make file operations easier on a computer network.
A macro is a sequence of keystrokes (text and/or commands) which can be executed in one stroke. For example you could define one macro command to insert a new print page indicator and then execute three Page Down commands. To create a macro, press Alt-M from the MegaDots Editor. For a full description of macros, see the help screen under macros in the Preferences Menu.
You can save yourself a lot of work by entering all your default settings in the New Document Preferences screens. For example, if you are producing many documents in textbook format, it gets tiresome to go to the Document Menu to set the Style Sheet to TEXTBK for every document. Instead, you can set the default style sheet for all new documents to be TEXTBK by using the New Document screens in the Preferences Menu. If you need to prepare one document in literary format, then you can select the LITERARY style sheet in the Document Menu for that document. In the United Kingdom, the default for new documents should be the BRITISH style sheet.
This menu lets you control key elements of braille translation. For example, you can specify how the many forms of inkprint emphasis are to be represented in the braille.
This menu controls which embosser is used as a model for formatting braille documents. This menu also lets you specify some obscure aspects of braille layout: Do you want to suppress even page numbers? Do you want fold lines on the braille page (i.e., are you going to mail a braille letter in a conventional envelope?). How do you want tables formatted if they do not fit in the line-for-line format? To learn more about these issues, go into this menu and explore the help screens.
This menu controls which inkprint printer is used as a model for formatting inkprint documents. This menu lets you specify some aspects of inkprint layout. Do you want large print output? Do you want spaces underlined? Do you want orphan or widow control? Again, you can use the help screens to learn about these issues.
This menu system lets you adjust all the aspects of inkprint and braille headings without having to change the styles that the headings are based on.
The load preferences option lets you switch to a different preferences file. You can have many preferences files if you choose. Different users or different kinds of projects may require different preferences files.
The save preferences option allows you to
save your preferences in a file with a .env extension. You
can switch preference files by using the load preferences option. You can
also use the /e switch when you start MegaDots to specify which
preferences file you want to use in your current session with MegaDots.
See Chapter 19 for more details.
There are four separate places in the MegaDots menus that specify output devices. We will discuss all four.
You can describe your output device in the Braille devices Preferences or the Inkprint devices Preferences. This gives MegaDots custom information, such as carriage width and output port, about particular devices. This information is built into the preferences file, and is not part of each document. To really make a device be the default, you also have to change the New Document Preferences.
In the Braille Document Screen in the New Document Preferences, you specify which braille device is your default to use for formatting. When MegaDots asked you Make the Braille Blazer the default brailler for all new documents? and you answered Yes, then MegaDots automatically inserted Braille Blazer as the default embosser in this menu choice.
Each time you start a new document, the document is marked with the name of the default embosser. When MegaDots wants to learn about that embosser (carriage width, output port, etc.), it looks at the braille device preferences.
In the Braille Document Setup Screen in the Document Menu, you can also specify which embosser is associated with the current document. If you want to change the brailler for your current document, you can change it in the Document Menu. So if you own a Braille Blazer (your default braille device), you can still tell MegaDots to format one particular document for a VersaPoint.
When you press F7 from the Editor to print an inkprint or braille document, MegaDots presents you with a default output device and a default port. You can change your mind seconds before you print your document.
You may want to produce a MegaDots file for another MegaDots user who has an embosser. Just put a blank for the embosser name in the Braille Document Setup screen in the Document Menu. When the document is embossed, MegaDots uses the printing defaults on the system with the embosser. The same applies for the Inkprint Document Setup.
Do you remember the first paragraph of this chapter? if not, re-read it now.
This chapter gives a step-by-step tutorial for using some of the most important commands and concepts in MegaDots. Each command is listed so that you can duplicate it on your computer.
This tutorial will give you a general idea of the scope of MegaDots' capabilities. Once you've gone through this tutorial, you will need to use the Reference Manual, and the rest of our documentation, to learn more about the features that meet your specific needs.
To use the Reference Manual online, press F12 from anywhere in MegaDots. To highlight the topic you want to learn about, just begin typing whatever name you think might be used for that topic. The cursor highlight moves to the first item that matches what you have typed so far. (This way of moving in a list is called incremental search). You can also move the highlight by using the arrow keys or the mouse. When the highlight is on the topic you want, press <Enter> to bring up the help for that topic. See the example in this chapter under Step 2: Selecting a Style Sheet.
Many of the instructions below use quick hotkeys to perform commands. You could find the same commands in the various menus, using the keyboard or the mouse, but we want to reinforce these hotkey shortcuts, like pressing F3 to open a file, or F4 to save a file. Note that these keystrokes work only when you're in the Editor, not when you're in a menu. For mouse basics, read the next-to-last part of Chapter 3.
This tutorial assumes you have installed MegaDots and have read Chapters 3 and 4 so that you are familiar with the basic concepts of MegaDots. It also assumes that you have set up your preferences for your access technology (if any), and your inkprint printer and braille embosser. Some of the text below reviews material covered in Chapters 3 and 4.
If you're in Windows, click on the MegaDots icon. If
you're at the MS-DOS prompt, type Mega <Enter>.
[Speech users: Press Control-E. You should hear the word Editor. If you don't hear that, press Control-Z A V to set up a voice-friendly screen, and then save your preferences by pressing F10 P S <Enter> Control-E.]
If you have not already done so, create a working
directory called megawork. To do this, get into the
Preferences Menu by pressing F10 P. Then select Default
Directories by pressing D. A form containing the item
"working directory" appears. With "Working directory" highlighted, press
F1 for help. The help window describes what filling in this item does.
Press Escape to leave the help window and get back to the default
directories form. With "working directory" highlighted type
C:\megawork. If you have not created this directory before,
MegaDots asks for permission to create it. Press Y to say yes. There are
other items to fill in
When you're ready to submit this form to MegaDots,
press F10. This brings you back to the Preferences Menu. The last thing to
do is to save your preferences, so that this new information will still be
there the next time you launch MegaDots. Press S. The default
filename for your preferences appears. Press Enter to accept that filename
(which is usually C:\Program Files\mega23\ENVIRON.ENV).
Now we'll copy some files from the MegaDots directory
to your megawork directory. Press Alt-F10 to temporarily
leave MegaDots, which leaves you at the MS-DOS prompt. The prompt
C:\megawork> appears, because you have made
megawork your current directory. Type the following commands
to copy some files into this directory:
You see a directory listing that shows the files
CHICKEN.MEG, SONGS.WP5 and
RJ-CAKE.HTM. There may be other files in this directory
depending on how much work you have already saved in it.
Now we're ready to go back into MegaDots. Since we
left MegaDots loaded in memory, just type EXIT <Enter>
to get back into MegaDots right where you left off.
CHICKEN.MEGNow we'll open the file CHICKEN.MEG.
Press Control-E to make sure that you're in the Editor. Press F3 to open a
document. MegaDots prompts you for the filename. Press F2 to get the list
of files in your current directory. Now, to select the file
CHICKEN.MEG, press C. The cursor highlight moves
to the first filename beginning with C. If you don't have your own files
in this directory, the highlight is on CHICKEN.MEG;
otherwise, type additional characters, use the arrow keys, or use the
mouse until the cursor highlight moves onto CHICKEN.MEG. Then
press Enter to open the file.
The text is on the screen in print form. It's also printed in the manual at the end of this chapter. However, the file we supplied has some things that we'll instruct you to change, to match the text printed at the end of this chapter. After we print out a page in inkprint and a page in braille, we'll do the following things to make the text match what's printed at the end of this chapter: