DBT Tutorial Introduction

	Commonly Used Terms
	Introduction to Braille
		The Braille Cell
		Contractions
		How Braille Is Formatted

Commonly Used Terms

• Braille - The physical pages which are read by blind people and contain raised braille on them.
• Button - An item on a tool bar or dialog box which can be "clicked on" with a mouse cursor or by performing the equivalent action with the keyboard.
• Click - While pointing the mouse cursor to a point on the screen, pressing once on the left mouse button, or performing an equivalent action with the keyboard.
• Double Click - While pointing the mouse cursor to a point on the screen, pressing the left mouse button twice in quick succession, or performing an equivalent action with the keyboard.
• DBT - A commonly used nickname for the Duxbury Braille Translator.
• Duxbury - The company officially known as "Duxbury Systems, Inc."
• Emboss - The process of creating the raised dots on paper.
• Icon - A picture, usually on the Windows desktop, which represents an application that can be run by double-clicking on the icon.
• Menu - A list of actions in a running application which may be activated when selected.
• Print - The ink letters which are read by sighted people.
• Program Group - A group of related applications residing in the Windows "Start Menu."
• Right-Click - Refers to clicking the right mouse button. May refer to the left mouse button if your particular Windows settings are configured so that you to use your mouse with your left hand. Generally, the same function may be performed by using the shortcut menu key on a Windows 95 keyboard. If you do not have a Windows 95 keyboard, just type "SHIFT-F10".
• Select - To click once on or activate an application through use of keyboard without running it.
• Shortcut Keys - Combinations of keys which may be used instead of mouse clicks. For instance, instead of selecting the File menu, then clicking on "Open," one may type the shortcut keys: CTRL + o.
• Shortcut Keys: Function Keys - often it is possible to use the Function Keys as shortcut keys. When you are instructed to type f1 or f2, etc., type the key that corresponds - not the letter f and the number.
• Start Button - A button, usually in the bottom left-hand corner of the Windows desktop, which allows a computer user to access Windows settings and applications. It has a picture of the Windows logo and the word "Start" on it. When pressed, the "Start Menu" pops up. A keyboard user may access the Start Menu by typing the start button on his or her keyboard (on the left side of the keyboard, it is directly between the "ALT" and "CTRL" keys. If you don't have a Windows 95 Keyboard, you can type CTRL-ESC.
• Status Bar - The gray bar at the bottom of the DBT window, which displays the current style, the current page, current line, and current column.
• Task Bar - The gray bar next to the Windows Start Menu button that displays open applications.
• Text - The non-braille letters on a computer screen.
  

The Braille Cell

Some of you may be wondering why this package is called a braille translator. This question is most easily answered with a quick lesson in braille. You may already know that English braille characters (or "cells"), are composed of up to six dots arranged in two columns, as follows:

1* *4
2* *5
3* *6

Contractions

You may also know that there is a "braille alphabet" made up of different combinations of these six dots. From this fact, one might logically assume that each print letter is replaced with a braille equivalent. This is nearly true with the grade 1 braille system. However, most English braille readers prefer grade 2 to grade 1 braille. The grade 2 system has the same alphabet as grade 1, with added contractions for many words and word segments. For example, the three-letter word "the" becomes one character in grade 2 braille. The rules for using contractions are often based on pronunciation. While a contraction would be used for t-h-e in "theater," the same contraction would not be used in "sweetheart." There are 188 contractions in addition to the one for t-h-e. If you are interested in learning them, and in learning more about braille in general, please contact us for some resources.

How Braille Is Formatted

Just as braille translation is a complex task, so also is braille formatting. Braille does not always follow print format conventions. In fact, some print formats have no real substitute in braille. But before you become too concerned, we should point out that nicely formatted braille can often be made from print in just one step.

DBT includes many facilities to assist you in braille formatting. The Microsoft Word® and Corel WordPerfect® importers will handle centering, font changes, and many other word processing codes. If you start from an ASCII text file, Duxbury's "Page Image Bridge" is unequaled in what it can accomplish. If these import filters don't format your document correctly in the first place, DBT has its own built-in editor with styles and formatting codes to handle virtually any braille situation. You can also import many other file types, including HTML and SGML.