DBT Tutorial Starting Your First Document

 Starting Up DBT Win
Starting a New Document From Scratch
Entering New Text
Translating a Document
Embossing a Document
Closing a Document
Saving a Document
Exiting DBT Win
Applying This to My Everyday Work
 

Starting Up DBT Win

Windows 3.1

  1. From the Program Manager, open the "Duxbury" Program Group.
  2. Double Click the "DBT Win" Icon OR: Select the icon by using the keyboard, and type the enter key

Windows 95/98/NT

  1. Click the Start button on the Task Bar OR: Type the windows start button
  2. Choose Programs
  3. Select the "Duxbury" Program Group
  4. Click the "DBT Win" Icon OR: Using the arrow keys, move to the "DBT Win" option and type the enter key

Starting a New Document From Scratch

  1. Select "File: New" from the menu (See Fig. 1) OR: use the shortcut command CTRL-N by typing the key marked "Ctrl" and the letter "t" at the same time.
  2. Select "Print" and "Standard Format" in the dialog box (See Fig. 2)
  3. Click "OK"

Tip - Shortcut Keys (in pull-down menus)

Shortcut key commands are listed next to the corresponding menu command. For instance, when you select "File: New" from the menu, you can also type CTRL-N. This option is listed directly to the right of the menu command (See Fig. 1). Shortcut key options are an easy, quick way to carry out commands which can take much longer if you use the menu.

Entering New Text

To create our first document, we are going to type a letter. Type the following:

Dear Mother,
How are you? I'm well. I'm learning how to use the Duxbury Braille Translator. It isn't very hard! All you have to do is to type in the text, tell the program to translate, and emboss!

Love,
Misty

That's all - it's that simple!

Translating a Document

  1. Select "File: Translate" from the menu or type CTRL-T. (See Fig. 3)
  2. That's all! You've translated your document!

Embossing a Document

Embossing a document is very easy. It's setting up the embosser that can be difficult. There are many different types of embossers, and each works a little bit differently. DBT needs to adjust itself to each embosser, so in the end you may need to use trial and error to get your embosser working. If you cannot get your embosser working by following the directions below, please feel free to contact our technical support.

Setting Up Your Embosser

  1. Set up your embosser according to the manufacturer's directions. Be sure it is connected to your computer, plugged in to a power outlet, and turned on. If you have a Braille Blazer, be sure that it is set to zero lines per page. In most cases, you should not have to change your embosser's factory presets.
  2. Select "Embosser Setup" from the Global menu in DBT
  3. Select your embosser model and the output. (See Fig. 4) When you select your model, the dialog box will set default settings. In many cases, you should only need to change the output setting. Nine times out of ten, this setting will be "LPT 1." If your embosser uses a serial connection, you will use a Com port. If your embosser uses a parallel connection, you will use an LPG port. Your embosser's installation instructions should include information about the type of connection.
  4. 4. If your embosser supports interpoint embossing, and you want to emboss on both sides of the paper, select "Treat as Interpoint Embosser" and be sure your embosser is set to interpoint embossing.
  5. Click "OK" until you return to your document window.

Embossing a Document

    1. Type CTRL-E, or select "Emboss" from the "File" Menu. IMPORTANT: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN EMBOSSER SET UP, DO NOT USE THE "EMBOSS" COMMAND!
    2. Click "OK" or type the enter key

Closing a Document

There are three ways to close a document. Be sure to close the document, not the application.

Take the Long Route - Use the File Menu

  1. Select "File: Close" from the menu
  2. If DBT asks whether you want to save the document, click "Discard."

Take the Mouse Shortcut

  1. Click the document's "Close" button (See Fig. 5)
  2. If DBT asks whether you want to save the document, click "Discard."

Take the Keyboard Shortcut

  1. Type CTRL-F4
  2. If DBT asks whether you want to save the document, click "Discard."

Saving a Document

  1. Select "File: Save" from the menu, or type CTRL-S.
  2. Type "letter.dxp"- the extension ".dxp" tells DBT that this is going to be a DBT print document.
  3. Be sure to save your document in the "dbtdocs" directory. (See Fig. 6)
  4. Click "Save" or press the enter key.

A Note About Closing & Saving Documents:

When you exit DBT, the application first closes any open documents. If you have made changes to a document and have not saved those changes, DBT will ask you if you want to save your changes. DBT also saves the position of your cursor. If your document is a long one, you may find that the next time you open the document, you can't see the beginning of it. In order to avoid confusion, type CTRL-Home, to place your cursor at the beginning of the document, before saving. If you want to remember where you stopped working, then don't move the cursor to the beginning of the document before saving it.

Exiting DBT Win

Take the Long Route - Use the File Menu

Take the Mouse Shortcut

Take the Keyboard Shortcut:

Applying This to My Everyday work

The skills covered in this section are the most basic necessities when using DBT. Without these skills, you will not be able to use DBT. You should now be able to:

next section
Site colors
Black on White
White on Black
Browser colors