We should stress that the principles here are specifically NOT exclusive to DBT. They are used in every popular Word Processor produced today - only the terms and how things are applied may differ slightly.
A Code is a special instruction which tells DBT to do something specific, usually at or just after the point at which the Code is placed in the text. A Code can be something as simple as telling DBT to go onto a new line, skip a line, or indeed be quite complex, such as where and how page numbering is to appear in our document. There are over 100 codes in DBT, but in the majority of cases, we may only need to use a small number of them in any one document - if at all.
A Style is nothing more than two pairs of one or more Codes, which in turn appear at the beginning of a section of text, and also at the end of a section of text. Styles are especially useful if you need to perform two or more actions on text which would require the use of a number of Codes.
Remember also that Braille differs in many ways from print, and indeed differs in some very special ways.
An example of a Style is one of DBT's Headings. Here we might begin with a Code which tells us that the lines of our heading must be kept together on one page. We might then want to start centering the text. Finally, we might want to tell the braille reader that the text is on a bold font.
Having begun the Style, we must also say where it ends. Consequently in our example above, a series of codes effectively says, "Stop keeping lines on one page, stop centering the text, and tell the reader that it is no longer in bold."
No. There are basically two kinds of Style.
The first is called a "Linear style". Often these are called "Paragraph styles" instead, because these styles apply to an entire paragraph. But do not be fooled, even one line is technically a paragraph, such as a Heading for example, provided it ends with a carriage return or new line code of some kind.
The second is called a "Nestable style", though you will often hear people refer to this as a "Character style". This is where a Style is applied to Text within a paragraph or to text that crosses a paragraph boundary. An example of this is where we might have an e-mail or web address which in many countries is translated using Computer Braille, which in turn has its own special rules. The DBT Style called "compinline" (without the quotes) is therefore often applied to e-mail or web addresses.
Styles whose name ends with a period, or full stop, are Linear (Paragraph) styles. Those which do NOT end with a period are Nestable (Character) styles. (Screen reader users beware!)
Normally you do not see these Codes or Styles when you are editing text in DBT because they are usually hidden. We can however view codes in DBT's editing screen in one of two ways. The long way is to open the "View" menu, and select "Codes" from the list. If viewing codes is turned on, you will see a tick against the "Codes" menu item. This is what is called a "toggle" operation, so if you select Codes again when it is ticked, they will be turned off.
The short way is to hold down the Alt key, and press the F3 key once to turn Codes on. Again, this is a "toggle" command, so pressing Alt + F3 will turn them off.
When you turn Codes on, you will see additional text appear which will be enclosed in either square brackets like these [ ], or greater than and less than symbols like these < >.
A Code is enclosed in Square Brackets, for example [sk1] which tells DBT to Skip one line.
A Style is enclosed between less than and greater than signs, and there should also be a Beginning Style and an Ending Style. For example, <h1.>My Heading</h2.> (Those who are familiar with the Code behind web pages will recognize the similarity.)
First, make sure that your cursor, or insertion pointer, is located where you wish to insert your Code.
You now have three ways to insert the Code. The long way is via the Layout Menu, then select the Code Group such as say, "Line Codes", and finally perhaps the "Skip Line" code.
(Note while you are looking at the menu here that where there is a keyboard command, it is listed beside the name, eg, Skip Line... Ctrl-k. )
The second and shorter way in this instance (but not all cases) is therefore to use the keyboard command Ctrl + k.
The third and sometimes quickest way, if you know the actual code you wish to insert, is to press the F9 key. (hold down the Ctrl key and press [ (Left square bracket). A dialog box will pop up, into which you type the code, for example, sk1, and then simply press Enter.
Remember that there are two kinds of Style, and so the Style must be applied slightly differently.
A "Paragraph Style" applies to an entire paragraph. We can therefore simply place our cursor anywhere inside the paragraph. To apply a Style the long way, open the Layout Menu, choose Apply Style, and then navigate through the list of Styles to say "h1.", which is equivalent to "Heading 1" in Word for Windows, and press Enter. The short way is to press the F8 key, which immediately brings up the list of Styles. As the list of Styles is in alphabetical order, we can press the letter f, and we will be positioned at the beginning of f section. If required, you can just keep typing through the name of the Style until it is highlighted. When you reach the required Style, press Enter.
A "Character Style" applies to a section of text within a paragraph. Let us suppose for this example, we want to apply the "compinline" (computer braille) Style to an e-mail address. Before we can apply the Style, we need to highlight the text to which that Style will be applied. [see highlighting text elsewhere for instructions]
Having highlighted the text, the long way is to open the Layout Menu, choose Apply Style, and then navigate through the list of Styles to say "compinline" and press Enter. The short way is to press the F8 key, which immediately brings up the list of Styles. As the list of Styles is in alphabetical order, we can press the letter c, and we will be positioned at the beginning of the c section. Up or down arrow if required to reach the Style required, and press Enter.
There is now an additional way to enter Styles, assuming you know the name of the Style you wish to apply. Place your cursor at the point in the document where you wish the Style to begin.
Hold down the Ctrl Key and press F9. A dialog box will pop up, into which you can type the Style name, for example para. - note that as this is a Paragraph Style, you must ensure you type the period or full stop. Press Enter.
Now navigate to the point in your document where you wish the Style to end. Press Ctrl + F9, and in the dialog box type / (forward slash) followed by the name of the style you typed at the beginning., for example /para. (do not forget the period)
If you now examine your document, you should see the Beginning and Ending Style embracing your selected text.