Cool, modern screen readers are as sophisticated as other types of programs, and if necessary blind readers can get pretty much all the information out of a page sighted readers can. But, OCR programs for all their sophistication still can do weird things like changing font, size, bold, line spacing, and so on where there is no actual change in the book. So, at least for general fiction, I'd accept changing everything to one font and size. Paragraph indents can be very useful. Changing chapter headings to a larger size or to bold is nice. Trying to duplicate things like drop caps (the big capital letters, usually in a fancy font at the beginning of a chapter) is definitely not necessary. It's usually just the publisher (not the author) being pretentious, Ok, that's just my opinion, but I'm sticking to it.
Misha Lora wrote:
Actually, JAWS can be set to announce font and color changes. Before I open my mouth and insert my foot, I'm trying a little experiment here. Sighted readers should see three different colors, and three different fonts, in this message. In order to do this, go into the Configuration Manager for Word or Outlook, and choose the Speech and Sounds Manager from the Settings menu. In there, you'll see lots of different sound schemes for working with things like VB.Net, or the Web. I chose Proofreading Attributes, Font Info and Color. Now as I read, JAWS announces the color changes as they occur, and reads different fonts in different voices. Sorry to sighted readers if this message looks chaotic . You can make these same configuration changes in Word or Word Perfect, etc. The trouble is, in order for this to be effective, you'd have to be reading the whole book. If you were, though, font and color changes would be announced. What I was hoping was that JAWS had a Quick Keys setting for font change, but I don't see one. Then you could just move to the next font change, and that'd be easy. You can also use Word's find features to find a specific font, or find a specific color of text, but for that to be useful, you'd have to know what you were looking for. None of this probably helps much, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Carrie Karnos*Sent:* Monday, February 04, 2008 4:00 PM *To:* bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx*Subject:* [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question on Scan quality for blind vs other types of disabled bookshare readersHi Evan,One option is for blind validators to set the font of the entire book to 11 (or thereabouts). I don't particularly like this option because it's harder for sighted people to see chapter and section titles when they are the same size as the regular text, but it is an option.Just an FYI, Carrie ----- Original Message ---- From: EVAN REESE <mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, February 4, 2008 1:47:46 PMSubject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question on Scan quality for blind vs other types of disabled bookshare readersI think you're right on this. Being unable to see the screen, I have no idea how I can be aware of - let alone correct - font problems without checkingthe font of every word in the book manually. I have checked the fonts ofheadings when scanning or validating books, but for the rest, I just have to assume the fonts are okay. A person with enough vision to see the screen can look at a whole page and see that something is out of whack. I don't see howsomewhat with insufficient vision could do anything similar. If I ammistaken, please let me know. I could, of course, check each page in Word or K1000 and see what kinds of fonts are on it, and what the sizes are. But asfar as I know, those programs don't tell you which font is where on thepage. So someone who cannot see the screen would need some way of hearing -on the fly - when the font changes and the new characteristics. Is thatpossible? Unless that can be done, or there is another way for someone withlittle or no vision to be aware of font problems without a great deal oftime consuming manual checking, it seems unrealistic to expect that books onBookshare will have no font problems, as long as people with little or no vision are submitting or validating them. Evan ----- Original Message ----- From: <james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 8:55 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question on Scan quality for blind vs other types of disabled bookshare readers > Hi, > I will add to this that as a blind validator, it would probably be> difficult to correct all font problems. If I am incorrect about this, I am> certainily open to validation help. > > Jim > > James D Homme, , Usability Engineering, Highmark Inc., > james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, 412-544-1810 >> "it is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis." --> Margaret Bonnano > > > > "Anastasia > Saridakis" > <anamatia81@yahoo To> .com> bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> Sent by: cc > bksvol-discuss-bo> unce@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:unce@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject> g [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question on > Scan quality for blind vs other > types of disabled bookshare readers > 02/01/2008 07:48 > PM > > > Please respond to > bksvol-discuss@fr > eelists.org <http://eelists.org> > > > > > > > Hi Judy >> Before telling you my thoughts about your question let me introduce myself > I'm Anastasia; I am legally blind and use a screen enlarger. So I can see> the print but it is straining so I prefer to listen. >> Here are my thoughts: I scan in one file type that keeps the format, kes,> and submit it in one that deletes the format. This type, rtf is more > universal. RTF automatically deletes the formats. It is more fluid > listening to it without the format. However, I can understand as someone > who reads print why keeping the format in tact for the recent members > would be beneficial, the only format that keeps the print in tact is KES> and that is not a universal file. I hope I have answered your question If> you have further questions or would like to further discuss this topic > please email me off list. > > Anastasia > >> Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.> > > > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list > of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.> > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email tobksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.------------------------------------------------------------------------Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51733/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ%20>
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