[duxhelp] Re: word documents related problems
- From: "George Bell" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 12:42:12 -0000
Hi Anita,
I saw you recalled your message, but as this might benefit
others, I'll answer anyway. I'd better add that this might
get quite technical later, so please bear with me.
I think I can help you with your Word question, though just
how, might depend on which version of Word you are using.
Hence I'll try to explain both.
First, as J.-F. mentioned, to use the apostrophe and quotes
keys to generate the correct braille dots, you need to turn
off a feature in Word which automatically changes these two
characters into what are variously called "Smart Quotes",
"Printer's Quotes" or "Curly Quotes". To do this, one
normally goes to Word's Tools menu, and select "AutoCorrect
Options". There are usually two Tabs which you need to look
at. "AutoFormat" and "AutoFormat as you type". In both of
these tabs, in the "Replace" section, should be a check box
marked (in English anyway) - "Straight quotes" with "smart
quotes". Uncheck that in BOTH tabs.
O.K. That's the quick way, but of course if you actually
WANTED "Smart Quotes" in your normal print, you would have a
problem because you have turned this feature off.
Now, as they say in the ladies hair shampoo advert, "Here
comes the science!"
(1) You want dots 3 and 5, but don't want to loose your
"Smart Quotes"
To force dot 3 only, hold down the Alt Key, and on the
keyboard numeric pad, type 039 and release the Alt Key.
To force dot 5 only, hold down the Alt Key, and on the
keyboard numeric pad, type 034 and release the Alt Key.
(2) In Word 2003 (and possibly one or two earlier version
back, you can also do the following:-
To force dot 3 only, type 0027 then immediately hold down
the Alt key, and press the letter x
To force dot 5 only, type 0022 then immediately hold down
the Alt key, and press the letter x
(You will see the numbers appear in your document when you
type, but when you press Alt + x, they will be replaced.)
So where do these numbers come from? (This is heavier
science - smile!)
In Word, go to the Insert menu, and select "Symbols".
Select your braille font, which should now appear in the
dialog. Look for the dot combination you require and
highlight it. Down towards the bottom of the dialog, you
will see two boxes. "Character Code:" and "From:". In the
"From" Box, select "ASCII (Decimal)". If you select dot 3
or dot 5, you will see a number appear in the "Character
Code" box, which will be 39 or 34 respectively. Use THAT
number with a zero in front to generate the appropriate
character as described in (1) above.
Note that there is also a description of what keyboard key
can be used. Where Word's AutoCorrect feature isn't messing
you about, you can normally use whatever is listed.
However, if you select "Unicode (hex)" in the "From:" box,
you will see a four digit number appear. You can therefore
use THAT number using the method described at (2) above.
(But remember, this only works with one or two of the very
latest versions of Word, and indeed MS Office applications
generally.)
And now for even more science!!
For the benefit of those involved in multiple languages, and
who may not know what Unicode is, I'm going to try briefly
to explain that too.
Unicode is essentially a massive character Table comprising
of over 40,000 possible characters and symbols. Just
imagine a list of not only the Roman letters, numbers and
punctuation we are using here, but also add the same for
Greek, Arabic, Cyrillic and all the other languages which do
not write as we do. And yes, even all permutations of 6
braille dots are included in this massive list.
Each of these characters, or "Glyphs" as they are often
called, has been given a unique Unicode number.
Obviously we cannot possibly have a keyboard with 40,000 or
more keys. Consequently, if you are using a Hebrew
Keyboard, for example, your computer is set up in such a way
that it will generate the Hebrew characters you would use in
your day to day Hebrew writing.
However, with the advent of Windows XP, you now have a
method of inputting absolutely ANY characters from the
Unicode table - PROVIDED - a) You know the Unicode Number,
and b) that part of the Unicode set is installed on your
system. Just type the number, which by the way may also
include letters, and press Alt + x.
To see some of the codes supported by DBT, take a look at
the Help Files, "Special Characters" section.
Now for some brief history.
You will see in the Help: Special Characters tables,
reference to "DUSCII". Believe it or not, way before
Unicode became a reality, Joe Sullivan, President of
Duxbury, devised a method of handling non Roman Alphabet
characters to produce correct braille. Hence, within DBT
itself, you do have to use the DUSCII method to input
special characters. However, I'll let you do your own
reading there.
And if you are still with me at this point - Thank you. I
hope I've not given you a headache. If I've not made
anything clear, please feel free to ask.
George Bell.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Anita
Munshi
> Sent: 02 December 2004 20:16
> To: duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [duxhelp] word documents related problems
>
> Hello Peter:
>
> I love the explanation you have given to some of the codes
> asked by one of the user of DBT. I know you are
travelling,
> but I didn't want to forget abot this problem. I also
have a
> sample file so I thought of writing this email now. You
can
> get back to me when you get time.
>
> Two things:
>
> One we sometimes need to create braille dots or simbraille
> dots in Word using the braille font. Two dots we cannot
get
> to work is dot 3 and dot 5 - (which is an apostrophy and a
> double quotes in ASCII). Every other contraction works
(at
> least the ones I have tried). Do you know what the reason
> for this is. This is required when we create a print
manual
> and need to give braille examples. Right now of course I
> create the dots in DBT, copy them into word and change the
> font to braille. Is there a way to make Word recognize
these
> dots and get a dot 5 and a dot 3 to work.
>
> Second problem I have reporte many times. Lot of headings
> that are upper caps or fully cap words in Word import into
> DBT either as Initial caped letters or no caps at all.
And
> if I am not paying attention to all the headings and mini
> headings, I get a long sheet of errors. Attached is a
file
> which gives you perfect examples. I imported it into DBT
> 10.5 and you can see the results, most Double Caps have
been
> dropped. Is there a solution for this?
>
> Your help is very much appreciated.
>
> Anita Munshi
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Sullivan [mailto:peter@xxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 2:20 PM
> To: duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [duxhelp] Re: Several questions about some codes
>
>
> Hello Pascale,
>
> I do have time for one message before my flight out.
>
> [lps] and [lpr] are useful for creating certain biblical
> formats in which verse numbers are shown in several cells
> reserved along the left edge of the page. Text beyond the
> space on the left wraps normally. A DBT user can create
the
> desired wrapping by setting a left margin, using the [ind]
> command. Then, the only problem is getting the verse
numbers
> back to the left edge of the page, well to the left of the
> left margin. For this, it is typical to use [lps] (to
save
> the current place on the page), then [taa1] to "zap" to
the
> left edge of the page. After typing the verse number,
[lpr]
> is used to return to the spot where the next word in the
text
> should be.
>
> Guidewords are words typically found at the top or bottom
of
> a dictionary page. The guideword on the left page matches
> the first entry on that page.
> The guideword on the right page matches the last entry on
that page.
>
> An "anticpatory page number" is that page number which
> matches the print page corresponding to the text at the
end
> of a braille page. In Australia and, I believe, the UK,
even
> when print page numbers are shown at the top of a braille
> page, they should correspond to print page number for the
> text at the end of that page.
>
> The paramters to [vcs] (M:N) are difficult to understand.
> Fortunately, they are not often needed. To understand
them,
> it is simplest to think of them as a fraction N divided by
M.
> So [vcs2:1] could be read as "vertical center, one-half".
> The one half means that the space before the text on this
> page will be one-half the of the total count of blank
lines.
> Likewise [vcs3:1] (or "vertical center, one-third" means
that
> one-third of the blank lines will be above the text
> (two-thirds will be below). To flip these proportions,
you
> would use [vcs3:2], so that two-thirds of the blank lines
> will be above the text, and one-third will be below it.
> Leaving the parameters out altogether is just like using
> [vcs2:1], so the text will be vertically centered. Using
> [vcs1:1] aligns all of the text at the bottom of the page,
> because all blank lines are placed above the text.
>
> George may be in touch with further details. (Thanks for
jumping in,
> George!) I won't be available for at least the next
> twenty-four hours.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Peter
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pascale
ISEL
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 11:21 AM
> To: duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [duxhelp] Several questions about some codes
>
>
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