the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever invented for the Blind

  • From: "Alan Dicey" <adicey@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:55:39 -0400

Dear Cy, 
I respectfully disagree with you!
I am sure the Personal Computer was the greatest thing invented to assist the 
Blind so far!

It will read anything also!
And it allows Blind to perform work as fast if not faster than Sighted people.

With Best Regards,
Alan
Miami, Florida
Alan Dicey, President
United States Braille Chess Association - USBCA
"Yes, Blind or Visually Impaired People Can, and Do, Play Chess!!!"
United States Braille Chess Association Home Page:  
http://AmericanBlindChess.org

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Cy Selfridge 
  To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 10:37 AM
  Subject: RE: One or two spaces


  The Optacon was the single greatest invention of all times for a blind person.

  It is the only device which would allow a blind person to read almost 
anything printed.

  Cy, The anasazi 

   

  From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Dave Durber
  Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 6:32 PM
  To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Subject: Re: One or two spaces

   

  As an Optacon user, (Remember that useful gadget), to read books, I notice 
that the amount of space between sentences still seems to be the equivalent of 
two spaces.

   

  There is a feature in Word that will create the equivalent amount of space 
between sentences as if you had pressed the SPACE BAR twice.

   

  You can have word do the same thing between paragraphs but with the 
equivalent amount of space between paragraphs as if you had pressed the ENTER 
key twice.

   

  I have not used these functions personally, this is because I have no trust 
in a Microsoft product to do always what it claims to do.  Oh, dear me, 
untrusting cynic that I am.

   

  So, being as I am becoming an old fuddy duddy,, I will go on tapping the 
SPACE BAR twice between sentences and tapping the ENTER key twice to put a 
blank line to insert a blank line between paragraphs and before and after 
headings.

   

  HTH

   

  Sincerely:

   

  Dave Durber

   

  ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: CrisMunoz54 

    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 5:36 PM

    Subject: RE: One or two spaces

     

    Two spaces are from the days of the typewriter. Go one space. It'll look 
better.

     

     

     


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of Adrian Spratt
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 2:33 PM
    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: RE: One or two spaces

     

    Hi, John. Just to save anyone a duplication of effort, this Wikipedia link 
is to the same article as the one given to us by G.W. Cox.

     


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of john R. Vaughn
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 4:57 PM
    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: One or two spaces

    Adrian and list, interesting issue of whether to single or double space 
after the terminal punctuation for a sentence and the beginning of the next 
sentence.  Believe it or not, the link below is from wicipedia on the matter 
and I found this from doing a google search.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing#History

     

    As for me, always a double space bar between sentences, I am going to try 
the one space bar and and have sighted folks tell me if the MS Word program 
does infact do some sort of variable spacing to clearly indicate the end of one 
sentence and another.  

    John 

     


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of Adrian Spratt
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 2:04 PM
    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: RE: please help

    Hi, Richard.

     

    You couch your argument in terms of blind computer users making sure their 
work looks as polished as our sighted colleagues. I agree with this concept, 
but you do it a disservice by flatly asserting that double spaces meet that 
objective. I was persuaded to switch to single spaces while using word 
processors by several sighted people who observed too much space at the ends of 
my sentences and by a man who has published the two standard texts on 
typesetting and typeset conventions.

     

    There may be special circumstances, such as the tab issue brought up by Ted 
Lisle, but the Wikipedia entry to which G.W. Cox sent a link lays out the 
history and current general preference.

     

    This is one of those questions that is very hard for us to grasp because 
the impact is purely visual. Unsupported, strongly worded assertions don't help.

     

    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of Richard P. Kelly
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:14 AM
    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: RE: please help

     

    Greetings all,

     

    Proper formatting of a print document still calls for two spaces at the end 
of a sentence, after a colon, and perhaps elsewhere. This remains true even 
with mono spaced or proportionally spaced fonts. New word processors often 
assure proper style is used if auto correct and grammar checking is on. Still, 
we want what we print to look as polished as what our sighted colleagues 
produce; if not better!

     

    Cordially, Richard P. Kelly rpkelly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

     

    rich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

     

    www.new-visions-network.com

     

    From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of Lisle, Ted (CHFS DMS)
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 6:50 AM
    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: RE: please help

     

    Now that's interesting. I Have seen one space from time to time, but never 
knew why. I sometimes long for the days of Pica and Elite, when laying out a 
document. In the immortal words of Edith Bunker, "You knew where you were 
then." However, I've managed to figure out which font-size combinations are 
functional equivalents of the old Pica, 10-space-per-horozontal-inch, format, 
and that's what I use. Vertical spacing will have to look after itself.

     

    Ted

     

    From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of Adrian Spratt
    Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 6:37 PM
    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: RE: please help

     

    I preface this suggestion by acknowledging there's a debate about whether 
there should be one or two spaces after the end of a sentence. Despite my 
pre-computer typing training, I have been convinced that modern print fonts 
mean that two spaces are no longer desirable. So the way I solve the problem 
you describe is to search for two spaces and replace with one space. If you 
think there might be an odd number of spaces, say three, then search for that 
number first and replace with a single space. Then search for all instances of 
a double space and replace with that single space.

     

    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

    From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of Hina
    Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 6:24 PM
    To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: please help

     

    hi,

     

    i am writing a lots of reports and i did figure out formatting issues, but 
i am not sure how will i know if there are extra spaces between words, 
sentenses and paragraphs without reading word by word which is so time 
consuming? for sighted people, microsoft word highlights but is there any way 
to know with jaws? microsoft's spell checke option says that there is extra 
space and suppose to change it to make corrections, but they still remain and 
is there a way to deal with this issue with jaws?

     

    i would be very thankful for your help.

     

    hina.

     

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