This is an announcement of an exciting new software development project
that will greatly increase the availability and usability of Braille.
Since this is an open source project, you are invited to participate. We
need transcribers and technical writers as well as programmers.
BrailleBlaster will be excellent for translating and formatting braille
and inserting tactile graphics and hence release a blast of braille.
It will be very user-friendly for non-technical users but also powerful
enough for experts.
Naive users will be able easily to compose simple documents and then
translate and emboss them in braille or read them on a braille display.
Advanced users will be able to divide books into multiple braille
volumes, with title pages, tables of contents, and end-notes for each
volume.
The BrailleBlaster project should be completed within less than two
years.
BrailleBlaster will be fully usable in speech or braille by people who
are blind.
It will be designed for Windows, MacIntosh, and Linux operating systems
and common screenreaders
It will have visual display controls that make it maximally accessible
for users with low vision and other visual disabilities.
It will be localized into most major languages.
BrailleBlaster will be developed under the Apache 2.0 license, which
permits broad use, including use in commercial software.
BrailleBlaster's sponsors are ViewPlus Technologies, Inc. and
Abilitiessoft, Inc. They will hold the license copyright.
