[bksvol-discuss] Re: Formatting Tabs or Spaces
- From: "Jake Brownell" <jabrown@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 20:04:51 -0500
Hi Lissi,
Here's a look at what BookShare tries to do.
It attempts to identify paragraphs, and digitally marks them as such. The
power of DAISY comes into play because the DAISY book knows what a paragraph
is. In theory, software programs from that point on should display the
paragraphs how the user wants. For example you may wish to have a blank line
denote paragraphs, whereas others may want to have an indent. For some users, a
larger indent might be nice and so they can use that.
Keep in mind that sometimes OCR software misjudges how many blank spaces
should be in a given place. More often than not it's clearer to the reader if
they are presented in a uniform fassion.
Now, the fact that Tabs are eaten...right, they should at minimum be
replaced with a space. And multiple spaces probably should be kept as well. But
unfortunately, with automated systems, reproducing each and every book exactly
as it appears in print is a practical impossibility.
HTH,
Jake
----- Original Message -----
From: Estelnalissi
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 7:57 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Formatting Tabs or Spaces
Dear Kelly,
Thanks for the explanation.
Does this mean when books are produced from Bookshare, there's no such thing
as an indent at all? So this book with 4 separate margins to indicate quotes
from narrative from song lyrics by arranging words flush, paragraph indent,
deep quote indent and one between paragraph and quote used for lines of quotes
over 1 line long will appear with no indents at all?
I'm surprised we're worrying about the fractional inches of difference
between m dash and double dash etc, when the entire spatial formatting of all
of the books is wiped out.
You know I love Bookshare and am always willing to work within the system,
but all of this talk about precisely duplicating the book now sounds like
overkill. I mean, at least as far as margins, indents for paragraphs, indented
poetry and quotes or reproduced correspondence, anything the publisher sets off
spatially is erased?
When I taught elementary to both blind and sighted kids, this spacing often
helped kids find their place on a page, and alerted them to the insertion of
material other than the narrative. I'm just shocked that I'm realizing this for
the first time after 13 months of trying to insure that a book's format was
replicated.
It isn't a criticism, but a huge alteration in my perception of my
responsibility. It will make validating easier, ignoring spacing and margins,
but it makes me realize bookshare books come out sort of literally flattened.
It does go to prove I can barely see my computer screen. I've listened to
several books on Daisy assuming the print was scrolling in an arrangement close
to that of the print book. It never occurred to me that everything was left
justified. I didn't go character by character to hear where things were placed.
On my braille note, I also gave up on understanding the format and read only
for content. Lack of format is the reason I haven't read poetry on my BN. For
most sighted poetry writers, placement of their words is a part of the art, a
compliment to the words.
As you suggest, I'll go on as I am. It's still scary to change things with
only 30 pages to go.
From now on, everything is left justified with only hard breaks to indicate
paragraphs, not even a blank line between them. Do I understand it now?
From the perspective of a person who has read braille from first grade and
only read print because it was the only way to read nearly 100 percent of the
reading material in the world I can say cramming print together without
offsetting anything with spaces, makes it visually more difficult to read. This
isn't an issue with me because I need bookshare for access to audio and braille
books. Realistically, I understand very well that when a system tries to cater
to every need, the end result is that far fewer people are served in the long
run.
Back to work I go, to an easier job and always loving bookshare.
Always with love,
Lissi
----- Original Message -----
From: Kellie Hartmann
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 5:54 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Formatting Tabs or Spaces
Hi Lissi and Paula,
I had to think about the spacing issue to get it straight in my head before
answering these. Lissi, I absolutely hate to tell you this after all the work
you've gone to on this validation. What happens is that tabs are completely
eaten and not replaced with even a space, and strings of spaces are all reduced
to one space. I don't know why this should be, but we had done some testing in
the past and that was what we'd figured out. Lissi, I wouldn't go back and take
the spaces out of your current project. Hopefully all the care you've taken on
the dashes will suffice to let readers know what's going on.
Kellie
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