[brailleblaster] Re: The current controversy
- From: "John J. Boyer" <john.boyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2012 10:21:44 -0500
The default style will be paragraph. There will be a menu item and a
hotkey that will bring up a list of styles applicable to that particular
xml flavor.
John
On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 09:41:26AM -0400, Franïois Ouellette wrote:
> I think that this is a good round up of what most users will expect.
> At the user experience level, things should remain simple for the
> casual user. For example, prompting to assign a style to a block of
> text may be something outside of many users' understanding or
> requirement. Perhaps the default style should automatically apply
> unless a user uses a menu item to specify an alternate style instead?
> For advanced users dealing with structured documents like NIMAS or
> ePub, or wanting to apply international Braille presentation
> standards, then styling will be a nice way of controlling how the
> Braille gets displayed in a specific way.
>
> F.
>
> On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 4:45 AM, John J. Boyer
> <john.boyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Michael,
> >
> > I haven't wanted to answer this message, because I want to stop arguing.
> > At the same time the sugestion that we list the features we want in
> > BrailleBlaster is a good one.
> >
> > One goal is that BrailleBlaster should have a decent visual appearance.
> > After all, sighted users will be a major source of tactile documents.
> > The print window will also have to present images, as Keith has pointed
> > out.
> >
> > Another goal is that people who know little of Braille shouldn't have to
> > worry about it. The print window should therefore not be formatted to
> > imitate the Braille window. In fact, people with little knowledge of
> > Braille would probably make bad formatting decisions.
> >
> > The print window will have a means of assigning styles to blocks of
> > characters. This was discussed im many previous messages.
> >
> > What other features do you think BrailleBlaster should have? I want to
> > see a simple list, not arguments for this or that.
> >
> > John
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 07:27:56AM +0100, Michael Whapples wrote:
> >> I am not sure if comparing to wordpad is a good thing, surely they have
> >> very different goals. It may even be unhelpful.
> >>
> >> WordPad is aimed for sighted people viewing "print" documents, with the
> >> only intent being for it to be used for "print" documents. They want the
> >> document to look how it will on paper, they want documents they are sent
> >> to look the way the author intended, they want to be able to send people
> >> documents and for it to look the way it did on their screen.
> >>
> >> In contrast, as I have said before, BrailleBlaster is focussed on
> >> creating documents which will translate into Braille. The print view is
> >> purely so they know what the document contains, this includes what the
> >> structural elements are. Does it visually need to be accurate to the
> >> visual presentation of the authoring tool? I am probably thinking of the
> >> separation of structure and presentation, a similar thing might be html
> >> and CSS, does BrailleBlaster really need to be concerned with the
> >> presentation (CSS if going with the HTML example) side of the document?
> >>
> >> Wordpad will have features not needed by BrailleBlaster, setting font
> >> size being one example. How would setting font size actually contribute
> >> to BrailleBlaster's goals?
> >>
> >> Equally BrailleBlaster might benefit from features not in wordpad, for
> >> example a feature like "insert heading" or "Mark selection as heading".
> >>
> >> I feel it may be much more productive if we actually agree what features
> >> should be present rather than using a comparison which may not be fully
> >> relevant.
> >>
> >> Michael Whapples
> >> On 14/10/2012 16:09, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >> >Yes. Something like WordPad is what I have in mind.
> >> >
> >> >liblouisutdml already implements the formatting rules for U.S> Braille
> >> >through the preferences.cfg file. Peoplein other countries have probably
> >> >tweaked it for their own rules. They are not standard across countries
> >> >and languages.
> >> >
> >> >As discussed somewhere in the thread on the block diagram, it turns out
> >> >that most of the things I thought should go in BrailleBlaster
> >> >configuration files actually belong in the UserSettings file or in the
> >> >semantic-action file for a particular flavor of xml. I'll be revising
> >> >the block diagram acordingly.
> >> >
> >> >Michael pointed out that somebody might misuse the facilities of an xml
> >> >flavor by indicating a heading with a font change, for exxample. That is
> >> >something we will have to watch out for. Another example is documents
> >> >containing more than one language, where authors usually don't use
> >> >markup to indicate which language is being used.
> >> >
> >> >The specification does need to be updared with what we have learned form
> >> >experience and what APH requires.
> >> >
> >> >Let's take a rest on this Sunday.
> >> >
> >> >John B.
> >> >
> >> >On Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 07:49:46AM -0700, John Gardner wrote:
> >> >>Hello all, I am in the middle of an actual vacation and am trying to
> >> >>spend
> >> >>as little time as practical doing anything else for a few weeks. I have
> >> >>skimmed the BrailleBlaster communication and think it is time to go back
> >> >>to
> >> >>the specification document and update/expand it. That document was
> >> >>written
> >> >>largely by me with contributions from John Boyer and severl others. It
> >> >>is
> >> >>intended to say what BrailleBlaster should be from the point of view of
> >> >>the
> >> >>end user. It does say that one should be able to create simple documents
> >> >>and to import a variety of document types. It does not say that it
> >> >>should
> >> >>be a full-featured word processor, but it does list a number of standard
> >> >>functionalities it needs. Crudely speaking, it does not need to mimic MS
> >> >>Word, but it does need to have most features of WordPad. So let's go
> >> >>back
> >> >>to that spec document and work through it line by line until we all
> >> >>understand the goals.
> >> >>
> >> >>John G
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>________________________________
> >> >>
> >> >>John Gardner | President | ViewPlus
> >> >>541.754.4002 x 220 | www.viewplus.com
> >> >>________________________________
> >> >>
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> >> >>
> >>
> >
> > --
> > John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> > Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> > http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> > Madison, Wisconsin USA
> > Developing software for people with disabilities
> >
> >
--
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities
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