[duxuser] Re: braille standards

  • From: "George Bell" <george@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 18:10:35 -0000

Yes Ann,

It's the appropriate Word Processor Operators manual - which nobody every
[expletive omitted] well reads.

I have just been involved in producing a fairly hefty Word document of a
mere 80 pages, and have spent more hours than I care to mention re-styling
it.

A message which I am trying desperately to get across to people is that
literally millions of hours are being wasted word-wide, simply because
people do not know - or in fairness, have never been trained - to use their
system properly.

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Braille production, and is actually
costing employers serious money.  That's the message we need to get across.
Money out of the employer's pocket.

The problem is that most employers don't know how to use the software
themselves, and moreover can't see that even a days basic training could
save them money in an extremely short space of time.

But as you and I know, the spin off for us is that if programs like Word
were being used even half properly, our job would be far, far easier.  That
would also save a lot of the costs in producing braille.  (Which everyone
complains is way too high!)

For example, I regularly see hard carriage returns being used to force a new
page, as opposed to using Ctrl + Return.

I see Tabs being used to indent paragraphs, rather than simply adjusting
margins.

I see hand typed Tables of Contents because users don't know how to use
Heading Styles to automatically generate them.

Rant over for just now.  I need a cold beer.

George Bell.

-----Original Message-----
From: duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Foxworth, Ann
Sent: 24 November 2003 22:00
To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [duxuser] braille standards

Do any of you know of a current publication outlining standards for
formatting documents to make them "braille-friendly"?

Ann Foxworth, Computer Braille Specialist Texas Commission for the Blind
4800 N. Lamar BLVD Suite # 130 Austin, TX 78756
PH: (512) 377-0654
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