Max:
Regarding the second app you propose for English speakers, it's interesting,
but I think it probably won't happen. I think we old fuddy duddies are
going to have to get used to UEB, warts and all. I know that it feels
unfamiliar to longtime Braille users, takes up more room, and sometimes
doesn't exactly solve problems but just sort of kicks them upstairs instead.
Anyone who has taken the course on UEB from Hadley probably knows what I
mean. In a couple of instances, it avoids having to memorize complicated
rules by creating word lists, which, guess what, have to be memorized. And
memorizing word lists is probably the most taxing and costly way of doing
things imaginable. Avoiding the need to memorize endless lists of
individual words is why languages have grammars, after all. Fortunately,
these lists are mostly for words that are pretty obscure. but it's still
kind of a dumb way to do things.
But despite all that, UEB has one great big thing in its favor. For the
average user who doesn't need to use technical material, it eliminates the
need for computer Braille. It would do the same for Nemeth if the American
Braille Authority had gone with UEB math. But it didn't, and I'm glad it
didn't, at least for now. Getting rid of computer Braille for most
applications puts a whole lot of weight on the UEB side of the scales. It
makes it easier for both end users and for those who translate documents.
You don't have to comb through documents and make sure all the emails and
web sites came out right anymore. And you can now write all those weird
things that come up online and at sites like Twitter that have symbols,
partially capitalized words,etc.
I really hope that UEB improves, but right now, we are still in version 1.0,
and we still have 1.0 problems. But I don't think UEB will be going away.
Still, I miss the to and by, and the and for the. By the way, in languages,
those are called clitics. We had a writing system with clitics. It was
cool, but they're gone.
-----Original Message-----
From: varioultra-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:varioultra-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Max G. Swanson
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2017 9:41 AM
To: VarioUltra@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [varioultra] Two Possible Apps for Book Reading
Given that there's lots of realestate on the VU, I'd like to propose two
apps for readeing downloaded material. First, many titles have lots of
blank space when formatted in .BRF protocol. You're reading along and
suddenly saying "Wait for it, Wait for it!" Wh;y can't there be a setting
that detects X amount of blank space, skipping over to the next characters.
After all, it's even a chore to get past the table of contents many times.
The 2nd app right now is of more interest to English-speaking readers.
Quite simply I'd like the ability to convert U.E.B. tesxt to Standard
English Braille Grade II. Other options could be included as to whether to
notate or skip capital signs. I cringe at every instance of "to" "by"
"into" or "really" written incorrectly as they are now.
Contraction options, including notation of dot 6's, were included as early
as the VersaBraille II and worked well; so this and the eliminitation of
vast empty spaces should be possible. Hope to see, and am looking forward
to, some discussion on both fronts.
--
Just how interesting do we want our times to be? Pax, Max!
