Re: Feature proposal: Braille Translator for Print Documents

[Joanmarie Diggs <joanied gnome org>]

On Sat, 2011-10-22 at 20:32 -0400, Matthias Clasen wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 12:25 PM, Piñeiro <apinheiro igalia com> wrote:
> 
> > Module proposed
> > ===============
> >
> > In order to fulfill this feature, we propose Dots which already uses the
> > GNOME infrastructure [2][3][4].
> 
> Can you describe a bit more how dots works ? From the screenshot on
> live.gnome.org/Dots, it appears that it presents a braille view of
> text - how does it get that text ? Do I just open a file ? Any file,
> what formats are supported ?

With respect to formats, from the original proposal posted by Piñeiro:

  "* Translation of plain text, odt, html, and pdf documents"

Just open it? Mostly. ;) For instance, there is a bug which was alluded
to but not explained in the original proposal posted by Piñeiro:

  Bug 661910 - Dots spits up when opening extension-less files

Upon being opened, the file is automatically translated into the
presently-active table. But you can select a different table and the
document will be retranslated.

In addition, you can create a new text (print) document within Dots and
after you are finished writing the text, translate it into braille.

After being a Duxbury Braille Translator user for (ugh, since the DOS
version. Yes I *am* that old.) there is much more I'd like to see Dots
do. In a way, I am my own target user. ;) Teachers and others who have a
need to produce braille documents deserve a robust and fully-featured
free solution. And in developing nations, the lack of such a solution
can contribute to the determination whether or not braille materials get
produced at all. But I digress.... 

I plan to work with Fer to progress Dots into such a solution. More
immediately, I also plan to add to the documentation (already in Mallard
format, but not especially detailed) and the project page on l.g.o.
Something we neglected to mention in the original proposal. Sorry about
that!

Thanks for your interest and please let us know if you have any
additional questions or concerns.

Take care.
--joanie