Braille2000

Braille2000 is a bold new tool for producing Braille

Braille2000 is fully Internet-aware, making it as simple as a mouse click to send a Braille document to a Braille production center, to a school, to a blind student, or to a fellow transcriber.

Braille2000 is fully compatible with ED-IT PC and is able to read and write .ABT kinds of files. But Braille2000 with its New Millennium technology is XML aware: you can read and write Braille XML files as well as translate XML print text into Braille.



Braille 2000 Basic Edition
The Basic Edition is a fine Braille editing tool for the student transcriber or a transcriber who does not need extensive proofreading tools. The Basic Edition handles all kinds of direct entry Braille tasks with automated page layouts to aid the production of literary, textbook, and music Braille. Compared to The Direct Entry edition, The Basic Edition is minus some productivity-enhancing aids, mainly in the area of proofreading.

The Basic Edition offers the following capabilities:
• Direct Entry Braille editing, six-key Braillewriter style, using the keys SDF JKL.
• On-screen display of full Braille pages, with Braille cells shown as dot patterns.
• Editing via standard Windows mechanisms: backspace, del, insert and replace modes, cut/copy/paste, undo, find, replace.
• Automated page layout, with word-wrap, indent and runover control, and textbook-format page numbering and optional running heads.
• File Management.
• Ink-printing of the Braille as dots (SimBraille) or as ASCII-Braille characters, or as regular prose that
interpret grade 2 Braille as text..

The Basic Edition is sufficient for preparing Braille transcriptions of any complexity in any code of Braille. The more advanced editions (beyond the Basic Edition) provide time-saving and accuracy-enhancing assists.

Braille 2000 Direct Entry Edition
The Direct Entry Edition is a comprehensive Braille editing tool for the professional transcriber. This tool represents the state-of-the-art in WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") Braille text editing. A full assortment of page layout and manipulation controls handle literary, textbook, music, math, and poetry formatting chores. The file management mechanism is designed to handle big projects, such as multi-volume textbooks. Built-in utilities manage backup and file-submission chores with a few clicks of the mouse. The Children's Braille option provides a "grade relaxer" that can create customized-to-the-child variations in the file using only transcriber-selected G2 contractions matching what the child can read--other G2 contractions are automatically converted to G1.

The Direct Entry Edition includes all Basic Edition features and additionally includes:
• On-screen back-translation of Braille into print for proofreading, including the display of typographically correct math expressions when brailling in Nemeth code.
• Comprehensive spelling checkers for English (contracted and uncontracted), French, German, and Spanish (including Puerto Rican Spanish).
• Automated line numbers for poetry, prose, and tables of contents.
• Tab stops.
• Ink-printing modes for proofreading via back-translated print copy derived from the Braille.
• Information Cards (as in ED-IT PC) for work notes and administrative data.

Braille 2000 Data Processing Edition
The Document Processing Edition includes all the capabilities of The Direct Entry Edition, plus a new print-to-Braille translator that can work with ASCII-text files, Rich-Text files, and XML files (XML files of the appropriate type, namely the "dtbook3" type that has been proposed as the digital format to be used by textbook publishers).

Budget vs. Premium Editions
In addition to the different level of functionalities, Braille 2000 can also be customized on a support level basis. Depending on your needs, budget and premium license editions are available.

A "budget" license is a one-time fee for the software license with free technical support and automatic version updates for 90 days. After 90 days, new versions (if and when they are released) can be ordered for a fee. There may be a charge for technical support, but there will be no charge when reporting a software bug, although the bug fix, when incorporated into a subsequent version release may require paying the upgrade fee (reports of significant bugs will be rewarded in most cases with a free version upgrade, when it becomes available).

A "premium" license is a one-time fee for the software license with enduring free technical support (except for the phone call itself) and free access to the latest version release via the Internet. The price differential between the "Budget" and "Premium" licenses reflects a modest charge for software support (technical support and access to new releases).


System Requirements
• 7 MB hard disk space
• Windows 95 or newer
• Internet Explorer 4.0 or newer
• USB Port