Are new braille learners more likely to write braille electronically or on 
paper?

The reason for the different Braille formatting rules is because, on paper, 
Braille is so much larger than print.
As a congenitally blind learner who grew up on Braille formatting rules, it has 
been complicated for me to learn print formatting rules as an adult.
With much of Braille being electronic nowadays, I submit that Braille be taught 
with print, rather than Braille, formatting rules. Further, I submit that 
congenitally blind learners be taught print tactually with tactile experience 
of differing sized letters and experience of different font types. Otherwise, 
the confusion amongst the blind around characters per line, character spacing, 
line spacing, and so forth, will continue. One of the reasons it is easy for me 
to get my head around such concepts is that my mother taught me print letters 
using plastic letter magnets before I went to school and started learning 
Braille. Because of that, I tactually read some print signage such as number 
plates on doors, when the signage is engraved or embossed rather than just 
painted on.

Even when typewriters were used, there wasn't a standard number of spaces to 
use for indenting a print paragraph. The two main typing letter faces required 
5 or 10 spaces for one of them, and seven or twelve spaces for the other one 
(depending on whether the indent was .5 or 1 inch. with computer fonts being 
more like hand printing such that many fonts no longer use block letter sizes, 
but instead allow different letters to be different widths, in my opinion, 
sticking to Braille's antiquated formatting rules will most likely serve to 
further isolate blind people.

David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchitten...@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone

On 03/02/2013, at 5:59, Robert Fenton <robert.fen...@samobile.net> wrote:

> The point David is that you want the app to be both as convenient and usable 
> as possible. In my profession, two spaces after a period is still the 
> accepted standard for submitting written work. Leaving it to people to insert 
> extra spaces themselves could lead to confusion especially among those 
> learning braille who are now having to learn a new set of formatting rules. 
> By doing nothing, we are in a sense creating a set of conventions that if you 
> write braille with braille touch, you have to format your braille as if you 
> were preparing a print text. How does that assist braille teachers with 
> teaching braille formatting rules? 
> 
> Just some more thoughts to consider. 
> 
> Bob Fenton
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On 2013-02-02, at 9:47 AM, David Chittenden <dchitten...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Actually, the two spaces after a period rule is changing. Nowadays, many 
>> documents are written with just one space after the period.
>> 
>> My suggestion is that no formatting algorithm be created. Instead, like with 
>> most things, formatting should be the responsibility of the individual 
>> author.
>> 
>> David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
>> Email: dchitten...@gmail.com
>> Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On 03/02/2013, at 3:54, Robert Fenton <robert.fen...@samobile.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hello everybody:
>>> 
>>> there is another difference in formatting between braille and print we need 
>>> to account for. In print, two spaces follow a periojd, whereas in braille 
>>> it is only one. can we add this into a formatting conversion algorythm as 
>>> well? Thank you.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Typed with BrailleTouch
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Bob Fenton
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" 
>>> Google Group.
>>> To search the VIPhone public archive, visit 
>>> http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
>>> viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>>> For more options, visit this group at 
>>> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
>>> --- 
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>> "VIPhone" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>> 
>> -- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google 
>> Group.
>> To search the VIPhone public archive, visit 
>> http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
>> viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>> For more options, visit this group at 
>> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "VIPhone" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google 
> Group.
> To search the VIPhone public archive, visit 
> http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
> viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at 
> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
> --- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
> "VIPhone" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
> 
> 

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google 
Group.
To search the VIPhone public archive, visit 
http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.


Reply via email to