Re: [tdf-discuss] Question about proposing the creation of a new format

Hi Ben,

Sorry for my late response; it seems I missed this mail last Friday.


On Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:02:17 +1000, Ben McGinnes <ben@adversary.org>
wrote:
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> On 28/04/11 9:28 PM, Christophe Strobbe wrote:
> > On Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:49:11 +1000, Ben McGinnes <ben@adversary.org>
> > wrote:
> > > I hadn't even heard of DAISY, but it looks very cool so thanks for
> > > pointing me at it.  I just installed the extension and will have a
> > > little play with it at some nebulous point in the future.
> >
> > Great :-) (I am involved in the development of odt2daisy.)
>
> Cool.  Since then I've tried it on a couple of things and it is pretty
> nifty.  Although I should really poke around for some decent DAISY
> software readers/players to see (and hear) how others would experience
> any given thing.

There is a list of software-based DAISY players in the Wikipedia article
on DAISY:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAISY_Digital_Talking_Book#Software_players>.
I try to update it when I find something new.
Hardware DAISY players also exist, but they aren't cheap.


> > Since this thread mentions both ePub and DAISY I would like to point
> > out that the IDPF (in charge of ePub) and the DAISY Consortium are
> > working on a stronger convergence between the two formats.
>  <snip>
>
> > This means that ePub 3 will contain more features to support
> > accessibility for people with disabilities than in previous
> > versions.  (DAISY was designed for persons with reading impairments
> > from the outset.)
>
> This is what caught my attention with DAISY and why I'm now looking
> forward to ePub 3.  It's a great example of where ebooks can level the
> field for everyone.
>
> I remember when I was a kid and already reading voraciously that my
> Nan did too.  Unfortunately her eyesight was very bad, so the only
> books she could read were the large print books available at the local
> library and she couldn't read everything she wanted to.  This always
> struck me as most unfair.  We finally have the technology to render
> this situation a thing of the past and we should do so.
>
> > But it also means that whatever content you put into an ePub doc
> > will need features to make that type of content accessible. For many
> > types of content (images, video, audio) this involves the use of
> > text alternatives. Making math and science accessible is still a
> > challenge, in spite of many years of research. 3D was also mentioned
> > in this thread - I don't know how that would be made accessible.
>
> Fortunately for me my interest is essentially text only (regardless of
> whether it is fiction or non-fiction).  So I don't have to worry so
> much about any of these, but it is definitely something to bear in
> mind and work on.
>
> > > When it comes to books, PDF is only really useful for type-setting
> > > a print book (e.g. the way Lulu uses them for preparing print on
> > > demand books).
> >
> > I think tagged PDF with reflow options in PDF readers (see one of my
> > previous mails) changed that a bit. Adobe Reader even has a Read Out
> > Loud function (but you will need to get used to synthetic speech).
>
> Since I've used PDF for the odd report (the last one was an
> anti-censorship thing), that's something I'll have to keep in mind for
> next time.  Also for the political stuff.
>
> > > It takes a little time to prepare all the relevant formats, but
> > > compared to the process of writing, proofing and editing, not
> > > really all that much.
> >
> > If you want a decent DAISY book, you will need (at the very least)
> > to make sure that you use the correct styles for headings (to enable
> > navigation) and that you mark the language(s) in the content
> > correctly.
>
> Appropriate use of styles and headings was already looking like it
> would be necessary for ePub and other things anyway.  I take it with
> regards to the language marking you're referring to specifying the
> language for a document or paragraph (rather than just the default
> language of LibreOffice), right?

Yes, that is correct.


> Is there a guide somewhere of the right document/page/paragraph
> attributes needed to generate decent DAISY documents?

I made a presentation about this at FOSDEM in February of this year. My
slides are on Slideshare at 
<http://www.slideshare.net/aegisproject/fosdem-2011-a11y-authoring-libre-office>
but I can also send them off-list.
There is more detailed guidance on accessible authoring (not geared at
DAISY) from the "Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD) Project":
<http://adod.idrc.ocad.ca/>. Their techniques for OpenOffice.org also apply
to LibreOffice. (And they also cover MS Word, Google Docs, Corel
WordPerfect, iWork; it's an impressive set of documents.)

Best regards,

Christophe


> Regards,
> Ben
>
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-- 
Christophe Strobbe
K.U.Leuven - Dept. of Electrical Engineering - SCD
Research Group on Document Architectures
Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 bus 2442
B-3001 Leuven-Heverlee
BELGIUM
tel: +32 16 32 85 51 
www.docarch.be
Twitter: @RabelaisA11y

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