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French Braille Requirements
Table of Contents
This is a requirement in which the behaviors of structured document to French Braille transformation scripts are defined.
This requirement is based on the DAISY 3 XML content file structure and the official braille code specification "Code Braille Français uniformisé pour la transcription des textes imprimés".
There are four Braille text format:
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Centered mode
The text is formatted with 3 cells margin on each side of the text If the text takes several lines, share content evenly on each of these lines
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Paragraph mode
The text is formatted as a block of text, except for the first line where 2 blank cells are added before the content. NOTE: the notation paragraph x-y means that the first line of paragraph begins on cell x and the other lines after begins on cell y.
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Poem/List mode
Each item/verse begins on a new line and if the item/verse takes more than one line, the other lines begin with 2 blank cells before the content. NOTE: the notation list x-y means that the first line of list begins on cell x and the other lines after begin on cell y.
-
Block mode
All the lines of the text begin on the same cell. NOTE: the notation block x means that all the line in the block begins on cell x.
Note: a blank line must be added while switching from one mode of presentation to another.
The content of <doctitle> tag is transcribed in Centered mode.
Note:
- The book title is not affected by the rule of 3 empty cells margin
- Line break is not allowed except in hyphenated compound word
- Even if the book title is highlighted in the structured document, the highlight is not transcribed in Braille version
In structured document, title elements are contained in <h1> <h2> ... <h6> tags.
-
Level 1 title (
<h1>tag or first level<hd>tag)- Presented using Centered mode
- Must be preceded by 2 blank lines
- Must be followed by 2 blank lines and at least 2 lines of text on the same Braille page
-
Level 2 title (
<h2>tag or second level<hd>tag)- Presented using Centered mode
- Must be preceded by 1 blank line
- Must be followed by 1 blank line with at least 2 lines of text on the same Braille page
-
Level 3 title (
<h3>or thrid level<hd>tag)- Presented using Bloc 5 mode
- Preceded by 1 blank line
- Followed by at least 1 line of text on the same Braille page
-
Level 4 title (
<h4>or fourth level<hd>tag)- Presented using Bloc 1 mode
- Preceded by 1 blank line
- Followed by at least 1 line of text on the same Braille page
-
Level 5 and 6 title (
<h5>or fifth level and<h6>or sixth level tag)- Presented using Paragraph 3-1 mode
- Preceded by 1 blank line
- Followed by at least 1 line of text on the same Braille page
- Content of title is highlighted
The content of the tag <p> is transcribed in Paragraph 3-1 if they are not affected by the following tags:
<list><dl><pagenum><prodnote><annoref><noteref>
No blank line between 2 paragraphs.
If the option is activated, reference page number will be printed on the top left of the Braille page. If several Braille pages are necessary for the transcription of the same reference page, staring at the second page, the reference page number will be suffixed by a alphabet letter and we increment that letter as the transcription takes more Braille page.
Example:
If the reference page 5 need 3 Braille pages to transcribe its content. The reference page number for these 3 Braille pages are: 5 for the first, 5a for the second one and 5b for the third one.
If one reference page change occurs before the end of the Braille page change, the page change symbol (5)(2-5) preceded and followed by a space are inserted at the exact place where the page change occurs. Nevertheless, if the reference page change precedes a title or a new paragraph, the indicator is inserted at the beginning of the next line.
If several reference page changes occur on the same Braille page, the reference page number will be of format first reference page number - last reference page number.
Braille page number is mandatory. This script will put them on the top right of the page (even if they may also be put on the bottom right). The first page doesn’t have page number. This script will generate continuous Braille page number.
In structured document, footnote reference are contented in <noteref> tag and its content is found in <note> tag.
-
Noteref Tag
- Preceded by a blank space and he note indicator (3-4-6)
- The content of the noteref begin with the mathematical indicator (6) followed by the number of note
-
Note Tag
- Transcribed directly after the paragraph with note reference
- Presented using Paragraph 7-5 mode preceded by its note identifier.
The current script will not put note at the end of the concerned text. If a note is repeated several times, the content of note is repeated also at each location.
In structured document, margin note are referenced by <annoref> tag and its content is put in <annotation> tag.
The content of annotation is put where it's referenced in the structured document. It's presented using paragraph 7-5 and preceded by the margin note indicator (2-3-5-6)(2-3-5-6)(1-3-4).
Whenever a table is met in the structured document, they'll be represented using columns mode. The mode is represented as described below:
On the first line, the titles of the columns are written. The line after the title is filled with the separator (2-5) (width equals to the column content width, without the line title). Each line of the table is transcribed as it is in the original document. If one cell doesn't have content, the symbol (1-2-3-4-5-6)(1-2-3-4-5-6) will be put in it instead. If there are empty fields to be filled in the table, (6)(3-6)(3) are used to represent it. The checkbox is represented by (1-2-3-4-6)(1-3-4-5-6).
A preliminary transcriber's note precede that table:
"Le tableau qui suit est transcrit en colonnes. Le modificateur mathématique, l'indicateur de majuscule, les symbols d'unités et le symbol de pourcentage ne sont pas transcrits. Les x colonnes portes les en-têtes suivantes :
First Column Title
2 blank spaces + second column title
4 blank spaces + third column title
....".
This transcriber's note is preceded by the symbol (6)(2-3) and followed by (5-6)(3) without space.
Note:
- If there are more than 3 blank spaces between the content of adjacent column, n-2 times (3) symbol must be put in the blank space preceding and followed by a blank space (if n is the number of space between the content).
- The content of columns must have at least 1 blank cell between them
- If it takes more than one Braille pages for the transcription of the table, column titles are repeated on the new Braille page.
The lists are represented in structured document either by the tag <dl>, in case of definition list, or by the tag <list> in case
-
One level list The script will transcribe all 1 level list using the mode List 1-3.
-
Hierarchy list If the list had more than 1 level of hierarchy:
- The first level of the list is presented using the mode List 1-4
- The following level n is presented using the mode List (2n+1)-(2n+4)
- If a list item is followed immediately by another element of the same level or element of one of parent levels.
- All the last level items are presented using the mode List (2m+1)-(2m+3) if the list has m levels
The script will transform the content of sidebar as described below:
- A line of (2-3-5-6) as the opening line of the sidebar
- A line of (1-2-4-5) as the closing line of the sidebar
A blank line must precede and follow the opening line of the sidebar and the closing line of the sidebar. If the sidebar is at the beginning of the Braille page, no blank line is added before the opening line, if the sidebar is at the end of a Braille page, no blank line is added after it.
No blank line is added neither in case the sidebar are next to a title.
If the sidebar takes more than one Braille page, at the beginning of the new Braille page, the content must be prefixed with the mention "encadré (suite)" between (6)(2-3) and (5-6)(3).
No official rules are defined for this kind of elements. The first version of script will transcribe its content using Bloc 3 mode.
The content of <samp> tag will be presented by using Bloc 3 mode.
The current script will transform the content of <poem> or <linegroup> are presented using List 1-3 mode line by line.
The prodnote contains information added to the alternative-format Version by the producer; commonly used to:
- Provide descriptions of one or more visual elements such as charts, graphs, etc.
- Supply operating instructions
- Describe differences between the print book and the audioversion
These elements are contained in
<prodnote>tag in the structured document. The script will transcribe the contain where it is in the original document and preceded by the (6)(2-3) and followed by(5-6)(3) without space.
Uppercases may be indicated by 3 different notation depends on the number of uppercase character:
- Simple uppercase indicator is written as (4-6) in French Braille.
- Double uppercase indicator is written as (4-6)(4-6) in French Braille.
- Uppercase portion indicator begin with (2-5)(4-6) before the first word and end with (4-6) before the last word.
- First character of word: the uppercase character is preceded by the uppercase indicator
- Entire word in uppercase: the word is prefixed with double uppercase indicator
- More than 4 consecutive uppercase words: (2-5)(4-6) before the first word and (4-6) before the last word.
- Mix of uppercase and lowercase in one word: Each uppercase character is prefixed by simple uppercase indicator.
- Acronyms (
<acronym>): first letter is prefixed by simple uppercase indicator. Line break is not allowed.
Note: A word with a "." between each of its characters is considered as an Acronym.
Mathematical indicator is written as (6) in French Braille. The portion of text affected by it end either with a blank space or base code indicator (5-6), except if it is preceded by a exponent mark
Each sequences of the following sign must be prefixed by mathematical indicator:
| Sign | Braille Code |
|---|---|
| 1 | (1-6) |
| 2 | (1-2-6) |
| 3 | (1-4-6) |
| 4 | (1-4-5-6) |
| 5 | (1-5-6) |
| 6 | (1-2-4-6) |
| 7 | (1-2-4-5-6) |
| 8 | (1-2-5-6) |
| 9 | (2-4-6) |
| 0 | (3-4-5-6) |
| plus symbol | (2-3-5) |
| minus symbol | (3-6) |
| multiplication sign | (3-5) |
| division sign | (2-5) |
| equals sign | (2-3-5-6) |
| indice sign | (2-6) |
Note: Element contained in <sub> tag must be prefixed by the indices sign (2-6).
Spaces between 2 consecutive numbers is replaced by (3). Points between 2 consecutive number is replaced by (2-5-6).
If one of the following letters appears in the same word as the numbers, an base value indicator (5-6) must be placed after the number sequence.
- â
- ê
- î
- ô
- û
- ë
- ï
- ü
- oe
- w
The content of following tags is considered as highlighted.
<em><strong><dfn><cite>
If the tag contains less than 4 words, the content is prefixed by (4-5-6). Otherwise, the first word is prefixed by (2-5)(4-5-6) and the last word is prefixed by the symbol (4-5-6).
If only a portion of word is highlighted, we insert the symbol (4-5-6) before the first highlighted character and (6)(3) after the last character.
We didn't consider the second and third type highlight in Braille here, they are only used in special cases such as law text or school textbook.
Sequence of superscript text (defined by <sup> tag) must be prefixed by the superscript symbol (4). The return to normal format is performed by one of the following symbols:
- Punctuation
- Space
- Arithmetic symbols
- Hyphen or slash
List of symbol that must be translated just after the preceding word without blank space:
- Comma
- Semicolon
- Colon
- Full stop
- Question mark
- Exclamation mark
- Ellipsis
For symbols with opening and closing symbol, the space between the opening symbol and the first word is removed as well as the space between the closing symbol and last word.
Note: we didn't consider second or third type quote at the moment in this script.
Abbreviations are marked by <abbr> tag in the structured document. They are transcribed as it is in the original text.
Continuation symbol (5) is used at the end of the lines if computer science expression must be transcribed in several lines. The following items are considered as computer science expression:
- Website address (detected by the presence of “www.”)
- Email address (detect it by the presence of "@")
- File path (detect it by the presence of “:\”)
Translated as it's presented in the original document (with or without space) Cf. table 3 in annexes (p/21).
Only Spanish, Italian and German will be considered by the present script. The transcription of corresponding language is used for language special characters.
(cf. Table on p.55)
The Latin symbol ae is transcribed by (3-4-5).
In general case, the following rule apply for the transcription:
- The first line of the Braille page is reserved for reference and Braille page number.
- The Braille transcription may take more than one volume. The separation must not be at the middle of a paragraph.
- All volumes which is not the first volumes must have it's content begin with the current chapter title followed by mention: "(6)(2-3)Suite(5-6)(3)".
- Cover page
All the lines on this page is presented using Centered mode.
The page may contains 4 zones separated by 1 blank line between them. No highlight is applied to these elements even if in the original document they are highlighted.
a. First zone
- Author list (
<docauthor>tags content) - Blank line
- Book title and subtitle (
<doctitle>tag content)
b. Second zone
- Editor name, place and year of edition
- Collection name
- ISBN number
These may be got in metadata tag.
c. Third zone
- Mention "Transcription braille"
- Mention "Code Braille Français uniformisé"
- Producer name of Braille version
d. Fourth zone
- Reference page number in the volume presented as "Pages de l'imprimé : begin page number-end page number"
- "Current number of Braille volume/number of total Braille volumes"
- Back of cover page
- Original book title
- Editor Address
Note: this page appears only in the first Braille volume.
- Transcriber's note
If needed, global transcriber's note may be add in the front matter in order to mention the specific adaptation or list of elements not transcribed.
- Table of contents
Two types of table of contents are presented in a Braille transcription:
- General table of content
- Specific table of content
a. General table of content
This table of content is only produced in the first volume of the Braille transcription. It is the last section of the front matter and show the structure of the whole book. Table of content must begin on a new Braille page (new odd page if the Braille page is printed both side.) and begin with the mention "Table des matières" in Centered mode. The first line of the Braille page is reserved for reference page number and Braille page number. The table of content is treated as a list with the specification that the content of the item title must have 2 blank cells between them. if there are more than 3 blank cell between the item name and the page number, a list of (3) is inserted between them prefixed and suffixed by a blank space. The table of content must consider the Braille volume partition. The content of a special volume is preceded by "Volume X" mention transcribed in Centered mode before the actual content of table of content. General Table of content uses reference page number.
The script will reconstitute the table of content either from the <level[X]>/<h[X]> structure or deduce it from the level of <level>/<hd>, the corresponding page number will be deduced from the previous <pagenum> tag.
b. Specific table of content
This table of content is present in all the volumes of the Braille transcription. It is put at the end of the Braille volume. Specific table of content uses Braille page number. Table of content must begin on a new Braille page (new odd page if the Braille page is printed both side.) and begin with the mention "Table des matières" in Centered mode. The first line of the Braille page is reserved for reference page number and Braille page number. The table of content is treated as a list with the specification that the content of the item title must have 2 blank cells between them. If there are more than 3 blank cell between the item name and the page number, a number of (3) is inserted between them prefixed and suffixed by a blank space.
Note: we ignore the back cover blurb which should be here as we can't identify them clearly in a structured document.
The first line of each page will be reserved for reference page number and Braille page number. The entire rule described in "Text Structure formatting" and "Text Content formatting" applies here.
The following kind of ream matter will be located by using the <level1> tag's "class" attribute, the attribute value is listed in the table below
| Rear Matter Type | Class Name |
|---|---|
| Appendix | appendix |
| Bibliography | bibliography |
| Index | index |
| Glossary | glossary |
The Appendix will be transcribed as regular contain and thus follow all the rest of formatting rule described here. The bibliography will be transcribed using List 1-3 mode. Index is transcribed by applying the rule of table of content. Glossary will be transcribed using List1-3 mode. The content of rear cover will be placed at the end of the first Braille tome.
Following options must be included in order to give the user the possibility to customize the format of resulting Braille book.
| Option Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| include-preview | boolean | Whether the preview should be included int the Braille book |
| page-width | integer | Width of the page expressed in number of Braille characters |
| page-height | integer | Height of page expressed in number of Braille characters |
| left-margin | integer | Number of empty spaces on the left side of the page |
| right-margin | integer | Number of empty spaces on the right side of the page |
| simplex-printing | boolean | True if only one side of the page will be printed |
| include-note-references | boolean | True if the note reference need to be included |
| include-production-notes | boolean | True if the production notes need to be included |
| show-print-page-numbers | boolean | True if the reference page number need to be included |
| maximum-number-of-sheets | integer | Maximum number of sheets that a Braille volume may have |
| minimum-number-of-sheets | integer | Minimum number of sheets that a Braille volume must have |
| line-spacing | integer | Space between two lines |
| producer-name | String | Name of Braille version producer |
| tab-width | integer | Number of empty cells representing a tab |
| number-of-sheets | integer | Number of sheets that a Braille volume have |