DBT Help Conventions

Tip: We strongly suggest you read this section at least once, to acquaint yourself with the conventions used throughout the these Help topics.

DBT versus Duxbury

To avoid possible confusion with other Duxbury Products, we refer to the Duxbury Braille Translation program as "DBT" (Duxbury Braille Translator). Any references to "Duxbury" refer to the company, Duxbury Systems Inc., as a whole.

Embossers versus Printers

Although the term "braille printer" is often used elsewhere, within these Help files we refer to this output device as an "embosser". When mention is made of a "printer" it refers to an ink printer.

You will see that the File menu refers to Print and Emboss as two separate functions.

Special Uses of Fonts
Menu Items

In these help topics, menu items are generally indicated in bold, especially when they are first introduced.

DBT Text and Codes

Normal text which you type into DBT is displayed in black, using the Courier New font. This sentence is what such text looks like. (Incidentally, this is the default screen font used in DBT which you can change if you wish in View: Print Font.)

DBT Codes are also displayed in the Courier New font, but are shown in red and surrounded by square brackets. For example, the code [hds] is used at the start of a centered heading.

You may also see some codes such as [hds] above, which are hyperlinks and appear underlined like this [hds]. These are found mainly in the DBT Codes Quick Reference section where Codes may make reference to other codes elsewhere in the document.

Keystroke Sequences

Keystrokes are shown using a bold Arial font, e.g., a b c 1 2 3 F8 Alt Ctrl.

Standard abbreviations are used where applicable, e.g., Ctrl for the Control key.

Where two keys are shown in combination using a plus-sign, such as Alt + F3, the first key should be held down whilst tapping the second key.

Key combinations can also consist of sequences of pressed keys, where some keys are pressed and released, and then other keys are pressed. A comma (,) indicates that keys are to be pressed one after the other. For example, on Windows computers: Alt + f, x can be used to close many applications. In this example, press Alt and f together, release the keys, and then press x.

When referring to shortcut keys that require the use of the number pad, the term "Num Pad" precedes that key. For example: Insert + Num Pad 5. If the description does not say "Num Pad", use the number key from the number row of the keyboard.

Hyperlinks and Pop-Ups

Links to other topics, web sites, or e-mail addresses are conventionally shown in a green underlined font. Screen reader users normally hear something like "Link", or "Link to" spoken for these, for example:

In some places, particularly the Codes Quick Reference, you may see buttons labeled "Tell me more", which will take you to additional explanation.

Sample Screen Shots

Unfortunately it is not possible to produce a version of Help where the many illustrations are guaranteed to look exactly as they do on your own computer. For screen images, we have mostly used the latest versions on Windows and the Macintosh. Therefore, you may notice small differences in the appearance of these examples when compared to your own system.

Standard System Dialogs

DBT uses the standard system dialogs that you find in other applications on your computer, such as Microsoft Word and Excel. If you are familiar with opening, closing, and saving files, you will find these tasks are mostly the same, albeit there may be some slight differences which we will explain where appropriate.

Differences in appearance also occur as a result of user customization. For example, you may have altered your Open File dialog to show File Details such as size and date, instead of icons. (Screen reader users may wish to alter some of their speech and/or braille display settings accordingly.)

On-Screen Braille

Where braille is displayed, we have used Duxbury's own Simbraille font. This font displays the Braille dots which would appear when embossed and also displays "shadow dots" to help less experienced, sighted readers identify the specific dots of each cell.

This is an example of SimBraille:

,? is a translat$ l9e ( brl4

It says, "This is a translated line of braille."

And Remember

We try to make Duxbury Help as user friendly and accessible as possible, but if we are off the mark anywhere, please drop us a line and let us know. We will do our best to improve matters. Click here for our contact details.

Thank you.