DUXBURY BRAILLE TRUETYPE FONT SET FOR WINDOWS

BACKGROUND, INSTALLATION, USAGE AND LIMITED FREEWARE

LICENSE INFORMATION

Duxbury Systems, Inc. designs and manufactures software for braille; it is the oldest company in the world to specialize in such products (since 1975). Our principal products provide for translation from various print forms to braille, for English and many other languages and types of notation, and also for word-processing of both the print and the braille.

BACKGROUND

Duxbury's braille fonts have been developed over a period of years, at least as far back as Duxbury's first Macintosh-based product release in 1989, as component parts of many of its products for braille translation and word-processing. Currently, all of Duxbury's principal products--the Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT) for all platforms (Windows, Macintosh and MS-DOS) and also the Braille Board for Windows--include the fonts in some form. So, if you have any of those products installed, you may already have these fonts, in which case this freeware distribution will not be of use to you.

A braille font is a way to "convert" ordinary text characters into dot patterns, which is how the Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT) can display braille dots and print them out. Even if you do not need braille translation or editing software, it is possible that braille fonts would be useful for some purposes, such as:

1. Many tactile production techniques require a black and white printout prior to making the final output. By using your favorite design package (perhaps CorelDRAW) with a braille font, you can mix print, braille and graphics all on the same page, print out the page, then raise it. Sign makers all over the world use the font this way. Many of the ADA compliant signs found in hotels and other buildings are produced photographically using the Duxbury Braille Font. Maps and other tactile images can be output on paper with special devices.
2. A braille font is often used to produce books about braille. Many books for sighted braille transcribers contain hand drawn braille dots, or dot numbers instead of graphical examples. With the braille font, an author can easily create print documents with attractive simulated (printed) braille samples.
3. A third use for a braille font is more technical. When DBT imports a word processor file, it uses font information to add translation codes to a document. Text in a font with the name "Braille" in it is marked for "grade 0" translation; in other words, it won't be simply copied as-is into the translated output (braille) document.

Further details on some of these possibilities are given under "Usage", below. In order to allow such uses, in the service of braille generally, Duxbury Systems is making these fonts available under a limited freeware license, the terms of which are detailed in a later section.

One very important caution, though, applies to any case where you use any braille font directly, that is by simply applying the font to text: A BRAILLE FONT IS NOT IN ITSELF A VALID METHOD FOR TRANSLATION OF PRINT TO BRAILLE. In other words, if you just apply a font to ordinary print text, the result will most likely NOT be valid customary braille. The basic advice here is this: If you yourself do not know braille, make sure that you work with a qualified braille transcriber or braille proofreader, or at least use the output of a high-quality translation program such as Duxbury's, when using a braille font! Moreover, if you really need to be sure that it's correct, use the same precaution that you would with important print text--have it checked by a qualified braille proofreader.

INSTALLATION

1. Under Microsoft Windows, invoke the file "Duxbury Braille fonts.zip". Designate a directory to receive the resulting files Braille.ttf, SimBraille.ttf, and Swell Braille.ttf.
2. In the Windows Control Panel, Fonts, select Install New Font and point to the directory where the three TTF files are stored. Select one or more to be added and allow Windows to complete the installation.

USAGE

A braille "cell" or character comprises six potential dot positions, arranged in two columns, each three dots high. At each of these positions, a raised dot may or may not be present, making 64 (2 to the 6th power) distinct combinations. More about braille can be found at the web site of Duxbury Systems, Inc. at http://www.duxburysystems.com Specifically, here is a link to a braille chart.

These fonts map ASCII characters to braille dot configurations according to the table of "North American ASCII-Braille Equivalents" as defined on the bottom of this web page. So, even if you know braille, you will need to learn or reference that table to use the font properly. For example, to set the word "information" in English grade 2 braille, you would need to know enough to type in the five characters:

9=m,n

and then apply the font to them. If there is anything about this brief example that you do not understand, then you really need to obtain qualified assistance, as explained in the cautionary paragraph under "Background", above. To reiterate: It is VERY important to understand that valid braille CANNOT, in general, be obtained by simply applying a braille font to ordinary print text. Unless you understand the braille rules as they apply to the language and type of material that you need to put into braille, you will need to work with a person who does have that knowledge (a braille transcriber) and/or a transcribing program such as the Duxbury Braille Translator in order to obtain valid braille.

Three distinct fonts are provided, "Braille", "SimBraille", and "Swell Braille".

Subject to the above, these fonts are used just as any other TrueType fonts, which are supported by a wide variety of Windows applications, and even a few DOS applications. To word processing programs and the like, Braille, SimBraille, and Swell Braille are just like any other font, such as Courier, Helvetica or Times Roman.

The "Braille" font can be used for simulated braille where just the dots that would be physically raised in real (embossed) braille are displayed as filled black circles. No mark is present in the other, unraised positions. This font can also be used in support of physical processes that result in real raised braille. For example, there are papers made with special materials so that, when they are heated, any black mark upon the paper causes a local swelling and hence a dot wherever a black circle has been printed. When used for real braille, or for simulated braille in any case where it is desirable for the printed characters to be the same size as real braille, the font should size should be set at 24 points. Of course, there are many instances where other point sizes are useful for printed simulated braille.

At the 24-point size, the diameter of the black dots is at the nominal size specified by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), i.e. .059 inches.

With the "SimBraille" font, the raised dots are shown as black filled circles, just as with the Braille font, and in addition the other positions are marked with a tiny dot, sometimes called a "shadow" or "placement" dot, for reference. This is useful so that, for instance, it is easy to distinguish the dots 1-2-3 character (all three left-hand dots) from the dots 4-5-6 character (all three right-hand dots) -- which otherwise would be hard to tell apart if there were a lot of space on both sides of the character. However, since this approach can only apply to printed simulated braille, and not to real braille, this font is only used for the simulated form and is not subject to resizing of the dot diameters.

The "Swell Braille" font is the same as the Braille font except that the dots are 20% smaller, but placed at the same geometry of the Braille font. This is designed to be suitable for use with microcapsule paper, and perhaps other technologies that raise images from ink printing. We recommend using it in place of Braille when a printed image is raised on microcapsule paper.

COPYRIGHT

This software and associated documentation is:

Copyright 1991-2008 Duxbury Systems, Inc.

TERMS OF LIMITED FREEWARE LICENSE AND WARRANTY

1. Copyright to the Duxbury Braille TrueType Font Set for Windows ("the software"), including all its associated components, documents, programs and files, and any works derived therefrom, remains the property of Duxbury Systems, Inc.; all rights not explicitly granted herein are reserved.
2. A limited LICENSE TO USE the Duxbury Braille TrueType Font Set for Windows is hereby granted to any person, ONLY for the purpose of producing, displaying, reviewing or editing braille or simulated braille, directly in documents for one's own use or the use of others, and in accordance with further restrictions as given below. No other use is permitted (other than substantially free distribution, as described in the following paragraph).
3. A limited LICENSE TO DISTRIBUTE ON A SUBSTANTIALLY FREE BASIS, EXCEPT BY WEB SITE, is hereby granted to any person, ONLY for the Duxbury Braille Fonts for Windows as later defined herein as to its components. All those components, all together and unchanged, must accompany any such distribution. Any additional files must be clearly identified as such. No distribution is permitted to accompany any commercial product except by prior written permission (normally, a royalty would apply), nor may any accompanying material contradict or obscure any aspect of Duxbury's authorship of the Duxbury Braille TrueType Font Set for Windows and its copyright thereto. No fee for such distribution may be charged, except for reasonable recovery of direct media, shipping and handling costs. Further restrictions and exceptions are listed below.
4. The software may be used or distributed only in connection with activities that are legal.
5. Except by prior written permission, the software may not be placed on a site of the World Wide Web or similar source where it would be available for downloading by the general public.
6. By way of exception to the foregoing limitations on general public distribution, fonts may be "embedded" in documents, provided they cannot readily be separated from those documents or otherwise put to separate uses, and those documents may be distributed even on Web sites or for paid commercial purposes.
7. The copyright statements may not be removed from the software, nor may it be altered in any other way.
8. The software may not be disassembled nor otherwise reverse-engineered.
9. Duxbury Systems, Inc. ("Duxbury") warrants that it has exercised ordinary due care in the preparation of this software. Except as may be required by statute, Duxbury makes no other warranties, disclaims warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and assumes no liability for incidental, consequential or any other kind of damages arising out of the use or inability to use this software, even if Duxbury has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Because some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations may not apply to you. However, in no event shall Duxbury's liability for the Duxbury Braille TrueType Font Set for Windows exceed refund of any amounts paid by the user to Duxbury (or to its authorized dealers) for the Font Set.
10. The terms of prior licenses for the Duxbury Braille TrueType Font Set for Windows, that is the licenses issued for the Set as a regular product, or as a part of a regular product, are not affected by this limited freeware license. In particular, support services and any announced trade-in allowances are generally for only those licenses, and not for freeware licenses.

DISTRIBUTION OF FREEWARE LICENSE

Distribution of this freeware license is by downloading from Duxbury's Web site.