Reading time: 6 minutes.

Setting your reviewing text options

Before you start reviewing a document with your Braille display, for example, checking text attributes, spelling, revisions, and comments, you might want to consider the following settings.

Showing the focused word uncontracted

When using Literary Braille, you can choose to show the word containing the cursor contracted, which is useful when reading text, or uncontracted, which can be useful when reviewing and editing text as it makes it easier to check spelling and formatting. The uncontracted word appears in Computer Braille.

To set the word containing the cursor to appear uncontracted:

1. Open the SuperNova or Dolphin ScreenReader Control Panel.
2. Open the "Braille" menu, open the "Characters" submenu, and select "Options" (ALT + B, C, O). The "Characters" dialog box opens with the focus on the "Cursor word contracted" checkbox.
3. Deselect the "Cursor word contracted" checkbox to show the focused word uncontracted using Computer Braille.
4. Select the "OK" button to confirm your changes.

With Braille set to appear uncontracted for the current word, when you encounter text that you want to review, you can use the Routing buttons to position the cursor at the word. Once the word has focus, it will appear using Computer Braille.

Describing the character that has focus

The "Toggle Braille character description" command enables you to review the attributes of the character at the current cursor position. This can be especially useful if you want to find out what an unfamiliar dot combination represents.

For example, if you find a symbol you do not recognise, you can do the following:

1. Use the Routing button to move the cursor to the character.
2. Press the "Toggle Braille character description" button assignment on your display or, if you want to use the keyboard command, press LEFT CONTROL + LEFT SHIFT + 7. Speech will announce "describe character" and your Braille display will change to show the character description and attributes.
3. If the description does not fit on your display, use the Braille display navigation buttons to review the content, or, if you want to use keyboard commands, press LEFT CONTROL + LEFT SHIFT + FULL STOP to scroll forward and LEFT CONTROL + LEFT SHIFT + COMMA to scroll back.
4. Press the "Toggle Braille character description" button assignment again, or if you want to use the keyboard command, press LEFT CONTROL + LEFT SHIFT + 7 to go back to your text. You will also return to your text if you press a key that causes a focus change.

When activated, a description will appear similar to the following:

"(Dots 467) POUND, Arial, normal, 14PT, Black, White, 00a3"

This shows:

• The character being described. In this example it is dots 467.
• The description of the character (the Pound sign).
• The font name of the character.
• The style.
• The size ("PT" is an abbreviation for "point").
• The foreground colour of the character.
• The background colour.
• The Unicode value of the character.

Reviewing the attributes of all the characters on the Braille display

The "Cycle Attributes using Braille identifiers" command enables you to review the attributes of all the characters showing on the display at the same time. This enables you to easily identify characters on the display that have attributes different to the rest.

To do this:

1. Show the text you want to review on the Braille display.
2. Press the "Cycle character attributes using Braille identifiers" button assignment, or if you are using the keyboard command, press LEFT CONTROL + LEFT SHIFT + 6. Speech will announce "size", and the display will indicate the size of the character at that position using a particular dot combination.
3. Review the cells on your display. If all the characters are the same size, then all the dot combinations will be the same. If a character is different in size, then it should be easily identifiable, and you can use the routing button to move the cursor and the character and review its individual attributes using the "Toggle Braille character description on off" command (as described above).
4. Repeat the button assignment or keyboard command to explore the other attributes. These include style, colours and font attributes.

Although, the dot combinations representing sizes, colours and font attributes may not be immediately obvious, this feature does provide an easy way to identify when an attribute is different from the norm.

For a detailed explanation on what the dot combinations represent in each attribute mode, please refer to the "Cycle attributes" topic in the SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader Manual.

Using Enhanced Braille

Enhanced Braille enables you to recognise text that has attributes applied that are different to normal text.

You can determine what is an enhanced character and how it appears on the display in the "Characters" dialog box (ALT + B, C, O).

Enhanced characters include text using non-normal colour, text appearing as a link, text using styles like underlined, bold, italic, strikethrough, scripted text like superscript and subscript, plus words that are misspelt or marked as a potential grammar error, as well as text marked with a comment or revision.

Note that not all enhanced attributes are supported in all apps. The spelling, grammar, comments, and revisions are predominantly supported by Microsoft Office apps.

Enhanced characters can be indicated using either Dot 7, Dot 8, or Dot 7 and Dot 8, in a static or blinking style.

When you encounter an enhanced character on your display, you can route the cursor to the character and use the Describe Character command to learn more about its attributes or use the Cycle Attributes command to learn more about all the characters showing on your display at that position.

Reporting text attributes using a status cell

Some displays include a group of cells that are separate to the main display and whose purpose is to show status information. Such information may include your current screen reader mode or the attributes of the current character.

You can set what information appears in each status cell through the "Status cells" dialog box (ALT + B, S).

The number of items you can assign to status cells is restricted to the number of status cells available on your display.

For a detailed explanation on what the dot combinations represent when indicating character attributes, please refer to the "Cycle attributes" topic in the SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader Manual.

Tip: If your display does not include status cells, you may be able to simulate them using the SAM driver. You can check to see if your display supports the addition of status cells by choosing the "Configure" button from the "Braille device" page in the "General preferences" dialog box (ALT + B, P).