Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Thank you for your question. Write-on lines can be confusing, particularly when determining whether a blank line should be retained or omitted.
The example you provided in the attachment is an excellent one. However, BF 10.5 does not apply to the exercise in your example.
The intent of BF 10.5 is to eliminate unnecessary blank lines.
BF Example 10-10 demonstrates the application of Rule 10.5 and shows the omission of blank lines after a question. In that example, the write-on line FOLLOWS THE COMPLETION of the question.
In your transcription, the screenshot shows a blank line immediately after a comma. This means the question is not complete; therefore, the line does not occur after the question. Instead, it is part of the question itself. Blank lines embedded within text are retained.
The applicable rule for your situation is BF 10.6.
A simple way to determine whether BF 10.5 or BF 10.6 applies is to consider the purpose of the blank:
- Is the blank intended to be a fill-in-the-blank within the text?
- Or is it simply a place on the page for the reader to provide an answer, which could just as easily have been presented in a column next to the questions?
In your example, the blank is embedded within the question, so it should be retained under BF 10.6.
Great question.
You should use New York as the publisher’s city. Your rule citation is perfect. Braille Formats (2.3.2) also states that the preferred source for the braille title page is the print title page.
Directly below the publisher’s name on the print title page, the first city listed is New York. When the publisher’s name and city are listed at the bottom of the print title page, that is most certainly the city name to use.
The address that follows “Send all inquiries” might be the sales office or something unrelated to the publisher’s main office.
Great question. Braille Formats does not state this directly, but repeated text of this type is ignored. Your braille page 25 should begin with the subitem.
Main items, as in your sample, whether they appear in a list, exercise, outline, or index, are not repeated simply because of a page change indicator.
This is not a math book, so I think you are fine using the existing UEB solid triangle. If the book also contained triangles that were not used as bullets, then you would need to create a distinct right-pointing triangle symbol (transcriber-assigned filled shape).
I have not been satisfied with the answer I previously gave you, so I have reconsidered the issue of the colored fonts used with the itemized material.
The current Early Learning Materials guidelines allow typeform indicators in first-grade books and state that they should be kept to a minimum. As written, the guidelines leave some room for interpretation.
The fonts used with the itemized material are significant enough to retain. The question then becomes how to retain them. According to Braille Formats, if you choose to retain a font, you should follow print. It is not actually permitted to substitute boldface for color. Because this is a first-grade book, I originally agreed to your using bold because it is simpler for beginning readers. However, that recommendation does not follow print.
THESE ARE THE OPTIONS I SEE:
Option 1. Use one indicator for color (recommended).
Create one transcriber-generated typeform called “color font” and use it for all of the blue and red paragraph headings. This stretches the current guidelines slightly but keeps the formatting simple while preserving the distinction from regular text.Option 2. Continue using bold instead of color.
This does not strictly follow the guidelines. If you decide this is the best approach, you should do two things:First, check the entire text to determine whether boldface is used anywhere else besides the paragraph headings.
Second, add a transcriber’s note explaining that bold has been substituted for color.
Although this approach falls outside the intended framework of the guidelines, the transcriber’s note makes the decision more understandable to the reader.
Option 3. Use transcriber-generated typeforms for each color.
This most closely follows the current guidelines. Create separate transcriber-generated typeforms for each color and follow print for all of the paragraph headings.CONCLUSION
The guidelines provide a framework for making formatting decisions; they are not absolute rules. As a result, you have some professional judgment in determining the best approach. However, transcriptions that closely follow the guidelines promote consistency across publications. That consistency allows students to focus on reading the content rather than adapting to different formatting from one book to another.
With first grade, you are allowed to use a limited number of fonts. The paragraph headings embedded within the numbered items are important enough to retain, so do not convert them to higher-level headings. Instead, leave them embedded within the numbered items. Since the additional font attributes, such as red and blue, do not add meaningful information for first-grade readers, using bold to distinguish the headings is the appropriate choice.
Yes, it is acceptable to bring the text up. When “Convince Me!” is treated as a paragraph heading, keeping all the related text together within the boundaries of the 3-1 paragraph format is appropriate.
However, <i>Guided Practice</i>, <i>Problem Solving</i>, and <i>Visual Learning</i> seem different to me. I view these as being at a higher organizational level than paragraph headings.
I say that for two reasons.
First, they appear to serve a different function. They are more prominent and are printed differently from the paragraph headings in the sidebar and the labels used with the itemized material shown in your screenshots.
Second, this appears to be an early elementary book (I’m not sure of the exact grade level). In early grades, we try to limit the use of font attributes. When you retain a paragraph heading, you also retain the font attributes, resulting in numerous blue font indicators (in your text). With the itemized material, those indicators are unavoidable, but with the headings, you have a choice. Choosing cell-5 or cell-7 headings eliminates the extra indicators, reducing unnecessary clutter without losing any meaningful information.
See Braille Formats 4.8.2 for more information.
Your transcription is correct.
My guess is that the transcribers were concerned that page xix is “skipped.” But it will be accounted for in either the first volume (if there is no brief contents page) OR in the volume in which the page xix content occurs.
For reference, see BF 2.10.12 b. In volumes with only part of the full table of contents, transposed material is listed (with its print page number, if shown) in the order in which it appears in that particular volume.
It is not required to carry continuation letters from one volume to another. Although some agencies require this practice, BANA does not.
Continuation letters are volume specific.
The title page clearly indicates that entries H–N are contained in Supplement 2. Because the H entries begin on print page GL10, no additional continuation letter is necessary.
A running head is capitalized normally. If a running head contains a capitalized passage indicator, it must also have a capitals terminator.
The updated guideline is intended to clarify that the running head is ignored when determining the capitalization indicators for the surrounding text.
In the following example, the text at the bottom of one page (Line 25) carries over to the next braille page (Lines 2 and 3, following the running head). The title of the story is “The Boy and the Soccer Ball.”
Line 25: … Bobby read the sign, KEEP OFF THE
Line 1 (Running Head): The Boy and the Soccer Ball
Line 2: GRASS! I DO NOT WANT ANY OF MY FLOWERS
Line 3: DAMAGED!
In this example, it is not necessary to terminate the capitalized passage after “KEEP OFF THE” because of the running head. The capitalized passage indicator is opened before the word KEEP. The capitals terminator is used after the word DAMAGED. The running head is capitalized separately with its own indicators.
The running head is “anchored text” and does not affect capitalization or typeform indicators for text that precedes or follows it. The same principle applies to other anchored text like running footers and line numbers in line-numbered text.
Yes, you are correct to use the names and dates associated with the word “renewed” in your samples. They are the most recent copyright dates and copyright holders. You do not need to use the word renewed.
Guide words, like running heads, are anchored text. They do not affect the formatting of the surrounding braille and are ignored when determining blank lines on the following braille page.
An agency can certainly make the decision to abbreviate UEB on the title page. Most of the agencies that I work with have already switched to “Transcribed 2026 into UEB by …”
As you and your agency make this change, I would suggest that it apply to both textbooks and novels (leisure material).
Under the current guidelines, when submitting exams for certifications, I recommend spelling out Unified English Braille.
This is a special situation. Yes, ordinarily this text would be blocked 4 cells to the right of the previous line when transcribing a formal letter into braille.
The sample demonstrates guideline 9.7.2. This guideline allows deviation from the normal braille format when the purpose of the exercise is to teach how proper PRINT format is used in correspondence. Only when the print example is teaching the format is this guideline followed. In all other cases, standard braille formatting is used.
