ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://www.night-light.org/mystyles.css" /> <meta name='keywords' content='blind students, computer software, screen readers, biblical languages, braille displays, biblical Hebrew, braille, biblical Greek, koine Greek, braille embosser, JAWS for Windows, braille textbooks'/> <meta name='description' content='"Information about configuring the JAWS screen reader to display Hebrew points and polytonic Greek.'/> <title>Displaying Pointed Hebrew and Polytonic Greek on a Braille Display with JAWS</title> </head> <body> <div id="top"> <h1>DISPLAYING HEBREW AND GREEK ON A BRAILLE DISPLAY WITH JAWS</h1> <p id="sarah"><a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com" target="_blank"><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.night-light.org/sarah.jpg" height="110" width="100">Sarah J. Blake</a></p> </div> <div id="left"> <h2>Mini-Site Navigation</h2> <p> <b><a href="langstudy.html">An Overview of Issues in the Study of Biblical Languages by Students Who Are Blind</a></b><br> <b><a href="keyboards.html">Writing in Hebrew and Greek Using Your Keyboard</a></b><br> <b><a href="handouts.html">Preparing Accessible Handouts</a></b> <b><a href="parsing.html">Parsing Notation Developed by a Scholar Who is Blind</a></b> <b><a href="hebrew.html">The Experience of Studying Hebrew as a Student Who is Blind</a></b><br> <b><a href="index.html">The Study of Biblical Languages: Information and Resources for Students Who Are Blind</a></b><br> </p> <script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/night-light/BzBQ?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script><noscript><p>Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/night-light/BzBQ"></a><br/>Powered by FeedBurner</p> </noscript> </div> <script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MadeAliveWeWorship?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script><noscript><p>Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MadeAliveWeWorship"></a><br/>Powered by FeedBurner</p> </noscript> <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=growstro-20&o=1&p=9&l=st1&mode=books&search=biblical%20Greek&fc1=000000&lt1=_blank&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="180" height="150" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe> </div> <div id="right"> <p> Sarah Blake is a licensed minister with the Church of God (Anderson, IN). She is available to provide teaching or music ministry for your church. <a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com" target="_blank">Hear samples from some of her presentations</a> and contact her for booking information.</p> <h2>Support This Site</h2> <p> Development of content for this site is supported by your contributions, the sale of products through various affiliate programs, and Sarah's work as a writer, speaker, and in other areas listed on her <a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com" target="_blank">services page</a>. If the material on this site has been helpful or encouraging to you, please consider shopping using the sites linked here--and return to do your shopping anytime using these links to continue supporting this site.</p> <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=growstro-20&o=1&p=9&l=st1&mode=books&search=biblical%20Hebrew&fc1=000000&lt1=_blank&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="180" height="150" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-4619726658333486"; /* Christian front page200x200 */ google_ad_slot = "0861943916"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 200; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <style type="text/css"> @import url(http://www.google.com/cse/api/branding.css); </style> <div class="cse-branding-bottom" style="background-color:#999999;color:#000000"> <div class="cse-branding-form"> <form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box" target="_blank"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-4619726658333486:xa2j16j02g0" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="text" name="q" size="40" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> </div> </form> </div> <div class="cse-branding-logo"> <img src="http://www.google.com/images/poweredby_transparent/poweredby_999999.gif" alt="Google" /> </div> <div class="cse-branding-text"> Custom Search </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-4619726658333486"; /* Greek200x200f */ google_ad_slot = "7803670715"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 200; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </div> <div id="center"> <a name="content"></a> <p> The display of characters in braille is controlled in JAWS through the use of braille tables, files that instruct the program regarding the relationship of computer characters called Unicode characters and braille dots. Unicode is a system that enables computers to display a standard group of characters in a particular way regardless of what operating system is used or what program is running.</p> <p> JAWS includes several tables to control the display of braille characters. If you are having difficulty displaying characters, first ensure that a Unicode table is selected. The following instructions from the JAWS help files will tell you how to do this.</p> <ol> <li>Ensure that Braille Translator is disabled. This is especially important if you are working with foreign-language documents, as well as any math and science texts. </li> <li>From the Options menu, choose Braille. </li> <li>Select an appropriate table in the Translation Table list. Be sure to choose a table with the word "unicode" in the title. </li> <li>Choose the OK button. </li> </ol> <p> If this doesn't work, then the Unicode table may need modification. I found this to be necessary in my study. Since I live in the United States, I have chosen to modify the US_Unicode table so that it will display the characters for the languages I use. I am working with JAWS 12.0. My table is in progress and is updated as I have the time to work on it. I have made it available for those who wish to use it. It uses six-dot braille for Hebrew and Greek. (Greek characters which are unknown to me are still in eight-dot braille.) In Hebrew, bet, kaph, pe, and tav have separate characters in braille when accompanied by a dagesh; however, the dagesh preceeds all other letters, including gimel and dalet. Braille Hebrew is normally read from left to right; and JAWS has a programming feature which will invert the braille on web pages and in other programs that use web-like features so that Hebrew braille displays from left to right while the print displays from right to left. This feature sometimes causes braille Hebrew diacritics to display incorrectly. I cannot correct it. In other programs, Hebrew will display in braille from right to left. Please read below for more information about problems with Hebrew display.</p> <p> If you wish to install my table, first back up your own. (See below for detailed instructions.) This will allow you to reinstall your old table if you need to do so at some point. If you lose your table, the only way to recover it is to reinstall JAWS. Then you may download mine and copy it to your JAWS programs folder.</p> <p> <a href="US_Unicode.jbt">Right click to download</a>. Table last modified 05/11/2009. Updates will be posted as they become available.</p> <p> Note: In order to access this file, you need to be able to see and work with system-level program files. These files are hidden by default. Additionally, you need to be able to identify the correct file by its extension (the .jbt part). The following steps will make this possible.</p> <ol> <li>Open the control panel and go to folder options. (If you are in Windows 7 and your control panel is arranged by category, click on appearance and then on folder options.</li> <li>Go to the view tab.</li> <li>In the tree view,</li> <ul> <li>Check "show hidden files and folders." In Windows 7 this automatically turns off "don't show hidden files and folders." In XP, you must uncheck this box.</li> <li>Uncheck "hide extensions for known filetypes."</li> <li>Uncheck "hide protected operating system files."</li> </ul> </ol> <p> Note: Screen readers may announce that a checked item is "on" and an unchecked item is "off."</p> <p> <b>Note: After implementing these changes, it will be possible to delete important files that Windows needs in order to function correctly.</b> If you do not trust yourself in this area, reverse these changes after setting up the JAWS table. If you leave the changes in place, be very careful what you delete.</p> <h2>Instructions for Installing the Table by Operating System</h2> <h3>Windows XP</h3> <ol> <li>To locate US_Unicode.jbt in Windows XP, go to C:\Program Files\Freedom Scientific\JAWS\X [x is the number of the JAWS version you are using (e.g. 12.0). If you installed JAWS in a different folder, use the explore JAWS option in the start menu to locate your program folder.</li> <li>Rename the current US_Unicode.jbt to US_Unicode.old</li> <li>Copy the downloaded US_Unicode.jbt into the JAWS program folder.</li> <li>Restart JAWS.</li> </ol> <h3>Windows 7</h3> <ol> <li>Go to the start menu and explore JAWS to lodate and open the program folder.</li> <li>Rename the current US_Unicode.jbt to US_Unicode.old</li> <li>Copy the downloaded US_Unicode.jbt into the JAWS program folder.</li> <li>Restart JAWS.</li> </ol> <h2>Troubleshooting Problems with Display of Hebrew and Greek</h2> <p> If Hebrew characters are still not displaying correctly in MicroSoft Word 2007, do the following:</p> <ol> <li>Go to the ribbon by pressing alt, then use the left arrow key to move to Office.</li> <li>Move first down once and then up until you locate Word options. Press enter.</li> <li>Move down to advanced.</li> <li>Press the tab key until you locate the checkbox that says diacritics. Check the diacritics box and then move to ok. Press enter to exit.</li> </ul> <p> Also:</p> <li>Press F2, go to Settings Center, open Text Processing/General.</li> <li>Make sure that the following are all checked:</li> <ul> <li>detect languaged</li> <li>generalize dialect</li> <li>enhanced edit support</li> </ul> <li>Finally, be sure that caps lock is off when typing in Hebrew.</li> </ol> <p> The display of characters in Hebrew and Greek may also be negatively affected by the use of fonts that don't support Unicode characters. A number of Unicode fonts are available. To display Greek characters, a font which supports precomposed diacritics may be needed. I use Cardo, which supports both Greek with precomposed diacritics and Hebrew. I have not tried other fonts. If you are technically inclined, do some research and try some fonts.</p> </div> <div id="footer"> <p> Sarah J. Blake is the author of two chapters in the 2011 publication, <i>Discipleship That Transforms</i>. She also presented a paper at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature entitled "Using Technology to Meet the needs of Biblical Language Scholars Who Are Blind."</p> <p> This document is copyright 2010 by Sarah J. Blake. For permission to reprint, please email Sarah at <a href="mailto:sjblake@sarahjblake.com">sjblake@sarahjblake.com</a>.</p> <h2>Do You Need a Guest Speaker?</h2> <p> Do you need a speaker for your church, college, or community event? Sarah Blake provides teaching on topics related to biblical studies, pastoral care, and ministry to seekers. She is also available to lead worship at retreats or special events. Visit Sarah's <a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com">ministry and services page</a> to hear samples of her presentations and get booking information.</p> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-4619726658333486"; /* Hebrew728x90 */ google_ad_slot = "0460404163"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <p> This <a href="index.html">biblical languages mini-site</a> is part of a larger site providing information about living well with chronic illness and disability, Christian faith, and other topics. Please <a href="http://www.night-light.org">visit the rest of the site</a>.</p> </div> </BODY> </HTML>