Many of the newer textbooks make extensive use of color, special typefaces, and other visually-appealing techniques in order to help them compete in a very difficult and competitive market. As a chemist, I've started to see even my graduate-school level books including more and more fancy fonts and eye-catching colors. For textbooks at the elementary, middle and high school, and undergraduate levels, you can count on having to deal with visually stimulating contents. The guiding rule is:
If the typeface has no significance other than to be visually attractive, you should not do anything special in the braille version.
Having said that, there is a list of "ignore" and "don't ignore" when it comes to special typefaces:
| Typefaces Ignored |
Typefaces retained |
- Chapter titles and other headings except paragraph headings
- Displayed material set off by blank lines or a change of margins
- Entry words in a glossary, vocabulary, dictionary, or index unless required for distinction, e.g., book titles and foreign words
- Letters that mean letters and are shown standing alone
- Lists of words for study
- Names of characters, scene settings, and stage directions in plays or dialogue
- Quoted matter enclosed in quotation marks unless special typeface must be retained for emphasis or distinction
- Word parts, e.g., prefixes and suffixes, shown standing alone even when preceded or followed by a hyphen.
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- Anglicized words and phrases
- Foreign words and phrases
- Names of ships, pictures, book titles, etc.
- Paragraph headings
- Quoted matter set off from the body of the text by blank lines or a change of margins but not enclosed in quotation marks
- Words, phrases, or clauses to which particular attention is drawn.
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How, then, do you deal with this? First, a good review of the textbook prior to brailling is important to understand how the publisher is using typeface throughout the text.
The italics sign (dots 4-6) should be used for all typefaces if there is only one special typeface used. For example, if the publisher uses boldface, underlining, or small caps to indicate distinction, the transcriber should use the italics or double italics sign. If the publisher uses different typefaces but there is no distinction between them, continue to use the italics sign.
It is more likely, however, that there is distinction between typefaces. You should first use the italics symbol, then the boldface/doubleboldface (dots 456,46 for single, dots 456 46 46 for double). You can also use the double capital sign for small capitals, and enclosure marks (described later) for underlines. You do not, by the way, have to include any mention of this in a transcribers note or on a transcribers page.
What if the publisher uses colors in the typeface? Again, if there is only a single color used, you should use italics. There may be times, however, when you need to use color indicators to differentiate words printed in different colors. The color indicators are:
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blue |
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brown |
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green |
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orange |
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red |
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yellow |
Discussions on how to handle words or phrases that are circled, enclosed in drawn or colored boxes, and other weirdo types of distinction will be discussed in later sessions!
A relatively simple example is included here. This example uses multiple special typefaces that have importance to the reader.
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The Shodor
Education Foundation, Inc.