A1. If your Internet Explorer opens .brf files and you would prefer to have the option of downloading these files without opening them first, one way to do this is to create a registered file type for .brf file extensions. In Windows 95 or Windows 98, follow these steps:
1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer.
2. Do an alt-v to open the View menu.
3. Select "options" or "folder options".
4. You will be presented with a tabbed dialog box. Press the tab key until you reach the tab controls and right arrow twice to reach the "file types" tab.
5. Tab until you reach "new type..." and press enter.
6. Tab through the fields and fill in the following:
A. Description of type: Here you can enter whatever you like, these are the words you will see on the file types list. One possibility is: "formatted braille file".
B. Associated Extension: brf
C. Content Type: application
For Windows ME, follow these steps:
1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer.
2. Do an alt-t to open the Tools menu and Select "folder options".
3. You will be presented with a tabbed dialog box. Press the tab key until you reach the tab controls and then right arrow twice to reach the "file types" tab.
4. Tab until you reach "new type..." and press enter. For "file extension" type "brf".
5. tab to "advanced" and press enter.
6. You will be in "file type associations" list box Start typing the word application and when you reach appl, you should land on it. Tab to ok and press enter. Once you have created a file type for .brf files, if you want to be able to view the file online, you will need to specify an action.
7. Keep tabbing until you reach "action" and then tab once more to "new...". Press enter on new and fill in the following two fields:
A. Action: open
B. Application to perform action: (here you can put in any editor that you would like to use. If you don't know what to put in, try: "C:\program files\accessories\wordpad.exe" "%1" Be sure to use the quotes, they are important.
C. Tab to ok and press enter.
8. Tab to close and press enter. You are back in the options dialog box.
Now when you select a .brf file while in Internet Explorer, you will be prompted to either "save this file to disk" or "open this file in its current location". You can also designate the directory where you would like the file saved.
A2. All the Web-Braille books can be reached from the main Web-Braille page. They can be located in three ways:
1. Online Catalog: Links to Web-Braille books have been added to the NLS online catalog This catalog is located at www.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/advancedsearch.html See also Q3. How can I search for Web-Braille titles?.
2. Braille Book Review: The HTML version of each issue of Braille Book Review published since July-August 1999 contains links to all new braille books available on Web-Braille. You can access the online version of Braille Book Review from the main Web-Braille page or from www.loc.gov/nls/bbr
3. Lists of Older Titles: There are nine listings of books under the link "Listings". These lists are named
Because of its large size, the "all books" list does not include annotations. These lists contain links for more than 2,600 braille books from approximately BR8825 to 11976, with holdings intermittent at each end of this range. These lists were created in July of 1999 and have not been updated since that time.
A3. Web-Braille books can now be searched in the online catalog at www.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/advancedsearch.html. To retrieve Web-Braille titles only, put the words "web braille" (as two words with no hyphen) in the "Annotation, notes, or content keyword" field. The results list will contain a link to each volume of a Web-Braille title. When a Web-Braille volume is selected, you will be prompted for your Web-Braille username and password.
A4. Web-Braille files can be embossed in several ways.
Embossing with Braille Translation software. Web-Braille files can be imported into software packages such as the Duxbury Braille Translator or Megadots. It is important to be sure that the .brf file parameters are specified correctly. Web-Braille files are in the format: 25 lines per page, and 38 or 39 cells per line. If there is a blank cell at the beginning of each line in the file, then use 39, otherwise use 38. Embossing from a Command Prompt. In most cases, it is possible to emboss Web-Braille files from an MS-DOS command prompt. From the Windows start menu, select Programs, and MS-DOS Prompt. Switch into the directory where the .brf file is located and enter a command similar to the following: copy filename.brf com1 where com1 is the port where your embosser is connected. This may be com2, lpt1, or something else. The disadvantage to this method is that you must emboss an entire volume at one time. If books are coming out double-spaced, there is a good chance that the file was not downloaded properly. To solve this problem, see Q1. Is there an easy way to download .brf files with Internet Explorer?
A5. Web-Braille contains files for almost all braille books produced by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped since the early 1990s. They begin with BR8825 but are somewhat intermittent until approximately BR9000. Print/braille, grade 1 braille, and foreign-language books are not included.
A6. Web-Braille files may be read online or may be downloaded for offline viewing or embossing with a braille display, braille-aware notetaker, or braille embosser.
A7. As part of the "synchronize" feature in Internet Explorer 5.0 and later, you can have IE send you an e-mail message whenever the content on a particular web page changes. In Web-Braille, each magazine has its own page from which all the available issues are linked so it is possible to have IE monitor each magazine individually. Let's assume you would like to know each time a new issue of PC World is posted to the web site. When you add the page containing links to PC World to your favorites, checking the box that says "make available offline" will bring up the "Offline Favorite Wizard". Using this wizard will work perfectly fine but let's assume for this example that you have already navigated to the page www.loc.gov/nls/braille/mags/pw.html and added this page to your favorites in the usual way with alt-a. To have Internet Explorer send you an e-mail message every time a new issue of PC World is added to Web-Braille, do the following: