Thank you for your interest in Duxbury Systems.
Enclosed is information about MegaDots, a sampling of new features in
MegaDots 2.0 and details on our other products. For questions and orders
call Duxbury Systems at 978-692-3000 or fax 978-692-9712. Our address is
270 Littleton Road, Unit 6, Westford, MA 01886. Contact us by e-mail at
sales@duxsys.com. Visit our web page at
//www.duxburysystems.com.
MegaDots retails for $540. Contact us for special trade-in offers and volume discounts.
MegaDots evolved from Duxbury Systems's commitment to make high quality braille widely accessible. For many years, we've provided blind and sighted computer users with braille translation software designed to bring braille quickly and easily into the hands of braille readers. Now, MegaDots sets the standard for braille production and translation.
MegaDots is easy to use. Even with no prior braille experience you'll be able to translate or create documents with MegaDots right away. Its straightforward, style-based system and automated features let you create great braille with only a few keystrokes. Yet it's sophisticated enough to please the fussiest braille producers: you can control each step MegaDots follows to format, translate and produce braille documents.
MegaDots' simplicity is the strength behind this powerful, intuitive tool designed to bring braille quickly and easily into the most demanding environments.
No matter how you like to work, MegaDots is receptive to your habits. If you prefer another word processor, MegaDots can adapt. Since MegaDots recognizes up to 150 different file formats, it is a breeze to bring in any document and set it up for braille. MegaDots supports all commercial braille embossers and all modern inkprint printers, so producing braille, print, and large print is a snap.
In all likelihood, you'll want to take advantage of MegaDots' streamlined simplicity right from the start. There are no complex entry methods or codes to learn first: like other word processors, what you see on the screen is what you get on paper. This is true even if you work in braille.
Whenever you want to see how the braille looks, press the Translate key. Suddenly you're looking at the same words, but in braille! You can jump around, edit or enter more braille. Braille entry can be done using a six-key technique, or as "Inkprint in braille", where the words you type become braille as you type them. When you are done in braille, press the Translate key once more and you return to print. It's that simple.
Users of voice and refreshable braille displays will appreciate interacting with software tailored for blind access. Screens are simple and free of clutter, and you don't have to fuss around to know where you are in the software. When you move into a new area, the name of the screen is spoken, like "Editor", "Main menu" or "Save file help".
For large print users, MegaDots supports popular screen enlargement programs, as well as a built-in large text mode. You'll never have to scroll around looking for text or information that's off the screen. With MegaDots, all you need to see is right there in front of you.
For sighted users, MegaDots has a familiar look and feel. Pull-down menus, point and click mouse interaction and colorful screens make working fun. The braille itself can be viewed in a variety of forms, depending on what is most readable for you.
MegaDots gives you the features you expect from a modern word processor, such as macros, bookmarks, and find and replace. No matter how you use MegaDots, you are sure to find something you need from this world class word processor and braille translator.
It is simple to tell MegaDots how to format the braille, because you don't have to! When you import a file, MegaDots automatically identifies the kind of document (i.e., poetry, a letter, etc.) and applies the appropriate styles to format the text. Or you can apply one of MegaDots' styles like "Heading Level 1" or "List" from within your own document.
Now you are just a Translate key away from the highest quality braille. Each paragraph is correctly indented, headings are never placed at the bottom of a page, and so on. MegaDots' intuitive features minimize the time and effort it takes to make great braille.
The more you play with MegaDots, the more you will learn. With a consistent layout, menus, on-the-spot help screens and well-written contextual documentation, MegaDots draws you in. Before you know it, you'll be using the clipboard, the Interpret Format screen, and the find and replace function. Short-cut "hotkeys" are displayed in the menus for quicker access to key features. MegaDots gives you the tools you need to learn how to make braille with this flexible, powerful software.
MegaDots has features for the fussiest braille lovers. You can create literary, textbook, Nemeth, computer and British braille. Every element of the braille is under your supervision. You may wish to see markup within your document, such as "start italics". A single keystroke reveals all the details that shape your document. You can edit this markup. Press the same key to return to WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). You can also change the way headings look, and choose which of nine automatic table formats you wish to use.
The new Interpret Format screen gives you a detailed document overview, including which and how many styles are used, whether there are tabs and running headers or print page indicators, and other useful information. From here you can make global changes or get more details to make individual format or style changes. This is especially useful while working with imported documents. If you need to make perfect braille, MegaDots gives you expert control over imported and native documents.
When you purchase MegaDots, you also get our amazing Spell Checker. It contains over 110,000 words and has a convenient and voice-friendly interface. Spell checking is not new. The breakthrough is its revolutionary ability to correct optically scanned material.
Conventional spell checkers think in terms of typos and common misspellings. MegaDots knows that optical scanners make visual mistakes and has a system for changing nonsense back into the right words. Usually a single keystroke fixes the error. When it's more complicated, the "visit text" option lets you edit your document right where the mistake exists, without leaving the Spell Checker. If you are using voice or refreshable braille, visiting the text makes the MegaDots spell checker much easier to use, because you're not trapped in a menu.
And now, optically scanned documents are automatically recognized and cleaned up - before you even edit your document! Just import your optically scanned document, and obviously misspelled text is corrected, i.e., "farnily" is changed to "family". Other common format errors are also fixed, such as split paragraphs and misnumbered list items.
You can make your MegaDots everything you ever wanted with different software add-ons. All add-ons require MegaDots. Contact Duxbury Systems for availability and price information.
Perfect for Vision Teachers: Choose the level of braille contractions most appropriate for your students with Beginner Braille. You can customize the contractions used in any kind of document and then save each set of contractions for reuse. Or, build students' braille literacy with Beginner Braille's included APH Patterns series or Braille Too.
MegaDots' MegaMath Mathematics Translator turns MegaDots into a powerful tool for math and science braille notation. The intuitive and easy to learn direct entry method automatically translates notation into correct Nemeth Code braille. Entry shortcuts called FastMath let you choose and customize frequently used notation.
Who uses MegaDots? What do they do with it? People use MegaDots to accomplish a wide variety of tasks.
"MegaDots is a complete package, a word processor which can produce print and braille simultaneously .... We now have great flexibility in the setting out for both print and braille."-- Helen Sutton and Kathy Riessen, Braille Transcribers, Townsend School, South Australia
"Training on MegaDots is so easy, people who were laboring with other translation programs were up and running on MegaDots in a very short time."-- Frank Irzyk, consultant on visual impairments, Mid-Pennsylvania Region
"With MegaDots I've finally found the braille translator I've longed for, a snap to use... I've come to rely on MegaDots as my word processor of choice... saving me time and aggravation. For any blind computer user the MegaDots spell checker has to be tried to be believed."-- Tony Swartz, blind computer user
"MegaDots... is a remarkable step forward in braille translation and state-of-the-art braille production. We are especially delighted that MegaDots is so user friendly and can be operated by personnel who do not know braille."-- Randy Borst, director of Services for Students with Disabilities at a major state University
"MegaDots' ease of use is outstanding. It thinks for you in so many ways. A new employee, who had no prior braille experience, used MegaDots to make grade two braille on her first day .... You may have to use another program to appreciate how easy MegaDots is [to use].-- Marion Jacobs, Braille Materials Specialist