RNIB Centre for Accessible Information (CAI)
Technical report #3A
Converter tools evaluation
Comparison of Braille Maker Pro, Cipher,
Duxbury Braille Translator and Easy Converter
Published by:
RNIB Centre for Accessible Information (CAI), 58-72 John Bright
Street, Birmingham, B1 1BN, UK
Commissioned by:
As publisher
Authors:
(Note: After corresponding author, authors are listed alphabetically,
or in order of contribution)
Sarah Home (Accessible Information Development Officer, CAI)
Tel: 0161 355 2023
Email: sarah.home@rnib.org.uk
Date: 12 June 2008
Document reference: CAI-TR3A [06-2008]
Sensitivity: Internal and full public access
Copyright: RNIB 2008
© RNIB 2008
Citation guidance:
Home, S. (2008). Converter tools evaluation: Comparison of Braille
Maker Pro, Cipher, Duxbury Braille Translator and Easy Converter.
RNIB Centre for Accessible Information, Birmingham: Technical
report #3A
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to the evaluators and software developers who contributed
to these evaluations.
CAI-TR3A [06-2008]
2
© RNIB 2008
Translation software evaluation report
RNIB Centre for Accessible Information (CAI)
Prepared by:
Sarah Home (Accessible Information Development Officer, CAI)
© RNIB
12 June 2008
Introduction
Evaluations of four products for translation into accessible formats were
evaluated by expert transcribers. The same sample materials were
used for each evaluation. These sample documents included were taken
from the British Braille manual.
NOTE: The Duxbury software was tested using samples from British
Braille during development. As the same sample materials were used in
this evaluation, it is likely that Duxbury will show fewer specific
translation issues than the other products tested, as it is likely any issues
found have already been addressed.
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
3
© RNIB 2008
Table 1. General information
Area of
evaluation
Product
name
BrailleMaker
Cipher
BrailleMaker
Professional
Version
number
Date tested
Software
producer
Purpose of
product
Duxbury
Cipher
Dolphin
EasyConverter
Dolphin EasyConverter
1.6 / L August 2007
1.03
3.0.1 Build 053
10.7
16 April 2008
Seeing Differently (sold
and supported through
Cragside
AccessABILITY Ltd)
A very powerful braille
translation and editing
tool aimed at the
professional transcriber
27 May 2008
Dolphin Computer
Access Ltd
14 April 2008
Dolphin Computer
Access Ltd
12 June 2008
Duxbury Systems
Designed to let you
transcribe a text
document into braille
and emboss it using a
connected braille
embosser with a
minimum of effort
From Dolphin's website:
"EasyConverter quickly
creates Large Print,
MP3, DAISY and Braille
versions of learning
materials that can either
be scanned from paper,
or input from Word,
PDF, html or text files."
DBT is probably the
best known, most used
and developed braille
translator on the market
today.
True Windows software
that translates a wide
variety of file formats
into braille.
The program provides
powerful braille editing
functionality for the
professional transcriber
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Duxbury Braille
Translator (DBT)
4
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
Purchase
cost of
product
(NOTE:
Prices correct
at date of
evaluation.
All prices are
exclusive of
VAT)
BrailleMaker
Cipher
£382.91 for a single
user licence
Unsure - tends only to
be bundled with
embossers now
£1340.16 for network
version - 5 users
£4211.94 for network
version - 20 users
Dolphin
EasyConverter
£2660 for commercial
user (including 1 user
licence) + £1596 for
each additional licence
Duxbury
If purchased through
UK distributor TechnoVision Systems Ltd:
Single user licence £1495 for Higher and
£385
Further Education/Local 5-user site licence Education
£1,595
Authority/Library
10-user site licence (including 1 user
£2,695
licence) + £897 for each Additional 5-user packs
additional licence
- £1,195
£890 for
school/charity/not for
profit (including 1 user
licence) + £534 for each
additional licence
Maintenance Unaware of any
None
plan
maintenance costs
(Cost of
maintaining
Various pricing
product
structures are available
annually and to upgrade versions that
any known
are over a year old CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Standard Maintenance
Agreement (SMA) is
payable annually.
Various pricing
structures are available
for maintenance plans.
Duxbury offers free
upgrades within the first
year of purchasing the
product
Maintenance packages
can be purchased to
5
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
additional
costs.)
BrailleMaker
versions under a year
old have free updates
Cipher
Dolphin
EasyConverter
No known additional
costs
Duxbury
extend the free upgrade
period to 2 years
Various pricing
structures are available
to upgrade DBT
versions that are over a
year old
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
6
© RNIB 2008
Table 2: Installation and set up
Area of
evaluation
Minimum
system
requirements
BrailleMaker
Activation
method
Internet or manual
activation options are
available
Installation
and initial set
up
Easy to install/set up
No assistance needed
No problems
10 Mb hard disk space
Microsoft Windows 98
Second Edition, Me,
NT, 2000, XP Home,
XP Professional or
Windows Vista
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Cipher
Dolphin
EasyConverter
No data available - as
Processor: Pentium III
the product is so simple 700 MHz or equivalent
it should run on any
Memory: 256 MB RAM
system
Software: Microsoft
Windows 2000 SP2,
Microsoft Word 2000,
Microsoft Internet
Explorer 6 SP1,
Microsoft XML 4 (if not
already present on the
system, this will be
installed as part of the
Dolphin EasyConverter
installation)
Doesn't appear to be
Product can be
any activation method - activated via the
this is outdated
internet, or manually
software and not in
(with the input of an
general use
activation code)
Duxbury
Easy to install/set up
No assistance needed
No problems
Easy to install/set up
No assistance needed
No problems
Easy to install/set up
No assistance needed
No problems
25 Mb available hard
drive space; Microsoft
Windows version 98,
ME, NT, 2000, XP, and
Vista
A licence key code
number must be typed
in during installation to
activate the product
7
© RNIB 2008
Table 3: Usability
Area of
BrailleMaker
evaluation
Usability
Program is intuitive and
(How usable/ relatively easy to use
intuitive is the
product?)
Cipher
Dolphin
EasyConverter
Not very - you need an The product is quite
excellent knowledge of easy to use, and is
the outdated $ coding
intuitive once you
system to get anywhere become familiar with
near acceptable braille the interface and the
output
different stages of the
program
Duxbury
Very intuitive and
usable
It can be quite
confusing at times - the
user is not always sure
if they are saving a
project or a specific
output format
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
8
© RNIB 2008
Table 4. Accessibility
Area of
evaluation
Full use via
keyboard
Shortcut keys
defined and
applied
Focus cursor
visible to
indicate
position of
keyboard
input
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Duxbury
Not known
Dolphin
EasyConverter
Not known
Not known
Not known
Not known
Yes
Yes
Not known
Not known
Not known
Yes
Yes
Accessible with the
main screenreaders
and Zoomtext - various
scripts are available
(JAWS etc)
Note: These products have not been tested by an accessibility expert. It is recommended that an access audit is
carried out.
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
9
© RNIB 2008
Table 5. Functionality
Area of
BrailleMaker
evaluation
Input formats HTML, ASCII text, Word
Perfect and Wordstar
formats
Cipher
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury
Documents with .txt
extensions or braille
ascii files only
Plain text files (.txt)
Rich text files (.rtf)
Microsoft Word
document files (.doc,
.docx)
Hypertext markup
language (HTML) files
(.html, .htm)
Portable document
format files (.pdf)
NIMAS (National
Instructional Materials
Accessibility Standard)
files
DTBook DTD compliant
XML files
Paper documents input
via optical character
recognition (OCR) scanner needs to be
connected to PC
WordPerfect 3x, 5x &
6x
MS Word 6 or later
Duxbury formatted
braille
Duxbury formatted
text
SGML/ICADD/HTML
XML - DAISY/NISO
NOTE: Dolphin
EasyConverter does not
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
10
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury
support HTML files with
a linked CSS file
Output
formats
Embosser files - .bmk
Braille files (.brl) that are Text files (.txt)
Braille Editor files - .bmw sent directly to an
Compressed audio files
Notetaker files - .brl
embosser
(.mp3)
DAISY 2.02 compliant
digital talking book
(DTB)
Large print (.doc)
Braille - extension is
dependent on which
braille translator is used
ASCII
Formatted braille
Flexibility
It appears relatively
Settings are easily
easy to change settings changed
- maybe a bit fiddly at
first until you get used to
it
Very easy to change
settings
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
It is relatively easy to
change settings but
could be improved by
rethinking the structure
of the settings option
and making it a bit more
intuitive
NOTE: braille tables
cannot be altered in
the program by the
user - to prevent
braille being
NOTE: If your source
produced that doesn't
documents have
conform to the local
headings properly styled braille rules
in Word you will need to
11
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Speed of
translation
Translation slowed
slightly on larger
documents (50 pages
took about 30 seconds)
Stability
Program was very stable Program is very stable
during entire evaluation
process
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Translates very quickly
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury
change the settings with
EasyConverter so that it
will not automatically try
to define structure in
your documents which
could cause problems
On smallish files there is Program translates to
no problem - but when
braille quickly
translating large books it
can take over an hour to
translate and the
computer slows down
even further if you have
other applications open
The program is on the
whole pretty stable, but
if you exit the program
and then open it again
within a couple of
minutes an error box
appears telling you that
an instance of
EasyConverter is
already running
Program is very
reliable and stable
12
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
Automation
(E.g. how
easy is it to
set-up
macros/batch
processing?)
Positive
observations
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury
Not known
No automation possible
Don't think it's possible
to set-up macros or
batch processing
Macro option is not
currently available
Unsure about batch
processing
Overall functionality is
very good.
 Ability to produce
capitalised and noncapitalised grade 1,
grade 2 and learner
braille
 Braille editing
features are very
powerful and braille
pages re-paginate
automatically
 Incorporates a
learner braille feature
which enables
material to be
produced with the
gradual introduction
of contractions,
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
No positive observations Functionality is very
good overall - not aware
of anything missing from
this type of multi-media
product.
 Program offers the
ability to produce a
number of accessible
formats from the
same source file
 Program correctly
produces braille to
post-2004 rules and
also has the UEB
translation tables
included
 Program will import a
good range of file
formats
Functionality is very
good
 Ability to produce
capitalised and
non-capitalised
grade 1, grade 2,
UEB and learner
braille
 Braille editing
features are very
powerful and
braille pages repaginate
automatically if
text is altered
 Wide range of
braille translation
tables available
 Runs on network
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© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker




running in-line with
the braille primer
Good range of
options for
representing tables in
braille and on the
whole imports tables
from Word well
Program will ask if it's
not sure how a
portion of text or
character should be
translated into braille
- this function can
also be turned off
within the settings if
necessary
Print page indicators
are correctly placed
and shown in the
main text
Options to ignore or
include font attributes
from original source
file - bold, italics,
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Cipher
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury
 Program will export
embosable braille
files dependent on
which embosser you
select
 The quality of the
accessible format
version is dependent
on the original source
document, but you do
have the option to
amend the original
file and then retranslate if necessary
 The braille editor
offers the usual cut,
copy, paste and undo
features and you also
have the ability to
change the way you
view the braille dots
on screen - ASCII,
dots or shadow dots
 The program
analyses the source




or standalone
Program supports
Maths
Can import
GOODFEEL
braille music files
Incorporates a
learner braille
feature which
enables material to
be produced with
the gradual
introduction of
contractions,
running in-line with
various braille
teaching courses
Extensive range of
language
translation options
including all the
most popular ones
and Hebrew,
Cyrillic, Arabic and
Indian languages
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© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
underline etc
 User is able to flick
between original file
and braille version
without having to retranslate the text
 Automatic generation
of a table of contents
is available and
dynamically updates
if you change any text
 Range of language
translation options French, German,
Irish, Italian, Russian,
Spanish, Castilian,
Catalan and Welsh
Negative
observations
Cipher
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury
document and
suggests (if
appropriate) that a
PDF document (for
example) would be
better if it was run
through OCR first
(this function is also
built into the program)
 Inability to
 Functionality leaves a  The program slows
automatically
lot to be desired
down considerably
populate heading info  It's missing almost
when translating lots
on braille page
of text and
everything that you
information line (PIL)
occasionally crashes
would expect from a
from original source
modern braille
 When creating the
file - user has to enter
translator
braille version, there
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
 Inability to
automatically
populate heading
info on braille page
information line
(PIL) from original
source file - user
15
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
Cipher
text and remember to  Only produces braille
change it at the next
to pre-2004 rules chapter/section
should not be used
 The program doesn't
currently import or
convert PDF files
 The program doesn't
pick up the first
heading in a
document as a
centred heading - has
to be manually
tagged, even if it's
been styled as a
heading in the
original document
 When using the find
and replace function,
the user has to type
in the ASCII
character for a braille
contraction (p]sonal
for personal)
otherwise the word is
not found
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury




is no option for
has to enter text
generating text to be
and remember to
included on the page
change it at the
information line (PIL)
next
chapter/section
Print page numbers
are not indicated in
 The program
the text of the braille
doesn't currently
version, but they do
import or convert
appear correctly on
PDF files
the PIL
The braille editor
allows for minor
changes to the text to
be made, but if you
delete portions of text
it will not re-paginate
- you have to alter the
original file and retranslate
The program doesn't
offer automatic
generation of
contents pages
The program will only
either ignore tables in
16
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Dolphin EasyConverter Duxbury
the braille version or
convert the table to
paragraphs - but it is
able to add an
explanation of the
columns
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
17
© RNIB 2008
Table 6. Outputs
Area of
evaluation
Does it
import/
output/
produce the
formats it
states?
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Yes
Yes
Does it
adhere to
published
standards/
guidelines
for outputs
On the whole yes - see below
on specific braille issues
No (see below)
Dolphin
EasyConverter
Yes
Duxbury
On the whole yes,
although there are
some minor issues
with conformance to
British Braille 2004
when using the
internal braille
translator
(see below)
Yes
Yes
Needs quite a lot of
changes in the
settings to produce
good quality large
print output though
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
18
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
Feedback
on specific
translation
issues
BrailleMaker
Cipher
 Dates (1980s etc) translate  Only produces
with an apostrophe before
braille to pre-2004
the s - no longer needed in
braille rules
new braille rules
 Omitted digits in a string
should be replaced by dot
3s
 25 kWh - letter sign missing.
 Phoenix - "en" should be
contracted
 Email addresses translate
incorrectly
 Computer file names
translate incorrectly
 Lists and bullets sometimes
indent too far to cell 7 in the
braille (should be cell 5)
 CD should have a double
letter sign before it - not
letter sign C, letter sign D
 Phone numbers incorrectly
represented.
 Times of the day translate
incorrectly when the original
source uses a colon to
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Dolphin
EasyConverter
 1. Braille (using
EasyConverter's
internal braille
translator) An
apostrophe at the
beginning of a
word should be dot
3 - not dots 2,3,6
(inner quote)
 When capitals and
italics are used
together the signs
must be closed in
the reverse order
to how they were
opened - e.g. open
capital, open italic,
TEXT, close italic,
close capital.
 Dates - 1930s, 70s
etc - when no
apostrophe is
present in the
original text there
is now no need to
Duxbury
NOTE: Duxbury was
trialled using samples
from British Braille
during development,
therefore it is likely
most specific
translation issues
would have already
been addressed.
 Phone numbers
incorrectly
represented in
braille - imports
with same spacing
as original source
document
 Web and email
addresses
translate
incorrectly unless
the correct
Duxbury styling is
applied
19
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
separate the numbers
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Cipher
Dolphin
Duxbury
EasyConverter
insert an
apostrophe in the
braille
 Part-italicised
words - the twocell dots 4,6 and
dot 2 sign should
precede the
italicised portion
and the usual twocell dots 4,6 and
dot 3 terminator
sign should be
used
 Omitted digits 4**7 etc - however
represented in
print should now
be represented in
braille by the
equivalent number
of dot 3s
 Print page
indicators - the
two-cell dot 5, dots
20
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Cipher
Dolphin
Duxbury
EasyConverter
2,5 sign - these
should be shown
in the text of the
braille on a line of
their own and
followed unspaced
by the new print
page number - see
British Braille 9.1.5
for more info
21
© RNIB 2008
Table 7. Product support
Area of
evaluation
How useful
is the help
file?
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Very comprehensive
and you get a hardcopy
manual as well
OK, but quite sparse
How are
support
issues
handled?
DotLine is the dedicated
technical support facility
provided by Cragside
(BrailleMaker
distributors in the UK).
It's available to all
BrailleMaker customers
from 09:30 to 17:00
Monday to Friday
Dolphin has a few FAQs Dolphin offer extensive
on it's online knowledge support mechanisms via
base
their website - on-line
manuals and user
Unsure if Cipher
guides, access to
support calls are
knowledge base for
handled at all
FAQs, tips and tutorials,
discussion forums,
submitting queries online and a manned
telephone helpdesk
Techno-Vision Systems
Ltd (UK distributors of
Duxbury) offer
comprehensive support
and are closely linked to
the US developers
What type of Would suggest at least
training
half a day if the trainee
would be
is familiar with braille
needed?
Minimal
Would suggest a halfday session to get used
to the product as long
as the user knew braille
Would vary dependent
on the complexity of the
material the user will be
producing
Is external
training
available?
Unsure - probably not
as the product is so
basic
Dolphin offer training
courses through their
certified training
Yes - from TechnoVision Systems Ltd:
Basic and Advanced
Yes - provided at
customer's workplace
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Dolphin
Duxbury
EasyConverter
Very helpful and easy to Very helpful
use
22
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Cipher
Dolphin
EasyConverter
network on this product
- prices available on
application
Duxbury
23
© RNIB 2008
Table 8. Suitability for a range of users
Area of
BrailleMaker
evaluation
Suitable for Yes
light
desktop use
(e.g. admin
staff)
Suitable for Yes
professional
use (e.g.
transcribers)
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Cipher
No
No
Dolphin
EasyConverter
Yes - with relatively
straightforward wellstructured documents
Duxbury
Not for braille outputs,
due to lack of braille
editing facilities, no
heading information on
page information line
and no ability to show
print page numbers in
the main text
Yes
Yes
24
© RNIB 2008
Table 9. Other
Area of
evaluation
Security
issues
Semi
automated
functionality
BrailleMaker
Cipher
None
None
Yes
Fully
automated
functionality
Not known
Developmen The introduction of
t plan
braille tables for UEB
are currently in
development and
should be available
before the end of 2008.
Mathematics braille is
due for release shortly
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
Dolphin
EasyConverter
None
Duxbury
Yes
Yes, giving you the
option to check the
document and tweak
before translation into
output format
Yes
No
Yes, can be fully
automated if you are
sure the source
document is good
Unknown
Not known
RNIB was asked to
evaluate this version of
Cipher - not sure if there
will be any further
development work on
this product as Dolphin
have developed a new
braille translator which
is much better
None
Developers are
constantly enhancing
the product based on
customer feedback
Some items on the wish
list:
 Volumisation
 Better handling of
tables from Word
 Hyperlink recognition
 Parsing options
25
© RNIB 2008
Area of
evaluation
BrailleMaker
Cipher
Dolphin
EasyConverter
Duxbury
 Better handling of
footnotes
 Better handling of
long heading
information
 Enhanced Word
importer settings
 Automatic UK table
of contents generator
 PDF importer
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
26
© RNIB 2008
Summary
The findings of these evaluations have been shared with the developers
of the products in question. Developers were grateful for this feedback,
and may use it to enhance their products in future developments.
CAI-TR3A [06-2009]
27