[NFB-Talk] Sao Mai Braille 24.7 Release Announcement

[David Andrews]

>
>
>From: SM Support Team <support at saomaicenter.org>
>
>
>
>Dear All,
>We are thrilled to release Sao Mai Braille 24.7, 
>featuring exciting new updates, improvements, 
>and bug fixes, especially for math and music. 
>SMB is not just a free Braille translation 
>software solution but also a tool that enhances 
>the learning and working experiences of blind individuals.
>We hope you enjoy using SMB and would highly 
>appreciate your help in spreading the word to others.
>Please find the release announcement below.
>
>
>Sao Mai Braille 24.7 Release Announcement
>
>
>
>Highlights in the SMB 24.7 release include: 
>adding 7 new braille translation tables for text 
>(Serbian Cyrillic, Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish, 
>Akkadian, Syriac, Ugaritic, and Transliterated 
>Cuneiform); speaking mathematical expressions in 
>Swedish and Italian; converting mathematical 
>expressions to ASCIIMath, LaTeX, and Swedish 
>Braille codes; reading music score in navigation 
>mode (experimental), improving numerous Braille 
>translation rules for large scores with complex 
>notation, adding 3 new music transcription 
>options, supporting to insert various new music 
>file types when MuseScore is installed; and many 
>other new features and improvements.
>
>We have created a dedicated web page to post 
>tutorial videos for Sao Mai Braille at: 
><https://saomaicenter.org/en/blog/SMBVideos>https://saomaicenter.org/en/blog/SMBVideos
>
>Sections in the user guide are also referenced 
>to related videos, which you can watch on our 
><https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnuK_MnMvxi8yOb-XtdGMmHCgorAPE8_B>Youtube 
>channel as well.
>
>We would like to express our sincere thanks to 
>Mr. Hu Haipeng and the DAISY Music Braille 
>project for sponsoring two months of development 
>to fix issues and improve existing features of the Braille music translation.
>
>Please Visit the 
><https://saomaicenter.org/en/smsoft/smb>main 
>page of Sao Mai Braille to download!
>
>The details about this release are:
>
>
>General
>
>
>
>    * For Braille literature text translation, 
> update to LibLouis 3.30: support new Braille 
> translation tables for Serbian Cyrillic, 
> Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish, Akkadian Borger and 
> U.S systems, Syriac, Ugaritic, and 
> Transliterated Cuneiform. Additionally, various 
> improvements are made for Danish, Hungarian and Dutch tables.
>    * For mathematics, updated to MathCAT 0.6.3: 
> support new languages for speech output in 
> Italian and Swedish, and new Braille math codes 
> in ASCIIMath, LaTeX and Swedish.
>    * Save Braille document in additional TXT file type.
>    * When running SMB with JAWS/NVDA for the 
> first time, it will alert you to set the 
> display’s scale layout to 100% if you 
> experience the issue that the menus and dialogues are not read correctly.
>    * Re-enable all level X-Y styles up to level 11-11.
>    * Update missing Braille display Ascii code files.
>    * Improve navigation in the print dialogue in Braille documents.
>    * Fix issue of not responding when browsing 
> by category in the math equation insert dialogue in some cases.
>    * When the “Check spelling as you type” 
> option is enabled, screen readers report 
> “misspell” if the typed word has an error.
>    * Alert when spell check is complete and close the dialogue.
>    * Fix the issue of not reading characters 
> when moving left/right arrow keys in a table with Jaws.
>    * Screen readers should speak the cell’s 
> content when navigating by Tab and Shift+Tab in a table.
>    * Fix “access violation” error when 
> opening a BRF file and pressing Ctrl+P to print.
>    * Fix placing the table of contents in the 
> wrong location when converting from print to Braille.
>
>
>Music
>
>
>
>    * Music navigation mode (experimental 
> feature): At the inserted score in the print 
> document, press Shift+F5 or choose "Navigation 
> mode" from the View menu to enable it. Then, 
> use navigation keys to read the score with Braille and speech output.
>    * Press right/left arrow to move to 
> next/previous note item, up/down to move to 
> voice above/below, ctrl+right/left to move to 
> next/previous measure, home/end to 
> beginning/end of current page, pagedown/pageup 
> to next/previous page, ctrl+home/end to 
> top/bottom of score, and ctrl+g to specify the 
> measure number and presss enter to go to it.
>    * Press Escape to return to the main editing window.
>    * Watch the 
> <https://youtu.be/80gnaFQRJis?si=LuFXceaAh391lZho>tutorial 
> video on how to read music score in navigation 
> mode, or refer to the music section in the User Guide for more details.
>    * Support for inserting music scores with 
> new file types (including MSCZ, MIDI and MEI). 
> MuseScore software is used to convert these 
> file types into MusicXML files, which are then 
> translated into Braille by SMB. This file type 
> conversion process between Musescore and SMB is carried out internally.
>    * It requires MuseScore to be installed on 
> your computer. You must specify the path of the 
> MuseScore executable file on the General Settings page in the Options dialog.
>    * Add the “multi-staff naming” option in 
> the Staff tab page of the Score Info dialogue. 
> By default, the Braille staff name is assigned 
> automatically. Choose “Off” to not assign a name to the selected staff.
>    * In the Staff tab of the Score Info 
> dialogue, improve the detection of hidden 
> staves and list only the visible ones for customization.
>    * The "Stop doubling at the end of a 
> parallel" option now works correctly.
>    * Improve handling of hidden rests in staves with multiple voices.
>    * Improve tuplet doubling.
>    * Move pedal and hairpin directions to the 
> correct position when joining two voices for part in-accord.
>    * Fix the issue of not stating the print 
> line number as having tempo text when translated in full score mode.
>    * Improve staff and hand detection. It will 
> respect the originally assigned hand for a 
> voice on a staff. It only changes to the other 
> hand if the whole voice of a measure changes to a new staff.
>    * Improve measure rests on multiple staves in the same measure.
>    * Improve slurs starting from multiple 
> voices but ending in the same voice on the same 
> staff. They will all be treated as normal slurs.
>    * Fix the issue of missing long text 
> direction when it appears with a metronome.
>    * Add an option to combine hidden voice 
> containing notation of note properties . If 
> checked, notational elements on hidden voices 
> are ignored. Otherwise, hidden voices are 
> written in full-measure in-accord. Find this 
> option in “Multiple voices” group on music 
> Braille’s Transcription page in Options dialogue.
>    * Improve tied-into and L.V. ties.
>    * Improve part in-accord and measure repeat: 
> do not repeat one voice of a measure when the 
> voice in the previous measure is in part in-accord mode.
>    * Improve part in-accord and part-measure 
> repeat: only repeat when the repeated and 
> original pieces are both in the combined voice 
> or in the part-measure beat passage.
>    * Stating the octave sign at the first note 
> of a measure is now based on the last note of a 
> Braille measure, instead of checking with the 
> last note of the same voice in the previous measure.
>    * The hand sign is now stated by checking 
> its previous hand sign change in a Braille 
> measure, rather than checking the changes in the same voice.
>    * Not stating supplemental accidentals when 
> the note is written in the combined voice while 
> the accidental change is in the previous part-measure in-accord.
>    * Add an option to apply repeat when 
> matching both notated accidental mark and 
> actual pitch. If not selected, it just checks 
> for actual pitch regardless of the note notated 
> with the accidental mark or not. Find this 
> option in the Repetition group on music 
> Braille’s transcription page in Options dialogue.
>    * Support detecting and applying custom 
> Braille definitions for instrument changes: use 
> the correct instrument name and abbreviation in 
> both single-part and full score modes, use 
> custom Braille name and abbreviation, and list 
> in the instrument list for full score mode.
>    * Improve custom staff name defining 
> functions: added an option to choose not to 
> automatically name the staff. Auto-staff-naming 
> is correct by adding alphabets of ABC etc., if 
> the last Braille character of the part 
> abbreviation is one of the Braille lower 
> numbers: 1234567890." Otherwise, it will be 
> named as lower Braille numbers of 123456789.
>    * Add an option to show/hide note size. 
> Supported detection of cue, grace-cue, large, 
> and normal note sizes. For chords with mixed 
> note sizes, the sign will be stated before the 
> written or interval note, then following notes 
> should be considered in the same size unless 
> there’s a sign to indicate the change. Find 
> this option in the Show/hide symbols list on 
> the music Braille’s transcription page in Options dialogue.
>    * Showing hand changes doesn’t effect doubling and repeat anymore.
>    * Force to state key signature when it’s 
> printed but it has the same value with the running one.
>    * Fix crashing and hanging issues, and many other minor improvements.
>
>End of the announcement
>
>Many thanks and best regards,
>
>--
>SM Support Team
>Visit our website at: 
><https://saomaicenter.org>Sao Mai Center for the Blind (SMCB)
>Subscribe to receive announcements from us by 
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