STD editor / STEB generator
DBB has the experience in digital production - Why not make use of it?
The Danish National Library for the Blind - DBB Software
Teglvaerksgade 37 - DK-2100 Copenhagen - Denmark
Tel.: +45 39 27 44 44 - Fax: +45 39 27 44 54
E-mail: software@dbb.dk - Internet: http://www.dbb.dk/software
Published by: The Danish National Library for the Blind, 2001
Humane Technologist Jakob B. Rasmussen. Design: Katrine Dahlerup
Printed by: Kailow Graphic. Photos: MAGNESIUM.
Denne udgave er produceret i 2001 af DBB, Danmarks Blindbibliotek i henhold til ophavsretslovens bestemmelser og må ikke kopieres uden tilladelse.
Der er foretaget elektronisk opmærkning af bogens struktur.
Selve teksten er inddelt i følgende niveauer: Afsnit og underafsnit.
Der er foretaget følgende ændringer i forhold til den trykte udgave:
Billedillustrationer er udeladt.
Note that the above level was in a different language. For the use of synthetic speech syntisizers this is marked in the lang attribute.
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Let the Danish National Library for the Blind (DBB) help in your digital production by bringing improvements in sound quality and document navigation for the users of your products.
Purchase DBB Software and benefit from developers' long experience with both analogue and digital audio production. With a strategic mix of the software from DBB the change towards digital production has never been easier.
Read about XML and digital production, try the software from DBB, enjoy an e-book and listen to a Digital Talking Book made with STD and STEB.
DBB has the experience - Why not make use of it?
The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) serves as a missing link between formerly incompatible interfaces and data formats. XML is perfect for exchanging data in a format easily read and validated by both man and machine. As a meta language XML has the obvious advantage, that when the language is defined and the document marked up, it becomes an easy task to convert the file into other data formats.
With an XML based production your organisation or firm will be able to optimise the delivery of all kinds of information. E-books, Digital Talking Books, files for Braille production - whatever the end user may require the system can deliever.
The Danish National Library for the Blind (DBB) has developed the STD-editor. STD is an acronym for Structured Text Document editor. With the STD-editor you can produce master-files in XML for any production without possessing a deeper knowledge of the actual XML markup. All you need to know is how you want to structure a given text or book. The STD handles the DAISY-NISO XML Document Type Definition (DTD) which, among other things, guarantees coherency in the production of talking books.
The creation of Digital Talking Books and the focus on new digital data formats require a process very different from that of a traditional analogue production. At DBB we use the STD editor to mark up the XML source-files which convert into the production of:
Electronic books in either ASCII or HTML
Rich Text Format e.g. used with Word
Text files prepared for the production of Braille (Note 1)
Large print through the use of stylesheet
Digital Talking Books (DTB) with human speech, with or without the full text
In addition to the above mentioned products, DBB produces Digital Talking Books with synthetic speech. In order to automate this production DBB has developed the STEB-generator (Synthetic Talking E-Book generator). Utilizing, your own synthetic speech software, STEB at a very high speed generates an e-book.
2Once you have made an XML file of the material onto which you want to apply synthetic speech, the generation of the sound in STEB is rapid. In the morning your client calls to order a magazine or a periodical, the same afternoon you deliever a digital talking book with synthetic speech.
This is no longer the service of the future, but the capability of the present.
Through the joint efforts of various organisations and DBB Software, the unattainable technology of yesterday is at the finger-tips of the users of today.
Structured Text Document editor
Producing structured text documents in XML using the DAISY/NISO standard for Digital Talking Books is not an easy task. XML is considered a language for specialists and skilled programmers.
Not anymore!
The STD editor enables a user with little or no skills in mark up languages to produce XML and HTML documents valid to the standard for Digital Talking Books - the dtbook.dtd.
The STD editor facilitate the generation of master-files in XML for any production of structured documents: e-texts in HTML, source-files for Digital Talking Books, well-structured files for the Internet etc.(Note 2)
An interface easy to use.
Multiple view choices (XML, HTML, with stylesheets).
Automatic index generation.
Automatic generation of Mark Up Definition Files (MDF). Note 3
Generation of valid XML/HTML code without any code writing.
Support of the most used tags in the dtbook.dtd
On-line help.
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The STD editor uses a text file as a source. By using a mouse or a keyboard, you can mark up the structure in the text e.g. headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, etc. It is possible to produce a fully marked up document in a very short time without any knowledge of the actual code tags.
It is also possible to use the STD editor without a source file. As in any other text editor simply write the text and mark the structural elements.
The STD editor inserts class names in all the important tags (e.g. level, pagenumber, heading etc.) making the generated document very suitable for the use with stylesheets.
The STD editor is in compliance with the DAISY/NISO standard for Digital Talking Books. Note 4
Synthetic Talking E-Book generator
How many Digital Talking Books can you produce a day? What if you could produce a book an hour without even having any persons recording it?
The STEB generator produces a Digital Talking Book using synthetic speech. The production process is very fast. It takes approximately 1 hour to make 8 hours recording with synthetic speech. In particular the result is suitable for products like reference books, indexes, manuals etc.
The STEB generator needs very little human interaction which means very short production time at a lower cost.
An interface easy to use.
Generation of Digital Talking Books from an XML sourcefile.
No interaction required during the generation process.
Automatic change between speech engines of choice.
Possibility of shifting between more than one speech synthesis if multible languages is required.
Ability to encode the audio output in MPEG II audio layer 3.
The STEB generator uses an XML file as a source. In addition to the STEB generator a speech synthesis will be required.
With relatively few steps it is possible to generate a Digital Talking Book with synthetic speech. Choose file to process, target directory, speech engine and job name. Specify in addition meta-data like the name of the publisher (your company) to be included in the final product. Push the start button to execute jobs selected. Without further intervention STEB now produces the digital talking book(s).
Featuring an ActiveX component the STEB generator offers the possibility of customazing an individualized and user oriented interface using e.g. Visual Basic.
The STEB generator is in compliance with the DAISY/NISO standard for Digital Talking Books.
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E-book
An e-book is an electronic text or a "paperless" version of a book, article or other document. Until a joint agreement has been made upon accessible reading devices or systems for ebooks, DBB makes HTML ebooks with full structure by XML markup in the STD-editor. A sample can be found on the CD-Rom.
DTB
A Digital Talking Book (DTB) is an ebook with human or synthetic speech. At DBB we use the STD-editor to mark up the electronic text with a structure allowing the DTB user a broad range of searchable capabilities not possible in current talking books. To read a DTB you need a reading device (eg. LpPlayer or Playback) or special hardware (eg. Victor Reader or Plextalk). A DTB sample with syntetic speech made with STEB for use with LpPlayer can be found on the CD-Rom.
1 to 4 licenses: 300 $/licence
5 to 15 licenses: 200 $/license
Special price if you chose more than 15 licenses
The price for a location license is 3000 $.
A location license can be used unlimited at one location. If the software is being used at a different location you must purchase a new license.
Order software at http://www.dbb.dk/software/
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Note 1: The Danish version of the STD outputs a file in WordPerfect 5.1 (DOS) which is used by DBB's braille printers.
Note 2: The STD provides a class name for all levels and other structural elements. This makes the HTML output files a perfect match for a stylesheet.
Note 3: The MDF (Mark Up Definition File) is used for producing books in LpStudio Pro using the DAISY 2.0 standard.
Note 4: Full support of the the Z.39.86 standard (Standard for Digital Talking Books) will be supported in version 2 of the STD. Depending on the approval of the standard in NISO this version will be available during the summer 2002.
