Re: Future of HTML

I wish to make a preliminary statement: I don't know enough HTML
4.0, XML and CSS2 to establish if what I am going to ask is already
possible at this stage of development of these languages.

The problem is: fine synchronization between two different media,
for example, text and audio. In particular, in the case of parallel
presentation of a text and the human reading of the same text, to
realize a fine indexing of both text and digital record in such a
way to allow the reader/listener to jump from one medium to another
and to read/listen the same information, with a approximation at
least of a sentence. 

This has been realized, in demo version, with a modified HTML, by
the European Copernicus-Digibook project, in form of a so called
"hybrid book" for blind people. This structure combines the high
quality of the digitalized human voice with flexibility of an
hypertext. For example, the user can listen to the audio version of
the text and to stop in a certain point of the record to jump to
the parallel textual version to verify the spelling of a name.
Another example, it is possible to search a certain string of
characters in the textual version and to jump directly to the
corresponding point of the audio version. This in addition to the
obvious advantage of a navigation inside the hypertext and the
direct pointing to the parallel audio version.

Such a structure results very effective for blind people in both
local and network applications. In particular, in the mentioned
European project, it has been conceived as a new powerful form of
talking book for the blind stored on a CD-ROM.

I'd like to know if such a synchronization is possible with the new
release of HTML. If not, this could be a suggestion for the future
releases which (I hope) could be of interest of more in general and
not only for blind people.

Best regards 
                                                Paolo Graziani   

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Paolo Graziani
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Istituto di Ricerca sulle Onde Elettromagnetiche "Nello Carrara"
Via Panciatichi 64
I - 50127 Firenze

tel +39 55 4235259, fax +39 55 4235204

E-mail: graziani@iroe.fi.cnr.it
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Received on Monday, 30 March 1998 09:24:16 UTC