#use wml::tmpl::main title="FreeDots -- MusicXML <en: to Braille Music translation><de: in Braille Musiknotation konvertieren>" PAGE=programming SUBPAGE=freedots

<h2><en: What is><de: Was ist> FreeDots?</h2>
<p>FreeDots <en: is a Free Software project to enable blind users to
translate musical notation into Braille music><de: ist freie Software
um es blinden MusikerInnen zu erm&ouml;glichen selbst Musiknoten
in Braille Musiknotation zu &uuml;bertragen>.</p>
<p><en: Currently, the only input file format supported is
<a href="http://www.musicxml.org/xml/">MusicXML</a>,
a widely used standard for distributing musical notation digitally.>
<de: Derzeit wird <a href="http://www.musicxml.org/xml/">MusicXML</a> als
einziges Dateiformat unterst&uuml;tzt, ein
weit verbreitetes Dateiformat zum digitalen Austausch von Musiknotation>
MusicXML <en: can be read and written by many different types of musical
notation software, like <abbr title="Optical Music Recognition">OMR</abbr>
programs, music notation editing software and conversion tools to and from
other formats.><de: kann von verschiedensten Softwareprodukten
rund um das Thema Musiknotation (wie z.B. Optische Musikerkennungssoftware,
Musiknotations Bearbeitungssoftware u. dgl.) gelesen und geschireben werden.>
<en: A detailed list of software supporting MusicXML can be
found>
<de: Eine detailierte Liste aller Software produkte die MusicXML
unterst&uuml;tzen finden sie>
<a href="http://www.musicxml.org/xml/software.html#Now"><en: here><de: hier></a>.
</p>

<h2>GUI</h2>
<p>
<en: FreeDots does also feature a GUI fronteend to view (and in the future also
edit) braille music.>
<de: FreeDots beinhaltet auch ein graphisches Benutzerinterface welches
zum betrachten (und inder Zukunft auch zum editieren)
von braille musiknotation verwendet werden kann.></p>

<h2>Download</h2>
<p>
FreeDots can be downloaded from its
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/freedots/downloads/list">Googlecode project
download page</a>.</p>

<h2>Known Problems</h2>
<p>Since FreeDots is a very young project, there is
still a lot to do.  This is a list of things that are known
to not work at the moment.</p>
<ul>
<li>Many braille music notation features are not yet implemented.
Help from knowledgeable people is highly appreciated.
This is your chance to do something valuable for the blind community.</li>
<li>The <a href="$(ROOT)/freedots/manual.html">manual</a> (intended as a brief
general introduction to braille music and as a user manual for Freedots) is missing
a lot of content.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Feedback</h2>
<p>FreeDots development is mostly based on enthusiasm.  FreeDots
will continue to stay free of charge for everyone.  However,
enthusiam is also sparked by something.  If we know
that we have users that use and like FreeDots, we are more likely
to improve it even more! Additionally, FreeDots is Free Software,
you are invited to contribute code or documentation to make it an
even more useful project than it already is.
</p>