User Tools


Tagging Elements

We only tag elements by request. There will be a note in the RT ticket if the title requires tagging.

You can tag skippable elements in Converter Plus. These tags allow the reader to listen to the elements, or skip them!

You can tag the following elements:

  • Notes
  • Descriptions
  • Sidebars
Set the play order, and rename tracks before you add tags

You will find the link to Tag Elements on the main project page. It is located just below Set Play Order.

When you select Tag Elements you will be taken to the page Element Discovery.

This is not an automated process, it is all done by hand. Each element you set up needs to be set up by hand, you need to find each element in each track, and you will need to set up each element by hand.

If you have an ebook version of the title this will help you locate the elements you need to tag.

The page is divided into 3 areas:

  1. Tracks
  2. Audio Play
  3. Tag Elements

Tracks

In this area, you will find all your tracks listed in the order they appear in the file. Here you can select a track to listen to it and locate where you need to insert your tag.

When you select a track it will automatically start playing in the Audio Player section of the page. See the section below for more details.

When a track is selected you can also view the elements for that particular track. The option to View Elements will appear after you select the track, and at the top of the list of tracks in this section. See the section How to fix a mistake for more information.

Audio Player

When you select a track the track will automatically start playing in the Audio Player area.

In this area you can use the controls to find where an element belongs or starts.

Here there is:

  • Play button
  • Volume Slider
  • Position Slider
  • 6 buttons to move forwards and backwards in increments of 0.2, 1, or 5 seconds
  • Time Index where you can enter the precise time where the element is if you know where it is, or to jump by a specific amount of time in the track if you know generally where the element is (e.g. 10 minutes into the track.)
  • Speed to increase the audio playback speed of the tracks all the way up to triple. Very useful for users that have screen readers and can listen at this speed.

Above the Position Slider there is a counter clock that shows where you are positioned in the track as you move through it to locate you element for tagging.

Once you find the beginning of an element, stop the player and move back using one of the buttons to ensure your element is at the right position. You can note the exact time the element begins as you watch the counter clock to help you ensure you are at the right position.
Precision here is very important, we want to make sure we are starting the tag for the element just before the narrator starts to talk, and right after they finish saying the final word.

Below the Audio Play area is Tag Element

Tag Element

This is where you add the tags to the track.

At the beginning of this area you will find 3 elements, each with their own radio button:

  1. Note
  2. Description
  3. Sidebar

Below these options are three buttons:

  1. Insert Element for if you have located the place in this track where an element should play, press this button. This is used for inserting notes into the body content of the audiobook.
  2. Mark Start Position for if you have found the start of an element. Once you select Mark Start Position it will change into Mark Stop Position
  3. Reset
  4. View all Elements where you can view all inserted elements in the audiobook. This is good for Quality Assurance purposes. All the elements will be listed in machine readable format noting the time stamps and track numbers they are located in.

Now we will go into how to tag the different elements.

Inserting Descriptions and Sidebars

Image Descriptions and Sidebar elements are often spoken directly into the main body content of the audiobook. When inserting the tags for this elements you will need to insert two tags:

  1. One for the start position
  2. One for the end position

To tag an Image Description or Sidebar:

  • Locate the precise start position for the element in the Audio Player
  • Select the type of element you are tagging
    • Description for an Image Description
    • Sidebar for any secondary content
  • Once you are sure of the start position, select Mark Start Position to insert the beginning of the element.
  • Once this is selected a tone is played and there will be a message stating Element starts at (time selected). This time will be the same time stamp you note in the counter clock.
  • Go back to the Audio Player and play the length of the element to locate the stop position for the tag.
  • Once you located the stop position go back to the Tag Element section and select the Mark Stop Position button.
  • This will insert the finished element tag into the track and you will see an updated message that states Saved!

Notes: Footnotes and Endnotes

Notes can be more tricky to insert. You will be inserting the tag within the body content of the audiobook for the tag that links to the note, and you will be marking the start and end of the tag in the Notes section of the book.

First you will need to located the track that has all the notes. Then you will need to locate the track, and location in that track, where the reference note needs to be inserted to form the link note itself.

Sometimes narrators will speak the reference number for the note, and other times they will not. You will need a copy of the ebook to help you locate where to insert the element tags.

To insert the first tag for the reference number of the note:

  • Locate the track and the location within the track where the note needs to be inserted using the Audio Player section.
  • In Tag Element select Note
  • Then press Insert Element button

This will tell Converter Plus where the footnote belongs in the track. Now you want to insert the tag for the actual note in the Notes Track.

To insert the tag in the Notes Track:

  • Located the Notes Track
  • Locate the start position of the note you are looking to tag using the Audio Player section
  • Select Note for the type of element you are tagging
  • Select Mark Start Position to insert the beginning of the element.
  • Once this is selected a tone is played and there will be a message stating Element starts at (time selected)
  • Go back to the Audio Player and play the length of the element to locate the stop position for the tag.
  • Once you located the stop position go back to the Tag Element section and select the Mark Stop Position button.
  • This will insert the finished element tag into the track and you will see an updated message that states Saved!

How to fix a mistake

Sometimes we make mistakes and will need to review our work, delete, and reinsert elements.

When you select a track in the Tracks section the option for View Elements will appear at the top of the list of tracks.

When you select View Elements you are taken to a new page where you can view the elements in a list presented in a dropdown menu.

The elements in this list are written in a machine readable format showing the start and end point of that element.

Below this list are two buttons:

  1. Play
  2. Delete

You can use the Play button to review the element track, and the Delete button to remove the track.

Video Tutorial

Danny created a video tutorial for this documentation. Below is the video.

public/nnels/mp3todaisy/tag-elements.txt · Last modified: 2021/08/20 16:08 by 176.9.16.209