Braille Alphabet

The Braille alphabet is a tactile reading system designed for people who are blind or have a visual impairment.

Braille code translation uses a specific alphabet for the visually impaired/blind, made up of raised dots suitable for touch with 1 or more fingers. Each character therefore corresponds to a combination of 6 points (embossed or not) arranged in two columns of three points each.

There are different alphabets, all based on the French alphabet (first created by Louis Braille). Today, the International alphabet is the most widely used.

The dots are read in column and are numbered 1-2-3 for the first column and 4-5-6 for the second.

For the digits, there are 2 modes, the international mode uses the symbol ⠼ (3-4-5-6 - backward L) and the letters from A to J are respectively 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 0. The second French mode, called Antoine, uses the symbol ⠠ (6) instead of ⠼ but keeps the letters from A to J for the value of the digits.

Braille decryption requires only a substitution with a Braille alphabet symbol (6 dots).

For digits, pay attention to the potential prefix ⠼ (3456) or ⠠ (6)

The ciphered message is constituted of dots arranged in 2 columns of 3 dots. Caution, however, it may be presented in forms unsuited to tactile reading (see variants).

Depending on the languages some rare characters like those with accents can become other characters.

Braille can be presented in Unicode characters, in numeric code (composed of numbers from 1 to 6 in groups), or in binary format (each digit from 1 to 6 can be rated by a bit 0 or 1).

The 6 bits can be used in octal format (reverse reading in groups of 3 001 for 1, 011 for 3 to get 13).

Braille printing can be done with an embosser. More recently, 3D printing, although much longer, allows you to make your own braille prints.

According to the Braille Authority, a Braille dot must have a diameter of 1.44 mm and a height of 0.48 mm.

The distance between 2 points of the same character (horizontally or vertically) must be 2.34 mm. While the center distance between 2 identical points of 2 consecutive characters must be 6.20 mm. here

Louis Braille presented its alphabet in 1829.