Welcome to Braille Codes#
As I was trying to learn braille to use the Hable One, I could not find easy to reference tables published on a simple website. I decided it would help me learn braille if I were to make my own reference site. In the process of developing this site, I have found some sources I had missed initially. I’ll list those below and recommend going through them. I decided to continue creating this site regardless with the goal of making it as simple and accessible as I could. Hopefully you find it useful and not too redundant.
Conventions, Please Read#
As I note in the about page, I’m very new to braille. Developing this site is part of my learning. Also, I’m learning braille to use a braille input device, not, at least initially, to read physical braille. Keep that in mind as you’re reading, my terminology blunders might be explained by that perspective.
I mention this to address how codes are written in the various references. For example, in the letters table for ‘a’, the cells field is simply the number 1. This means press and release the 1 key in an editable area and you should have an ‘a’. Similarly, ‘g’, for example, the cells field has the string, 1, 2, 4, 5. This means press and release the 1, 2, 4, and 5 keys simultaneously, and you should get a ‘g’.
Considering 6 dots can represent only 64 characters, including space, braille uses sequences to represent larger character sets. That is, to type an at sign ‘@’, for example, you press and release the 4 key, then press and release the 1 key. You should see the at sign in your text, e.g., typing an email address.
Recalling the preamble to this section, I’m describing this from a braille input device perspective. I’m assuming an at sign would take two cells on a braille display, or paper, the first cell with a single dot 4 and the second cell with single dot 1. Maybe this is only true for grade 1 braille.
Some less common characters have even longer sequences. In the table with punctuation/symbols, there’s a symbol called a double dagger. For that, you press and release the 4 key, then the 6 key, then the keys 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.
To represent sequences, where keys are pressed and released to affect how the next set of keys is interpreted, I separate each set of keys by the word “then”. Thus, the at sign is “4, then, 1” and double dagger is “4, then, 6, then, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6”
It’s important to understand press vs hold as you start digging into using something like the Hable One device. With the Hable One, for example, you’re not only typing braille characters, you’re controlling a mobile device and the Hable One itself. For this you’ll need to hold down a key until you get some response (haptic in the case of the Hable One). In some cases, you need to hold down one key while pressing another. For example, on the Hable One, to navigate around text a character at a time, you hold down the 7 key and press and release the 4 key.
I use the word “hold” to indicate you need to hold down the key, or set of keys until you get some response. For cases where you hold down a key then press and release another key to navigate, I use, for example, “hold 7, then press 4”.
Of course I’ll make mistakes and probably forget a “hold” somewhere, for example. Keeping these notes in mind will hopefully encourage you to experiment when something isn’t working quite like the description. Try holding until you get feedback if you pressed and released and didn’t get the result you expected.
Other Resources#
As noted above, braille.codes is intended to be a source for quick reference material. It’s not a place to start learning braille, or a braille input device. If you are serious about learning braille, it’s probably best to reach out to a local blindness organization to ask about resources. Or search online, you’ll find plenty. I’m not going to list any here, as I have not tried any of them. I’ll suggest some search terms though: hadley perkins acb nfb afb. And the articles linked to below have suggestions of their own.
For a quick introduction to braille, here a few articles I found very useful:
To practice braille input from your computer keyboard, at least for UEB, try, UEB Online.
Enjoy#
Hopefully you find braille.codes useful and not too verbose. Check out the about page if you’re curious how braille.codes is created and hosted, or if you’d like to provide feedback.
Cheers!!