About Braille

by Hans Schou

In the following a raised dot is marked with a 'Q' and a lowered dot is marked with an 'a'. In this way it should be easier for braille users to feel the dots in the tables when seeing this page with lynx.

1 a 4 a
2 a 5 a
3 a 6 a

Louis Braille invented the braille pattern with inspiration from an army system. The system he worked out which was usefull, was made up of six dots as shown above. Often it is necessary to tell another person which dot is raised and which is blank. For that purpose all dots has numbers as described above. With 6 dots you can make 2^6 = 64 different patterns.

1 a 4 a
2 a 5 a
3 a 6 a
7 a 8 a

After introduction of computers and the need of having more characters, two extra dots was added below the others. Above you can see the strange way the dots are numbered. With 8 dots you can make 2^8 = 256 different patterns.

In the following, dot-8 will only be used when necessary. A dot-6 illustrates something about the top most 6 dots.

a
Q a
a a
a a
b
Q a
Q a
a a
c
Q Q
a a
a a

The first letters of the alphabet is very simple and easy to recognize. Above here you see the letters a, b end c.

CAPS
a a
a a
Q a
A
Q a
a a
a a

In the beginning there was only lower case letters. To have a capital letter, a pattern as shown above was added before the letter.

#
a Q
a Q
Q Q
1
Q a
a a
a a

Numbers was written in a similar way as capital by adding a special number sign before the letter as shown above.

a
Q a
a a
a a
b
Q a
Q a
a a
c
Q Q
a a
a a
d
Q Q
a Q
a a
e
Q a
a Q
a a
f
Q Q
Q a
a a
g
Q Q
Q Q
a a
h
Q a
Q Q
a a
i
a Q
Q a
a a
j
a Q
Q Q
a a
k
Q a
a a
Q a
l
Q a
Q a
Q a
m
Q Q
a a
Q a
n
Q Q
a Q
Q a
o
Q a
a Q
Q a
p
Q Q
Q a
Q a
q
Q Q
Q Q
Q a
r
Q a
Q Q
Q a
s
a Q
Q a
Q a
t
a Q
Q Q
Q a
u
Q a
a a
Q Q
v
Q a
Q a
Q Q
w
a Q
Q Q
a Q
x
Q Q
a a
Q Q
y
Q Q
a Q
Q Q
z
Q a
a Q
Q Q

In the patterns above there is 10 patterns in each row. If you look at 'a' and 'k' you can see that the only difference is that dot-3 is raised in the 'k'. The system is that the 10 following letters is the same as the first 10, except that they have dot-3 raised.

This system should have continued for the last row with 'u' to 'z', but when the braille pattern were defined, the alphabet did not have 'w'. If you compare 'x' with 'm', 'y' with 'n' and 'z' with 'o' you can see the system still works.

The table with all 26 letters as shown above is used by all countries in the world which uses the latin alphabet.

a
Q a
a a
a a
b
Q a
Q a
a a
c
Q Q
a a
a a
1
a a
Q a
a a
2
a a
Q a
Q a
3
a a
Q Q
a a

As the first 10 letters only uses the 4 top-most dots, numbers is in some countries defined as shown above. Here is the pattern equal to 'abc' except that they are moved down one row.

A
Q a
a a
a a
Q a
B
Q a
Q a
a a
Q a
C
Q Q
a a
a a
Q a

After blind people started using a computer it was easier to add some extra dots at the bottom, and then define some new patterns for capital letters. In that way a capital letter has just raised dot-7.

1
Q a
a a
a a
a Q
2
Q a
Q a
a a
a Q
3
Q Q
a a
a a
a Q

Some countries decided to raise dot-8 for numbers as shown above.

^A
Q a
a a
a a
Q Q
^B
Q a
Q a
a a
Q Q
^C
Q Q
a a
a a
Q Q

When using a computer there is some special keys to use when giving the computer commands. It could be control-C to terminate a program. To make it easier to remember which pattern to use for control keys, some countries raised dot 7 and 8 to the normal letters as shown above.

a
Q a
a a
a a
a a
A
Q a
a a
a a
Q a
^A
Q a
a a
a a
Q Q
1
Q a
a a
a a
a Q

With a good system it is not that difficult to learn a lot of patterns. Above is shown all letters which has dot-1 raised, and then dot 7 or 8 raised for special purpose.

b
Q a
Q a
a a
a Q
a Q
a a

For the most used braille patterns it is important to use a combination which is easy to read. Above you see dot-12 and dot-45 which is almost the same and is not very easy to recognize for a blind when moving the fingers over the dots.

ø
a Q
Q a
a Q
ö
a Q
Q a
a Q

Some western languages uses letters which is unique to their language. An example is that danish uses 'ø' (o stroke) and swedish uses 'ö' (o diaeresis). The sound of the letter is almost the same and both languages has decided to use the same dot-pattern (246) for this letter. This makes good sence when reading a paper braille book as a danish blind almost can read swedish even when there is a letter which is not in the danish alphabet.

The drawback is when a danish person communicate electronicly with a swedish person. The brltty table the danish user uses convert dot-246 to an 'ø'. When the swedish users brltty table convert 'ø' to dots, it will become a braille pattern which the swedish user does not know, and will have to learn. The problem is ofcource also the other way around.

a
Q a
a a
a a
b
Q a
Q a
a a
c
Q Q
a a
a a
i
a Q
Q a
a a
f
Q Q
Q a
a a
e
Q a
a Q
a a
h
Q a
Q Q
a a
d
Q Q
a Q
a a
j
a Q
Q Q
a a
g
Q Q
Q Q
a a

I do think that the system defined by Loise Braille was good, but if I have made it today, I would have made a little different. One more rule could be added to the system. 1. The first 5 letters should only be made with dot-124. 2. The next 5 letters has the same dot-patterns as the first, but with dot-5 raised. Above you can see how it would look.

I guess no one would ever use the braille system shown above, as the one used now has been used for almost 200 years. But it might give you a clue about how difficult it is to design braille patterns in general.