Braille ASCII - Overview

Overview

Braille ASCII uses the 64 ASCII characters between 32 and 95 inclusive. All capital letters in ASCII correspond to their equivalent values in uncontracted English Braille. Note however that, unlike standard print, there is only one Braille symbol for each letter of the alphabet. Therefore, in Braille, all letters are lower-case by default, unless preceded by a capitalization sign (⠠ dot 6).

The numbers 1 through 9 and 0 correspond to the letters a through j, except that they are lowered or shifted lower in the Braille cell. For example, ⠉ dots 1-4 represents c, and ⠒ dots 2-5 is 3. The other symbols may or may not correspond to their Braille values. For example, ⠌ dots 3-4 represents / in Braille ASCII, and this is the Braille slash, but ⠿ dots 1-2-3-4-5-6 represents =, and this is not the equals sign in Braille.

Braille ASCII more closely corresponds to the Nemeth Braille Code for mathematics than it does to the English Literary Braille Code, as the Nemeth Braille code is what it was originally based upon.

If Braille ASCII is viewed in a word processor, it will look like a jumbled mix of letters, numbers, and punctuation. However, there are several fonts available, many of them free, which allow the user to view and print Braille ASCII as simulated Braille, i.e. a graphical representation of Braille characters