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Text Only Version (optained from http://www.brailleauthority.org/def.html)

Braille is a system of touch reading for the blind which employs embossed dots evenly arranged in quadrangular letter spaces or cells. In each cell, it is possible to place six dots, three high and two wide. By selecting one or several dots in characteristic position or combination, 63 different characters can be formed. To aid in describing these characters by their dot or dots, the six dots of the cell are numbered 1,2,3, downward on the left, and 4, 5, 6, downward on the right, thus:

The 63 possible characters have a systematic arrangement and are universally grouped in a table of seven lines, as follows:

Line 1 is formed of dots 1,2,4,5.

Line 2 adds dot 3 to each of the characters of Line 1.

Line 3 adds dots 3-6 to each of the characters of Line 1.

Line 4 adds dot 6 to each of the characters of Line 1.

Line 5 repeats the characters of Line 1 in the lower portion of the cell, using dots 2, 3, 5, 6.

Line 6 is formed of dots 3, 4, 5, 6.

Line 7 is formed of dots 4, 5, 6.

Converting a Printed Page Into Braille

The printed t ext must first be converted to e-text on  a computer. The printed text can be manually typed into a word processor or it can be scanned. After the image has been scanned, it must be converted to e-text by an OCR application. The e-text is then copied and pasted into a Braille translator, such as Duxberry.

The following graphic displays Brailled text font in the Duxberry application. The page can now be embossed to a speical printer that will produce Brailled pages.