Web-Braille

Web-Braille is a data file format that can be read on a Braille display or transmitted to a Braille embosser. Web-Braille files have the extension .brf. The Braille codes in Braille-ready files allow blind people to read electronic documents from computer disks or from the Internet.

Web-Braille files contain 25 lines per page. Each line holds up to 39 characters. A single printed page translates into several Braille pages; the exact ratio depends on the nature of the document. Mathematical expressions and symbols, as well as graphics, can be converted into words before being translated into Braille-ready files. Complex mathematical documents have the highest Braille-to-text page conversion ratios.

Several thousand Web-Braille books are available for downloading from the National Library Service (NLS) in the U.S. About 40 new books are published online in this format every month. The NLS Web-Braille material is available only to citizens or residents of the United States, or to qualified institutions.

There are several Braille computer codes in the U.S. See About Braille by Liz Gray, Braille Transcriber, Certified by the Library of Congress in Literary Braille.

A universal Braille computer code for technical documents was introduced in 1991. See A Universal Computer Braille Code For Literary And Scientific Texts by Durre, Karl P.; Tuttle, Dean W. and Durre, Ingeborg.

U.S. National Library Service (NLS) Factsheets: Web-Braille.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 4:46 am and is filed under Vision.
Tags: braille code, braille display, braille files, Web-Braille
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