Editing Braille (section)

== Writing braille ==
[[File:Hall-Braille writer (Martin Howard Collection).jpg|alt=Image of the Hall Braille writer, model 1, 1892. It has six black piano like keys.|thumb|Hall Braille writer, model 1 (1892)]]
[[File:Braille Writer.jpg|thumb|Braille typewriter]]
Braille may be produced by hand using a [[slate and stylus]] in which each dot is created from the back of the page, writing in mirror image, or it may be produced on a [[braille typewriter]] or [[Perkins Brailler]], or an electronic Brailler or braille notetaker. Braille users with access to smartphones may also activate the on-screen braille input keyboard, to type braille symbols on to their device by placing their fingers on to the screen according to the dot configuration of the symbols they wish to form. These symbols are automatically translated into print on the screen. The different tools that exist for writing braille allow the braille user to select the method that is best for a given task. For example, the [[slate and stylus]] is a portable writing tool, much like the pen and paper for the sighted. Errors can be erased using a braille eraser or can be overwritten with all six dots ({{braille cell|⠿}}). ''Interpoint'' refers to braille printing that is offset, so that the paper can be embossed on both sides, with the dots on one side appearing between the divots that form the dots on the other.
Using a computer or other electronic device, Braille may be produced with a [[braille embosser]] (printer) or a [[refreshable braille display]] (screen).

=== Eight-dot braille ===
{{anchor|Eight-dot braille}}Braille has been extended to an [[Braille Patterns|8-dot code]], particularly for use with braille embossers and refreshable braille displays. In 8-dot braille the additional dots are added at the bottom of the cell, giving a matrix 4 dots high by 2 dots wide. The additional dots are given the numbers 7 (for the lower-left dot) and 8 (for the lower-right dot). Eight-dot braille has the advantages that the [[Letter case|casing]] of each letter is coded in the cell and that every printable [[ASCII]] character can be encoded in a single cell. All 256 (2<sup>8</sup>) possible combinations of 8 dots are encoded by the [[Unicode]] standard. Braille with six dots is frequently stored as [[Braille ASCII]].

=== Letters ===
The first 25 braille letters, up through the first half of the 3rd decade, transcribe ''a–z'' (skipping ''w''). In English Braille, the rest of that decade is rounded out with the ligatures ''and, for, of, the,'' and ''with''. Omitting dot 3 from these forms the 4th decade, the ligatures ''ch, gh, sh, th, wh, ed, er, ou, ow'' and the letter ''w''.

{|class=wikitable
|- align=center
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|ch}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|sh}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|th}}
|- align=center
|ch
|sh
|th
|}
(See [[English Braille]].)

=== Formatting ===
Various formatting marks affect the values of the letters that follow them. They have no direct equivalent in print. The most important in English Braille are:

{|class=wikitable
|- align=center
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|CAP}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|#}}
|- align=center
|[[Capital letter|Capital]]<br />follows
|[[Number]]<br />follows
|}
That is, {{Braille cell|type=text|cap|a}} is read as capital 'A', and {{Braille cell|type=text|num|a}} as the digit '1'.

=== Punctuation ===
Basic punctuation marks in English Braille include:

{|class=wikitable
|- align=center
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|,}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|;}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|'}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|:}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|-}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|decimal}}
|- align=center
|[[Comma]]
|[[Semicolon]]
|[[Apostrophe]]
|[[Colon (punctuation)|Colon]]
|[[Hyphen]]
|[[Decimal point]]
|- align=center
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|dd}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|!}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|hh}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|356}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|gg}}
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|size=40px|st}}
|- align=center
|[[Full stop]] <br />(period)
|[[Exclamation point|Exclamation <br />point]]
|Open [[quotation mark|quote]], <br />[[question mark]]
|Close <br />[[quotation mark|quote]]
|[[Bracket]] <br />(parentheses)
|[[Slash (punctuation)|Slash<br />(fraction)]]
|}

{{Braille cell|type=text|hh}} is both the question mark and the opening quotation mark. Its reading depends on whether it occurs before a word or after.

{{Braille cell|type=text|()}} is used for both opening and closing parentheses. Its placement relative to spaces and other characters determines its interpretation.

Punctuation varies from language to language. For example, [[French Braille]] uses {{Braille cell|26|type=text}} for its question mark and swaps the quotation marks and parentheses (to {{Braille cell|type=unicode|()}} and {{Braille cell|type=unicode|hh|jj}}); it uses ({{Braille cell|type=unicode|dd}}) for both the period and the decimal point, and the English decimal point ({{Braille cell|type=unicode|decimal}}) to mark capitalization.

=== Contractions ===
{{For|a full list of abbreviations and contractions in English|English Braille#Contractions}}

Braille contractions are words and affixes that are shortened so that they take up fewer cells. In English Braille, for example, the word ''afternoon'' is written with just three letters, {{braille cell|⠁|⠋|⠝}} {{angle bracket|afn}}, much like [[stenoscript]]. There are also several abbreviation marks that create what are effectively [[logogram]]s.<ref name="D&B" /> The most common of these is dot 5, which combines with the first letter of words. With the letter {{braille cell|⠍}} ''m'', the resulting word is {{braille cell|⠐|⠍}} ''mother''. There are also [[ligature (typography)|ligatures]] ("contracted" letters), which are single letters in braille but correspond to more than one letter in print. The letter {{braille cell|⠯}} ''and'', for example, is used to write words with the sequence ''a-n-d'' in them, such as {{braille cell|⠛|⠗|⠯}} ''grand''.

{|class=wikitable
|{{Braille cell|type=6dot|a|f|n}}||{{Braille cell|type=6dot|5|m}}||{{Braille cell|type=6dot|g|r|and}}
|-
|''afternoon<br />(a-f-n)''||''mother<br />(dot 5–m)''||''grand<br />(g-r-and)''
|}

=== Page dimensions ===
Most [[braille embosser]]s support between 34 and 40 cells per line, and 25 lines per page.

A manually operated Perkins braille typewriter supports a maximum of 42 cells per line (its margins are adjustable), and typical paper allows 25 lines per page.

A large interlining Stainsby has 36 cells per line and 18 lines per page.

An A4-sized Marburg braille frame, which allows interpoint braille (dots on both sides of the page, offset so they do not interfere with each other), has 30 cells per line and 27 lines per page.

=== Braille writing machine ===
[[File:An aesthetic braille typewriter video.ogv|thumb|Braille typewriter]]
[[File:Máquina Stainsby.jpg|thumb|alt=sliding carriage with keys on a metal plate|Stainsby Braille writer]]
A Braille writing machine is a typewriter with six keys that allows the user to write braille on a regular hard copy page.

The first Braille typewriter to gain general acceptance was invented by [[Frank Haven Hall]] (Superintendent of the [[Illinois School for the Blind]]), and was presented to the public in 1892.<ref name="Perkins story">{{cite web |title=History of the Perkins Brailler |date= 17 November 2009 |url=http://www.perkins.org/assets/downloads/research/history-of-brailler-11-17-09.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028034532/http://www.perkins.org/assets/downloads/research/history-of-brailler-11-17-09.pdf}}</ref>

The Stainsby Brailler, developed by Henry Stainsby in 1903, is a mechanical writer with a sliding carriage that moves over an aluminium plate as it embosses Braille characters. An improved version was introduced around 1933.<ref name="edman">{{cite book |last1=Edman |first1=Polly |title=Tactile Graphics |date=1992 |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind |isbn=978-0-89128-194-8 |page=154 |url=https://archive.org/details/tactilegraphics15poll/page/154 |quote=Stainsby brailler |access-date=23 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Object – Stainsby Braille writer – Victorian Collections |url=https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/58e2df01d0ce3c27d8c75cdb |website=Victorian Collections |publisher=Museums Australia Victoria |access-date=23 October 2019 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023081252/https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/58e2df01d0ce3c27d8c75cdb |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1951 David Abraham, a woodworking teacher at the [[Perkins School for the Blind]], produced a more advanced Braille typewriter, the [[Perkins Brailler]].<ref name="Perkins story" />

[[Braille embosser|Braille printers or embossers]] were produced in the 1950s.
In 1960 Robert Mann, a teacher in MIT, wrote [[Compatible Time-Sharing System#DOTSYS and BRAILLEMBOSS|DOTSYS]], a software that allowed automatic [[Braille translator|braille translation]], and another group created an [[Braille translator|embossing]] device called "M.I.T. Braillemboss". The Mitre Corporation team of Robert Gildea, Jonathan Millen, Reid Gerhart and Joseph Sullivan (now president of Duxbury Systems) developed DOTSYS III, the first braille translator written in a portable programming language. DOTSYS III was developed for the [[Atlanta Public Schools]] as a [[public domain]] program.<ref>[http://www.duxburysystems.org/downloads/library/history/1961_ibm.pdf Braille Translation System for the IBM 704 by Ann S. Schack and R.T. Mertz, 1961] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222160853/http://www.duxburysystems.org/downloads/library/history/1961_ibm.pdf |date=22 December 2018 }} retrieved 30 March 2016</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.duxburysystems.org/downloads/library/history/schack_1969.pdf |title=Computer Translation: Grade 2 from Print; Report of American Printing House of the Blind |first1=Ann |last1=Schack |last2=And others |date=June 1969 |access-date=30 March 2016 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225170510/http://www.duxburysystems.org/downloads/library/history/schack_1969.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1991 Ernest Bate developed the [[Mountbatten Brailler]], an electronic machine used to type braille on braille paper, giving it a number of additional features such as word processing, audio feedback and embossing. This version was improved in 2008 with a quiet writer that had an erase key.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Perkins/APH Next Generation Brailler |url=https://aphmuseum.org/exhibits/online-exhibit/historic-braillewriters/perkins-aph-next-generation-brailler/ |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=APH Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2011 David S. Morgan produced the first SMART Brailler machine, with added [[text to speech]] function and allowed digital capture of data entered.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dexigner.com/news/25429|title=Perkins SMART Brailler|date=17 July 2012|website=Dexigner|access-date=15 April 2020|archive-date=28 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928211901/https://www.dexigner.com/news/25429|url-status=live}}</ref>