Braille-Tools

This library offers some CSS and Javascript to display English Braille Grade 1 in web pages (for sighted people).

With the CSS you can easily display Braille characters.

3 styles of Braille: - -

Add the Javascript to make it dynamic.

The goal of this project is to introduce sighted people to the Braille system. It doesn't help with screen readers and is not intended for serious Braille transcription.

Setup

To include the library in your web pages, first, load the CSS file (based on the style you want use "braille-big.css", "braille-small.css", or "braille-small-3d.css").

<link href="css/braille-big.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

You may not need to include the Javascript. If you do, use the following:

<script src="braille-tools.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>

Notes: You will also need to include the image with sprites of all Braille characters in the same directory as the CSS file.

Braille CSS Classes

With one CSS class name for each Braille character, you can display Grade 1 Braille in web pages.

br br-a

br br-b

br br-c

br br-d

br br-e

br br-f

br br-g

br br-h

br br-i

br br-j

br br-k

br br-l

br br-m

br br-n

br br-o

br br-p

br br-q

br br-r

br br-s

br br-t

br br-u

br br-v

br br-w

br br-x

br br-y

br br-z

br br-2_for

br br-ast

br br-cap

br br-col

br br-comma

br br-dec

br br-dot5

br br-ex

br br-hyph

br br-num

br br-par

br br-period

br br-qc

br br-qs

br br-qu

br br-sc

br br-sla

br br-sp

Notes: "br" means "Braille" in Braille grade 2.

ABC

Using the CSS classes in your HTML, you can display Braille.

HTML:

<div class="br br-cap"></div>
<div class="br br-a"></div>
<div class="br br-b"></div>
<div class="br br-c"></div>

Hello World

Rather than using HTML, you can use Javascript to generate the HTML dynamically.

Javascript:

document.write(br.braille("Hello World"))

or using a "div" element of id "myBraille"

document.getElementById("myBraille").innerHTML = br.braille("Hello World");

It can also be used with longer text:

Javascript:

const txt = 'Braille is a means of reading and writing for blind people. '+
  'The Braille system was invented by Louis Braille. He has made it '+
  'possible for blind people to take notes, write letters, read books and popular '+
  'magazines, compute mathematical equations, and even read and write music.';

document.write(br.braille(txt))

Alphabet

Javascript:

document.write(br.alphabet())

Notes: Letters "k" to "t" are the same as "a" to "j" with the added dot 3.

See your name in Braille

HTML:

<h2>See your name in Braille</h2>
<input id="txtBraille" type="text">
<button type="submit" onclick="showBraille()">Show Braille</button>
<div id="myBraille" class="braille"></div>

Javascript:

function showBraille() {
  const message = document.getElementById("txtBraille").value;
  document.getElementById('myBraille').innerHTML = br.braille(message);
}

For displaying the character on hover (with animation), use my other script Braille-Text.

License

Braille-Tools is open-source at GitHub under the MIT license.

Braille-Tools is made in California with ♥. Encourage the project by becoming a sponsor.