Lynx users: click here for full description of logo image; do not click on remaining links Letter Capitalizer shown as Shift Key Uppercase D Lowercase o Lowercase t Two-cell contraction: 'less' Two-cell Word Capitalizer shown as Caps Lock Key Three-cell short-form word: 'BRAILLE' Full Description of Logo

Demystifying braille...

Check out our 5-minute introduction to braille!

Screen captures showing the DotlessBraille font.

An introduction to NUBS, the latest version of the Nemeth code.

An analysis of the UEB for Canadian review.

Read about the free BackNem software for back-translating from Nemeth braille to print math.

www.dotlessbraille.org is a non-commercial and commercial-free website dedicated to demystifying braille and to presenting new ideas for learning and presenting braille. For example, the logo at the top of the page means exactly the same thing as the braille dots below. (Point your mouse at the symbols in the logo for more information about the corresponding dots.)

Dot 6 Dots 1-4-5 Dots 1-3-5 Dots 2-3-4-5 Dots 4-6 Dots 2-3-4 Dot 6 Dot 6 Dots 1-2 Dots 1-2-3-5 Dots 1-2-3 Braille Dots for Dotless BRAILLE
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What's on this site:

Pages of special interest for parents:


About Us

The main goal of this website is to increase braille literacy by demystifying braille without oversimplifying it.

This site is intended as braille resource for everyone from novice to expert, including print-disabled adults who are looking for a way to start learning about braille. The material here has been written by a sighted person; it is hoped that this perspective of a dot-challenged person will give braille-literate blind persons some useful insights into the difficulties that sighted persons encounter in learning braille.

Braille is a system for transcribing printed material using a dot-based character set designed for tactile reading. Our philosophy is that it can often be simpler and faster to learn about the elegant braille system before getting involved with the dots.

One of our new ideas is the DotlessBraille display method for braille transcriptions that is illustrated by the "Dotless BRAILLE" logo at the top of this page and also by this interlining sample which could be used in a children's book. Our hope is that by altering print to represent braille in an equivalent but meaningful way we can reduce any tendency on the part of sighted persons to want to alter braille merely for our own convenience. Sighted proofreading of DotlessBraille transcriptions could also ease the current shortage of braille proofreaders—which is especially serious in technical areas.

One purpose of this site is to interest volunteers in helping to make automatic generation of DotlessBraille a reality as well as to develop other software that supports braille literacy. If you are interested, please watch for the highlighted areas.

If you have feedback, questions or would like to volunteer, please write to us at info@dotlessbraille.org. Also, please let us know about any accessibility problems with these pages.


This page was last updated January 18, 2008.