Online Braille Keyboard
Type braille with six keys, like a Perkins brailler, or tap the keys on screen. Each cell appears as you type and is read back as English.
How six-key typing works
You press every dot of a cell at once, as on a braille writing machine. A Perkins brailler has six keys, one for each dot of the cell, with a space bar between the two groups; the key under the left index finger is dot 1. (Perkins School for the Blind)
Dots 1, 2 and 3 run down the left of the cell and dots 4, 5 and 6 down the right. (ICEB 1.1.1) The on-screen keys follow the brailler from left to right: dot 3, dot 2, dot 1, the space bar, then dot 4, dot 5 and dot 6. The page writes the cell when you let go of every key of the chord, so the order you press them in does not matter. In the writing box, Space adds a blank cell, Backspace deletes the cell before the cursor and Enter starts a new line. Typing “hello” takes five chords:
The keyboard only writes cells. To read them back as English it uses the same liblouis engine as the braille to English decoder. Grade 2 adds contractions: signs for whole words and for groups of letters. (ICEB 2.5) Choose Grade 1 if you type letter by letter and do not want cells read as contractions.
Letters and the keys that make them
On a computer keyboard, six-key braille uses S, D and F for dots 3, 2 and 1 and J, K and L for dots 4, 5 and 6, pressed together for one cell. (APH) After the numeric indicator ⠼, the letters a to j are the digits 1 to 9 and 0. (ICEB 6.1) So for a digit, first type the numeric indicator (S + J + K + L), then the letter a to j.
- akeys Fdots 1
- bkeys F + Ddots 1-2
- ckeys F + Jdots 1-4
- dkeys F + J + Kdots 1-4-5
- ekeys F + Kdots 1-5
- fkeys F + D + Jdots 1-2-4
- gkeys F + D + J + Kdots 1-2-4-5
- hkeys F + D + Kdots 1-2-5
- ikeys D + Jdots 2-4
- jkeys D + J + Kdots 2-4-5
- kkeys F + Sdots 1-3
- lkeys F + D + Sdots 1-2-3
- mkeys F + S + Jdots 1-3-4
- nkeys F + S + J + Kdots 1-3-4-5
- okeys F + S + Kdots 1-3-5
- pkeys F + D + S + Jdots 1-2-3-4
- qkeys F + D + S + J + Kdots 1-2-3-4-5
- rkeys F + D + S + Kdots 1-2-3-5
- skeys D + S + Jdots 2-3-4
- tkeys D + S + J + Kdots 2-3-4-5
- ukeys F + S + Ldots 1-3-6
- vkeys F + D + S + Ldots 1-2-3-6
- wkeys D + J + K + Ldots 2-4-5-6
- xkeys F + S + J + Ldots 1-3-4-6
- ykeys F + S + J + K + Ldots 1-3-4-5-6
- zkeys F + S + K + Ldots 1-3-5-6
- #keys S + J + K + Lnumeric indicator, dots 3-4-5-6
With a screen reader
Put the cursor in the writing box and type chords as usual. Other letter keys do nothing in the box, so a stray key cannot mix print into the braille. After each cell the page announces its dots, or the word so far if you choose that setting. The braille itself is read only when you move into it, so long announcements do not interrupt your typing.
On a touch screen with a screen reader running, the screen reader takes gestures first. Use the keyboard of a connected device, or choose “Tap dots one at a time”, where each key is an ordinary button.
What this does not do
- It does not connect to a braille display or an embosser. Use Download .brf to send the braille to an embosser.
- Some keyboards cannot send several keys at once, so a chord may lose a dot. If that happens, use the on-screen keys with “Tap dots one at a time”.
- It reads back literary UEB only. Nemeth Code, music braille and computer braille read wrongly.
- It is not a course. For lessons, start with how to read braille.
Not every computer keyboard can send several keys pressed at the same moment, so some keyboards cannot type six-key braille. (APH)
Questions
Why F, D, S and J, K, L?
They sit under the resting fingers of each hand, like the six keys of a Perkins brailler, so a braille typist can use a computer keyboard without looking. You can change them under “Change the keys”.
Can I type on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Hold the dot keys of a cell together and lift your fingers to write it, or choose “Tap dots one at a time”. The page does not open the phone’s own keyboard, so the braille keys and the tape above them stay in view.
Can I edit what I have written?
Yes. Move the cursor in the writing box with the arrow keys; new cells go in at the cursor, and Backspace or “Delete last cell” removes the cell before it.
Is what I type saved or sent anywhere?
No. It stays in this page, in your browser, until you close it. The privacy policy explains how we keep what you type on your device.