Write something
Type a word and watch it turn into dots. Every letter lives in a cell of six positions, two across and three down.
The pattern nobody tells you
Braille is not twenty-six shapes to memorise. It is ten shapes, used three times.
A to J use the top four dots only. K to T are the same ten shapes with the bottom left dot added. U to Z add the bottom right dot as well — except W, which breaks the pattern because French has no W, and Louis Braille was French. It was added later as an afterthought.
Build a letter
Click the dots to make the letter shown, then press check.
A boy, an awl, and a soldier's idea
Louis Braille was blinded in an accident with his father's tools when he was three. At twelve he met a system called night writing, invented by an army officer so soldiers could read orders in the dark without a lamp. It used twelve dots and was too big for a fingertip to feel at once.
Braille cut it to six. He was fifteen when he finished. The tool he used to punch the dots was the same kind of awl that had blinded him.
Six dots give sixty-four combinations, which is enough for an alphabet, numbers, punctuation and music. It is still the only writing system in this section that you read by touching it.
Now use it
Back to signals Learn morse Try the challengesWhere it comes from
Louis Braille was blinded at three by his father's tools. At twelve he met night writing, invented so soldiers could read orders in the dark: twelve dots, too big for a fingertip to feel at once. He cut it to six and finished at fifteen. The tool he punched the dots with was the same kind of awl that had blinded him.
Try it away from the screen
Close your eyes and try to feel the difference between two cells with a fingertip. It is far harder than reading them with your eyes, which is the whole point: fluent readers are doing something you cannot.