Br6

A simple, Unified English Braille (UEB) Grade 1 library [Old WIP]

Br6 = 6-dot Braille

Usage

Installing:

npm install br6

Example:

const {toBrailleText, toAlphabetText} = require('br6');
 
const sentence = 'Lewis CARROLL published "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" in 1865. ^~^';
const inBraille = toBrailleText(sentence);
// '⠠⠇⠑⠺⠊⠎⠀⠠⠠⠉⠁⠗⠗⠕⠇⠇⠀⠏⠥⠃⠇⠊⠎⠓⠑⠙⠀⠦⠠⠠⠠⠁⠇⠊⠉⠑⠀⠊⠝⠀⠺⠕⠝⠙⠑⠗⠇⠁⠝⠙⠠⠄⠴⠀⠊⠝⠀⠼⠁⠓⠋⠑⠲⠀⠤⠤⠤'
const inAlphabet = toAlphabetText(inBraille);
// 'Lewis CARROLL published “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” in 1865. ---'

Learning Braille

These are the resources I used and liked:

• Rules of Unified English Braille, second edition, 2013
• Brailliac: Braille Tutor app
• Unified English Braille Chart (Braille Cheat Sheet) by Aroga Technologies (2014)
• LEARN BRAILLE font by WeMe Studio (more like a mnemonical image)

How It Works

Legend: CHANGE; ADDITION.

• Starting with a text like this:

Lewis CARROLL published "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" in 1865. ^~^

• Convert straight quotation marks to curly ones

Lewis CARROLL published “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” in 1865. ^~^

• Replace (yet) unsupported characters with "-"

Lewis CARROLL published “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” in 1865. ---

• Add capital indicators and terminators, then lowercase everything

Lewis CARROLL published “⠠⠠⠠alice in wonderland⠠⠄” in 1865. ---

Lewis ⠠⠠carroll published “⠠⠠⠠alice in wonderland⠠⠄” in 1865. ---

⠠lewis ⠠⠠carroll published “⠠⠠⠠alice in wonderland⠠⠄” in 1865. ---

• Add numeric indicators and translate numbers

⠠lewis ⠠⠠carroll published “⠠⠠⠠alice in wonderland⠠⠄” in ⠼⠁⠓⠋⠑. ---

• Using a map, convert the remaining characters to Braille

⠠⠇⠑⠺⠊⠎⠀⠠⠠⠉⠁⠗⠗⠕⠇⠇⠀⠏⠥⠃⠇⠊⠎⠓⠑⠙⠀⠦⠠⠠⠠⠁⠇⠊⠉⠑⠀⠊⠝⠀⠺⠕⠝⠙⠑⠗⠇⠁⠝⠙⠠⠄⠴⠀⠊⠝⠀⠼⠁⠓⠋⠑⠲⠀⠤⠤⠤

• And there you have it:

⠠⠇⠑⠺⠊⠎⠀⠠⠠⠉⠁⠗⠗⠕⠇⠇⠀⠏⠥⠃⠇⠊⠎⠓⠑⠙⠀⠦⠠⠠⠠⠁⠇⠊⠉⠑⠀⠊⠝⠀⠺⠕⠝⠙⠑⠗⠇⠁⠝⠙⠠⠄⠴⠀⠊⠝⠀⠼⠁⠓⠋⠑⠲⠀⠤⠤⠤

TODO

• Either handle letters with accents/diactritics, or remove them (Téle -> Tele)
• Support contractions and wordsigns
• ...

License

CC0