What this is
About libbraille
An independent publication about braille and tactile reading — and a plain account of what it is not.
libbraille is an independent publication about the engineering of tactile reading. It covers the six-dot cell and what it can encode, contracted braille and the arguments about it, the specialised notation codes for mathematics, music and chemistry, the machines that punch and raise dots, and the tactile world that extends past the page into diagrams and paving.
What this site is not
It is not a shop, a manufacturer, a review site or a support desk: no prices, no stockists, no rankings, no buying advice. It is not medical, and it is not a service. It is a publication about tactile reading rather than a provider of it, so it carries no eye-condition explainers, no rehabilitation advice and no training courses.
Blind and partially sighted people are readers and users of a writing system here, not subjects of admiration. You will not find inspiration framing on this site.
On the name
A C library called libbraille was once one of several pieces of software that let Linux drive a braille display. That work is covered factually in Braille Displays and the Linux Driver Problem. This publication is not that software, is not connected to it, and offers no downloads, versions, documentation or repositories of any kind.
How dot patterns are handled
Any braille pattern printed here is the correct pattern for what it is said to be. Where a cell is used as a mark rather than as text — in the masthead, or beside a section heading — it is presented as positions, numbered 1 to 6, and claims to spell nothing. Decorative fake braille is worse than none.
How it is organised
The site has six positions, matching the six dots of the cell. Five carry sections; the sixth is the index, which lists every guide in one place. Nothing on the site requires a menu to reach.