With a screen reader: press Tab until you reach “Braille keyboard” and type with F D S J K L; every confirmed cell is read aloud.
Lesson 1 — The cell and the alphabet
Writing braille with six keysThe braille cell has six dots, numbered 1-2-3 in the left column and 4-5-6 in the right column. On the keyboard the six dots are the six keys under your fingers: f d s for dots 1 2 3 and j k l for dots 4 5 6. Try it: press the keys, watch the cell light up, then confirm with the space bar. On the right are the ten characters of the first series, already written in cells: copy them cell by cell (your row turns green when it matches) and repeat until you can write them confidently.
Current cell
SPACE confirms the cell · SPACE on an empty cell = space between words
BACKSPACE (or ← arrow) deletes · ENTER on a completed row = start again
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Copy these characters
What you wrote
How to read the cell
Every braille character is a combination of the six dots: 26 = 64 combinations, that is 63 characters plus the empty cell (the space). Braille is not a list of 63 shapes to learn by heart: it is a system, built in series. You will see this in section 2.
Letter a = dot 1 · b = dots 1 2 · c = dots 1 4 · d = 1 4 5 · e = 1 5 · f = 1 2 4 · g = 1 2 4 5 · h = 1 2 5 · i = 2 4 · j = 2 4 5. These are the ten letters of the first series: they use only the four upper dots (1 2 4 5).
Louis Braille built the alphabet in series. The first series uses only the upper dots (1 2 4 5). Each following series is made from the first by adding lower dots, or by moving the shape down. Choose a series and copy it until you can write it confidently, then move on to the next one. As you press the keys, the matching character lights up in the table at the bottom.
Current cell
SPACE confirms the cell · BACKSPACE (or ← arrow) deletes · ENTER on a completed row = start again
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Copy these characters
What you wrote
The seven series
Write the word that appears. Each cell is checked at once: green if it is right, red if it is wrong (BACKSPACE to correct it). When the word is complete and correct you move on to the next one.
Current cell
SPACE confirms · BACKSPACE (or ← arrow) deletes
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Write
Write freely: words, sentences, numbers. The matching letter appears under each cell. Remember: the number sign (dots 3 4 5 6) turns the letters a–j into the digits 1–0; a capital letter is shown by dot 6 before the letter (dots 6 6, written twice, for a word all in capitals).
Current cell
SPACE confirms · SPACE on an empty cell = space · ENTER = new line
BACKSPACE (or ← arrow) deletes
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