BRF
From MobileRead
BRF (Digital Braille) are Grade II Braille Ready Format files -- a widely recognized form of contracted braille. The files can be used with common braille reading devices or braille printers.
A page is formatted with 25 lines and 40 cells. They may be read with a refreshable Braille display, printed on a Braille embosser, or converted to audio via TTS using a computer or reading device. Each cell contains positions for 6 dots in a 2x3 array with the positions being universally numbered 1 to 3, from top to bottom, on the left, and 4 to 6, from top to bottom, on the right.
Braille is a 63 symbol writing system used by the blind and visually impaired as a tactile method of reading. A Braille ASCII file (usually .brf) format is a computer file with the Braille symbols represented in computer code that can be displayed by a Braille embosser or notetaker.
It is a text file that looks like gibberish to a sighted person when viewed by a word processor but is displayed as Braille with the appropriate equipment. It is similar to an HTML file when viewed by a word processor -- when displayed as Braille by a web browser, the file makes sense.
[edit] Computer Programs
- BRF Editor
- BRF translator and back translator - open source
[edit] For more information
- BookShare.org - A Digital Library - Now Free to All U.S. Students with Qualifying Disabilities
- Web Braille - Missouri
- Web Braille - Colorado
- DAISY - The other system for the visually impaired.
- ICEB standards
- Wikipedia Braille ASCII
