Braille Inserts

The designer creates a subset of Braille ASCII (or more formally The North American Braille ASCII Code, also known as SimBraille).  The designer only accepts, as input, lower and uppercase letters and spaces in the “Braille text” box.  It converts all uppercase letters to their lowercase equivalent.

The size of each insert will be limited by the size of the tablet you’re using along with the number of grid elements on the AAC app.  But within that space you have lots of freedom to layout the contents.  The layout is determined by the options in the “Braille Inserts section”:

 

The Braille text can be placed above, below, or in the case of two separate Braille sections, above and below the round opening in the block:

 

 

above below above and below
left right left and right

By placing Braille both above and below the opening (or to the left and right of the opening), you can communicate more complex concepts.  Alternatively, the text on one side of the opening could apply to the first language page while the text on the other side could apply to the second language page.  Note that putting Braille to the left and/or right of the opening leaves less room for the Braille, itself.  You may be limited to only one or two characters.

You can control the size of the Braille itself.  A value of 10 represents standard size Braille.  A value of 9 represents 90% of standard, a value of 11% represents 110% of standard – and so on. 

You can control the size of the hole, as well.  The value you choose here represents the diameter of the hole at the bottom – against the tablet screen.  At the top, the hole will be 2 mm wider.

You can place one Braille word, or phrase, above the hole and a different one below.  To do this, put both words in the “Braille text” separated by a comma (don’t add a space after the comma).  So the value “yes,tomorrow” puts the Braille word “yes” on top of the hole and the word “tomorrow” underneath it.  You must also specify that the “Braille location” is “above and below opening”.

“Braille to opening” sets the distance in millimeters between the edge of the hold and the bottom/top of the Braille word.

To aid instructors and communication partners who are not Braille-literate, you can add engraved text into the insert:

 

The engraved text will be placed opposite the Braille.  The location of the Braille, itself, is still controlled by the “Braille location” option.  Note that, if you change the Braille size, the engraved text will adjust similarly.  Note: when including engraved text on an insert, the “Braille to opening distance” option is ignored.