Lesson 2

Contracted vs. Uncontracted Braille

Each braille character or "cell" is made up of 6 dot positions that are arranged in a rectangle with 2 columns of 3 dots each. A dot may be raised at any of the 6 positions. For computers using refreshable braille displays such as the Focus Blue, Computer Braille adds two more dots, bringing the total available pins in each cell to 8.

What is the difference between uncontracted and contracted braille? With uncontracted braille, each letter of the alphabet takes up one cell. With contracted braille, dots in one braille cell can represent more than one character. For example, in uncontracted braille the word "the" would be represented by three braille cells with the following pins raised:

• Uncontracted "the" spans three braille cells
• 2, 3, 4, 5 - t
• 1, 2, 5 - h
• 1, 5 - e

  o x    x o    x o
  x x    x x    o x
  x o    o o    o o
  o o    o o    o o


• Contracted "the" only takes up one cell
• 2, 3, 4, 6 - the

  o x
  x o
  x x
  o o

Please allow [05:51] to watch the following instructional demonstration on the Startup Wizard braille options before continuing to the next topic.