Keyboard layouts for Windows: Spanish-Latin American Braille.

This layout allows the user to write in Braille code, by assigning each letter, number and certain symbols' keys to the corresponging Unicode code points (see the Braille Patterns block at the Unicode Consortium site). This is NOT a proper Braille keyboard (like the one developed by the ONCE) that allows blind people to write regular text - it's the other way around: a layout that allows to write the Braille code symbols directly on a normal keyboard.

Unicode only defines the code points corresponding to each dot pattern, leaving the meaning of these to the codes defined for each language. This layout uses the Spanish Braille Code (which also includes Catalan letters and symbols).

This layout is based on Windows' default Latin American layout. Another one, the Spanish Braille keyboard, uses the Spanish layout.

Spanish Braille Code.

The following pair of tables the Spanish Braille Code this keyboard layout uses.

Spanish Braille Code
lettercode pointdots
A aU+28011
B bU+28031, 2
C cU+28091, 4
Ç çU+282F1, 2, 3, 4, 6
D dU+28191, 4, 5
E eU+28111, 5
F fU+280B1, 2, 4
G gU+281B1, 2, 4, 5
H hU+28131, 2, 5
I iU+280A2, 4
J jU+281A2, 4, 5
K kU+28051, 3
L lU+28071, 2, 3
M mU+280D1, 3, 4
N nU+281D1, 3, 4, 5
Ñ ñU+283B1, 2, 4, 5, 6
O oU+28151, 3, 5
P pU+280F1, 2, 3, 4
Q qU+281F1, 2, 3, 4, 5
R rU+28171, 2, 3, 5
S sU+280E2, 3, 4
T tU+281E2, 3, 4, 5
U uU+28251, 3, 6
V vU+28271, 2, 3, 6
W wU+283A2, 4, 5, 6
X xU+282D1, 3, 4, 6
Y yU+283D1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Z zU+28351, 3, 5, 6
Á áU+28371, 2, 3, 5, 6
É éU+282E2, 3, 4, 6
Í íU+280C3, 4
Ó óU+282C3, 4, 6
Ú úU+283E2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Ü üU+28331, 2, 5, 6
À àU+28371, 2, 3, 5, 6
È èU+282E2, 3, 4, 6
   
number/symbolcode pointdots
0U+281A2, 4, 5
1U+28011
2U+28031, 2
3U+28091, 4
4U+28191, 4, 5
5U+28111, 5
6U+280B1, 2, 4
7U+281B1, 2, 4, 5
8U+28131, 2, 5
9U+280A2, 4
number prefixU+283C3, 4, 5, 6
uppercase prefixU+28284, 6
comma (",")U+28022
full stop [period] (".")U+28043
semicolon (";")U+28062, 3
colon (":")U+28122, 5
dash ("-")U+28243, 6
single ("'") and double ('"') quotation marksU+28262, 3, 6
question marks ("¿" and "?")U+28222, 6
exclamation marks ("¡" and "!")U+28162, 3, 5
open parenthesis ("(")U+28231, 2, 6
close parenthesis (")")U+281C3, 4, 5
interpunct [punt volat] ("·")U+28105

The layout.

This is the Spanish-Latin American Braille layout:

[Spanish Braille-Latin American layout - base mode]

[Spanish Braille-Latin American layout - Shift key pressed]

[Spanish Braille-Latin American layout - AltGr key pressed]

[Spanish Braille-Latin American layout - both Shift and AltGr keys pressed]

General notes.

Besides the Braille code points listed in the table above, this layout is identical to the Windows' default Latin American one, except for the following:

This is an experimental layout (just like its sister). There's still a lot to do about Braille handling on computer interfaces (as a matter of fact, Windows 7 was the first Windows version to include a font [Segoe UI Symbol] that covers the Unicode Braille code block).

Version history.

Version 1.0, dated 12/02/2009 (the only one until now).

The installer.

This layout can be installed on Windows operating systems (2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista, 7 and 8) using the Spanish-Latin American Braille layout installer.


Last update: 22/11/2012.

[castellano] - [english]

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