Keyboard layouts for Windows: Spanish-latin american Braille.

This layout allows the user to write in Braille code, by assigning the keys corresponding to each letter (and numbers and symbols) to the Unicode characters that represent them ((look at 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 normal text - it's the other way around: a layout that allows to write the Braille code symbols directly on a normal keyboard.

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

NOTE: this layout is based on Windows' default latin american layout. Another one, spanish Braille keyboard, uses the latin american layout.

letter	character	dots
A a	`U+2801`: ⠁	1
B b	`U+2803`: ⠃	1, 2
C c	`U+2809`: ⠉	1, 4
Ç ç	`U+282F`: ⠯	1, 2, 3, 4, 6
D d	`U+2819`: ⠙	1, 4, 5
E e	`U+2811`: ⠑	1, 5
F f	`U+280B`: ⠋	1, 2, 4
G g	`U+281B`: ⠛	1, 2, 4, 5
H h	`U+2813`: ⠓	1, 2, 5
I i	`U+280A`: ⠊	2, 4
J j	`U+281A`: ⠚	2, 4, 5
K k	`U+2805`: ⠅	1, 3
L l	`U+2807`: ⠇	1, 2, 3
M m	`U+280D`: ⠍	1, 3, 4
N n	`U+281D`: ⠝	1, 3, 4, 5
Ñ ñ	`U+283B`: ⠻	1, 2, 4, 5, 6
O o	`U+2815`: ⠕	1, 3, 5
P p	`U+280F`: ⠏	1, 2, 3, 4
Q q	`U+281F`: ⠟	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
R r	`U+2817`: ⠗	1, 2, 3, 5
S s	`U+280E`: ⠎	2, 3, 4
T t	`U+281E`: ⠞	2, 3, 4, 5
U u	`U+2825`: ⠥	1, 3, 6
V v	`U+2827`: ⠧	1, 2, 3, 6
W w	`U+283A`: ⠺	2, 4, 5, 6
X x	`U+282D`: ⠭	1, 3, 4, 6
Y y	`U+283D`: ⠽	1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Z z	`U+2835`: ⠵	1, 3, 5, 6
Á á	`U+2837`: ⠷	1, 2, 3, 5, 6
É é	`U+282E`: ⠮	2, 3, 4, 6
Í í	`U+280C`: ⠌	3, 4
Ó ó	`U+282C`: ⠬	3, 4, 6
Ú ú	`U+283E`: ⠾	2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Ü ü	`U+2833`: ⠳	1, 2, 5, 6
À à	`U+2837`: ⠷	1, 2, 3, 5, 6
È è	`U+282E`: ⠮	2, 3, 4, 6

number/symbol	character	dots
0	`U+281A`: ⠚	2, 4, 5
1	`U+2801`: ⠁	1
2	`U+2803`: ⠃	1, 2
3	`U+2809`: ⠉	1, 4
4	`U+2819`: ⠙	1, 4, 5
5	`U+2811`: ⠑	1, 5
6	`U+280B`: ⠋	1, 2, 4
7	`U+281B`: ⠛	1, 2, 4, 5
8	`U+2813`: ⠓	1, 2, 5
9	`U+280A`: ⠊	2, 4
number prefix	`U+283C`: ⠼	3, 4, 5, 6
uppercase prefix	`U+2828`: ⠨	4, 6
comma (",")	`U+2802`: ⠂	2
full stop [period] (".")	`U+2804`: ⠄	3
semicolon (";")	`U+2806`: ⠆	2, 3
colon (":")	`U+2812`: ⠒	2, 5
dash ("-")	`U+2824`: ⠤	3, 6
single ("'") and double ('"') quotation marks	`U+2826`: ⠦	2, 3, 6
question marks ("¿" and "?")	`U+2822`: ⠢	2, 6
exclamation marks ("¡" and "!")	`U+2816`: ⠖	2, 3, 5
open parenthesis ("(")	`U+2823`: ⠣	1, 2, 6
close parenthesis (")")	`U+281C`: ⠜	3, 4, 5
interpunct [punt volat] ("·")	`U+2810`: ⠐	5

Notes:

Not taking into account the Braille characters listed in the table above, this layout is identical to the Windows' default latin american one, except for the following:
- The "number prefix" symbol is located at AltGR-| (the one to the left of key 1). The "uppercase prefix" is located at AltGr-Shift-|. The displaced characters (| and °) are relocated, respectively, to to AltGr-1 and AltGr-2.
- The cedilla [c trancada] is located at AltGr-C and also at AltGr-Shift-C. The interpuct [punt volat] is located at AltGr-P (just like in the latin american extended layout) and also at AltGr-Shift-P.
- The € character (the euro symbol) is added at AltGr-E.
This is an experimental layout (just like its sister). There's still a lot to do in the Unicode Braille handling department (as a matter of fact, neither Windows 2000 nor XP have any font that covers this character block).

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

[castellano] - [english]

Keyboard layouts for Windows.