Getting the indicators right
Six dots only give you 64 possible patterns, which isn't enough for separate upper and lowercase letters. English Braille handles this with a capital sign (⠠) placed right before a capitalized letter's cell, rather than a whole separate alphabet. Numbers work the same way — they reuse the a-through-j cells, marked by a number sign (⠼) so a reader knows to switch modes.
A lot of simplified "braille converters" online skip both of these and just map letters one-to-one, which produces something that looks like Braille but reads wrong to anyone who actually reads Braille. This one applies both rules in both directions — encoding and decoding.
What's covered
All 26 letters, digits 0 through 9, and eight punctuation marks: period, comma, semicolon, colon, exclamation mark, question mark, apostrophe, and hyphen — plus correct capital and number indicators, both ways. What's missing is Grade 2 contractions, the shorthand experienced Braille readers use for common words and letter groups. That's a much bigger, more context-dependent rule set, and this tool sticks to Grade 1 so the output stays predictable and checkable.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Grade 1 and Grade 2 Braille?
Grade 1 spells everything out fully, letter by letter. Grade 2 adds contractions — single cells or short sequences standing in for whole words or common letter groups, similar to shorthand. This tool only does Grade 1.
Why do capital letters need an extra symbol?
There aren't enough dot combinations for a full second alphabet, so English Braille marks a capital with a sign before the letter instead of using a different cell for it.
Why do numbers look like the letters a through j?
They reuse those cells, and a number sign placed beforehand tells the reader to switch out of letter mode. Drop the number sign and "5" just reads as the letter "e".
Will these characters actually display, or will I get boxes?
They're in the standard Unicode Braille block, which every modern OS and browser font supports. It's real text, not an image, so it copies and pastes normally.
Does it handle Grade 2 contractions?
No, deliberately. Grade 2 depends on context-sensitive rules that are easy to get wrong. Grade 1 is unambiguous and checkable, which matters more here than being shorter.