This is what I do at my day job (ADA sign production):

That's a typical sign. The spec sheet would say something along the lines of: Steel tactile sign to be applied to back-painted acrylic. Tactile is 4x8 inches with a 1/4 inch reveal (the back plate is 4.53x8.53 inches) and 3/8 inch radius corners. Copy is Helvetica Medium, Upper Case, 3/4 inch, centered with grade 2 braille. The back plate, tactile plate and copy are to be painted such-and-such colors.

(Side note: I had to use Arial Bold on my example... Helv. is a Mac font and I don't have it. bummer. Another popular font on signs is Optima Semi Bold. Don't have it either. Static needs more fonts.)

Anyway. See those little dots on my sign? That's grade 2 braille. I can proof read it with ease, but I don't read braille very well...

My Significant Other came home the other day wearing a shirt with braille on it. At first glance, I thought it was fake braille. Reading it as typical grade 2 braille, the letters came out as gibberish. It took me a while to figure out that the letters were actually grade 1 braille squished together.

humph. It looks like braille, but I'm sure it's quite unreadable to a blind person. As SO pointed out, blind people can't read it anyway since the dots aren't raised. It's just a shirt. heh.

So anyway. Braille interests me. :)

Each letter in braille is composed of six potiential dots : is the braille letter for "=" which has all the dots on.

That's the letters, "a" through "m" on the first line and "n" through "z" on the second line. Pretty simple, huh? Grade 1 braille is a letter-by-letter substitution. So, "Cheri" would translate as "cheri"... Grade 2 braille, however has almost 200 letter combination substitutions. For example, the "=" letter above with all six dots on, is also the word "for" in grade 2. My name, "Cheri" translates to "*]i" in grade 2 braille! I don't know all the combinations by heart. And, like I said, I can proof read braille easily and accurately, but I can't read it straight very well. I have to read each individual braille letter, figure out any combinations, and then I have to put the letters together in my mind to form the word. It's a slow way of reading. And since I don't have the opportunity to read braille without the English translation right there, I will probably never learn to sight read braille at work. But I'd like to learn. It's an interesting skill to have, and I like to be unique. :) Links of interest: Braille Font from Duxbury Systems A Braille and SimBraille True Type Font for your computer. All the above examples use this font. Braille through Remote Learning Hey, cool, free online classes about braille. I'm taking them! Duxbury Systems: Information about Braille More to read. American Foundation for the Blind... Games Something to amuse. :) (Even you can play these. heh. Grade 1 Braille used here.) In Memory of Adric...