International Council on English Braille (ICEB), Unified Braille Code (UBC) Research Project, UBC Samples

Note: This part of the ICEB site is under construction; some samples have not been proofread.

UBC Samples

Access to the Samples Directly Online

If you simply wish to view the samples online, select a sample from the list below, and use your browser’s “back” button to return to the list after viewing it.

Braille Display Access to the Braille: If you are using a screen reader with braille display device to view the braille pages, make sure that it is set for North American ASCII-Braille code.

Visual Access to the Braille: If you are sighted and have the “SimBraille” font installed, you should see the braille examples displayed in “simulated braille”. If you see only ordinary ASCII letters &c., it is most likely because you do not have SimBraille installed; see the UBC Symbols List page for information on where to obtain it free. (Also, please note that the font size was set for convenient viewing with Internet Explorer 5.0, with “medium” text size setting. You may need to experiment with your browser’s settings if the simulated braille appears too large or too small.)

Selecting “Print (Images)” will yield a display of the associated print as one or more images; typically such images can be accessed only visually. (Note also that some of these images may be of low visual quality, as they were scanned from faxes, not from originals.)

The Samples:

  • Sample 1 — a recipe: Braille.
  • Sample 2 — ordinary text with some italic and bold: Braille.
  • Sample 3 — ordinary text with capitalized passages: Braille.
  • Sample 4 — ordinary text with a few technical symbols: Braille.
  • Sample 5 — ordinary text with a few technical symbols: Braille.
  • Sample 6 — ordinary text with a few technical symbols: Braille.
  • Sample 7 — from an algebra textbook: Braille; Print (Images).
  • Sample 8 — from a calculus textbook: Braille; Print (Images).

Access to the Samples as Downloaded Braille Files

If you have a braille embosser and wish to emboss the braille examples as regular tactile braille, you may download either of two standard ZIP archives as follows:

  • ubcxbrf.zip – a standard ZIP archive containing pre-formatted braille (“BRF”) files suitable for embossers set to North American ASCII and for a page size 25 lines deep and 40 cells wide. The files within the ZIP are named ubcxNNN.brf, where NNN is the sample number.
  • ubcxdxb.zip – a standard ZIP archive containing Duxbury braille (“DXB”) files suitable if you are using a Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT) program, version 10 or later (produced by Duxbury Systems, Inc.). The files within the ZIP are named ubcxNNN.dxb, where NNN is the sample number.

ICEB contact information
ICEB home page
Page content last updated: August 28, 2000