What BrlIt does
BrlIt converts a document into a properly formatted braille file (BRF),
ready for an embosser. It interprets the document’s structure — headings, paragraphs,
lists — and lays it out according to the chosen braille standard.
Two ways to work
BrlIt has two modes, and your choices (standard, contraction grade, page size) are shared
between them:
- Quick Mode (this screen) — the fast route for a document you already
have: drop a file and get an embosser-ready BRF straight away.
- Advanced editor — a live editor where you write and format with the
braille building beside you. It adds equations, read-aloud, six-key braille entry,
click-to-link between print and braille, a self-check, and multi-volume books. Open it
with Advanced editor → (top of the screen); return any time from
its ← Quick Mode button.
How to use Quick Mode
- Drag a document onto the drop area, or click Choose file
(
.docx · .odt · .epub · .html · .md · .rtf · .txt). It is
transcribed straight away and shown as a preview — there is no separate
convert step.
- Open Settings ⚙ to pick the standard (UKAAF/BANA),
contraction grade and page size; the preview updates as you change them.
- Download .brf when it looks right.
Working with text
BrlIt reads the document’s structure, not its visual look — so use real
styles in your source. In Word, apply the Title and
Heading 1–3 styles for headings and proper bulleted/numbered
lists for lists; ordinary paragraphs become braille paragraphs. (In HTML or
Markdown, use heading and list markup.)
Two house-style choices live in Settings ⚙:
Quotation marks — keep the print’s quotes, or exchange
single→double for the UK house style; and List format —
blank-line (1-3) or compact (5-1).
Maths (equations)
BrlIt transcribes maths with
MathCAT
to UEB maths (UKAAF) or Nemeth (BANA), matching your
chosen standard. An equation inside a sentence flows inline with the words; one
written on its own becomes a displayed block. In BANA, each Nemeth passage is wrapped with
the required code-switch indicators automatically.
You can supply maths three ways:
- Word — Insert ▸ Equation (or press
Alt + =),
then save as .docx.
- LaTeX in a
.md/.txt file — $…$ for
inline maths, $$…$$ for a displayed equation (e.g. $x^2+1$).
- MathML in an
.html file — a
<math>…</math> element, inline or on its own.
A plain “$” before a number (a price such as “$5”) is left as text, not
read as maths.
Standards
UKAAF follows the UK layout guidance (38×25 default);
BANA follows the US guidance (40×25 default), including the braille
page number on the last line rather than the first.
Credits & licensing
- BrlIt © 2026 Sensory App House Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Translation engine: liblouis
… (LGPL), compiled to WebAssembly. © liblouis contributors.
- Maths: MathCAT
(MIT, © Neil Soiffer / DAISY); LaTeX via Temml (MIT).
- Braille code: Unified English Braille — ICEB, The Rules of UEB.
- Formatting rules: UKAAF Guiding Principles for the Presentation of Braille (B004);
BANA Braille Formats: Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, 2016.
