You find yourself in need of printing a text in Braille and you don't know how to do it. You are teachers, you have opened Google, and you are looking for a solution that gives you a qualitatively acceptable result in a short time.

Stop for a moment, you have arrived, your research has been fruitful.

To print in Braille, you need two tools, one Software and one Hardware:

• Biblos: the Software, a Word processor with the ability to print in Braille.
• Braille printer: a special peripheral that embosses Braille characters on paper.

The cost of a Braille printer is high, but follow me and perhaps together we will solve the problem, with great elegance.

Braille printers allow printing in Braille code of any text. Although the operation is similar to that of a normal ink printer, thanks to Biblos, which makes the steps to print in Braille similar, these devices use special punches activated by solenoids that imprint Braille dots on paper.

With Braille printers, it is also possible to produce shapes and graphics, which can be used directly or serve as a basis for creating other teaching materials.

The various models of Braille printers available on the market mainly differ in printing speed and the ability to print in graphic mode, where the distance between the raised dots is smaller than in Braille. There are peripherals that allow printing on single sheets or on continuous forms.

To print, a Braille printer receives characters already encoded by Biblos. The Software's task is to transcribe the common text into Braille characters in an easy and transparent way, useful for the printer.

In particular, what Biblos does is convert the text and typographic elements of a normal electronic document, applying certain transformation rules. For example, it inserts the symbol necessary to indicate capital letters (the so-called capitalization indicator) and the one needed to mark numbers (the number sign). Additionally, Biblos considers and encodes all the typographic elements of a document, such as common bold and italic styles, or structural elements such as titles, notes, tables, bullet and numbered lists, etc.

The format of Braille lines and pages is independent of that of the original text and is automatically produced by Biblos, in accordance with the characteristics of the Braille printer used. For example, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between an A4 page of ink text and Braille printing, as approximately three Braille pages are needed for each regular page.

To obtain a Braille document, therefore, it is essential to have a printer suitable for the purpose. The costs of these peripherals are not accessible to everyone. However, you can use Biblos to prepare your documents for Braille printing and delegate the actual printing of the documents to others. Biblos is widely used throughout Italy today, by individuals, associations, and printing houses. It is absolutely free Software. If you need to print in Braille and do not have a printer, you can inquire about the availability of someone in your area who can offer this service.

For further support you can subscribe the Biblos Group on Facebook.