[BlindMath] Braille Input with NVDA

Tue Apr 28 21:55:35 UTC 2026

Yes, kind of. The assumption is that if 8-dot braille is used, regardless
of the encoding, all the ASCII chars use only one cell. So for digits, they
could use drop numbers (like Nemeth) or use another system (e.g., add dot
8). Other important chars that use a single cell are parens which are used
for grouping in ASCIIMath. For LaTeX, it is important that \, {, and } are
a single cell. 6-dot LaTeX is very verbose.

Neil Soiffer

On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 2:35 PM <codeofdusk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Doesn't the efficiency of ASCIIMath also depend on the underlying language
> table or Computer Braille standard used (i.e. some computer codes use
> French numbers, some use dropped a–j)?
>
> Bill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Neil Soiffer
> via BlindMath
> Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 2:31 PM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <
> blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Neil Soiffer <soiffer at alum.mit.edu>
> Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Braille Input with NVDA
>
> Accepting Nemeth, UEB, and other braille codes is on the long range plans
> for MathCAT, but there is nothing scheduled to do that, so it won't happen
> anytime soon.
>
> Michael's suggestion of using ASCIIMath is an option worth exploring. I
> wrote a paper (to be presented at ICCHP this summer) that looks at Nemeth,
> UEB, ASCIIMath, and LaTex. 8-dot ASCIIMath is very efficient (uses less
> braille cells) and thus might be faster to type and maybe faster to read.
> There are all kinds of caveats to that later statement. For 6-dot codes,
> Nemeth is clearly the most compact, coming close to 8-dot ASCIIMath. 6-dot
> ASCIIMath and UEB are comparable in their efficiency.
>
> Neil Soiffer
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 12:29 PM Michael Whapples via BlindMath <
> blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> > My thinking on this may not be the way you were thinking. If the
> > student does not want to learn two codes, then I feel UEB or Nemeth
> > probably is not the way to go, instead learn ASCIIMath or a basic subset
> of LaTeX.
> > As for the reading, MathCAT I am lead to believe can output in
> > ASCIIMath or LaTeX, thus the single code to learn is ASCIIMath or
> > LaTeX. This will be useful in so many other places (eg. online wikis
> > and other tools) and will make the student more independent than
> > relying upon UEB or Nemeth would (no need for specialist tools to be
> able to communicate).
> >
> >
> > If number of cells is a concern, then in 8-dot Braille ASCIIMath comes
> > out really good, LaTeX not quite as good and UEB is pretty poor.
> >
> >
> > I know from my work with BrailleBlaster, transcribers seem to get a
> > mind block on LaTeX and it has a reputation for being difficult. I
> > have two responses to that: It can be difficult if you get into the
> > full LaTeX system and documents from various sources as all sorts of
> > commands and macros may be used, but a constrained subset is much
> > easier. Also those who know Braille already have shown the ability to
> > learn a pretty complicated encoding system in contracted UEB, so I
> > feel its some mental block stopping learning LaTeX.
> >
> >
> > I know may not be the answer you wanted to hear. I am very much pro
> > 8-dot Braille and would be quite happy to see Braille codes simplified
> > (eg. removing contractions). To me this feels such a logical way to go
> > with computers and refreshable Braille displays where size isn't an
> issue.
> >
> >
> > Michael Whapples
> >
> > On 28/04/2026 15:39, Matthew Horspool via BlindMath wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > > A very rusty mathematician here! Nice to be part of the list.
> > > I'm supporting a high school student with NVDA and a braille
> > > display. We
> > are based in the UK where the Student Annual edition of JAWS is not
> > available, and the braille display cost them most of their budget for
> > the year, so JAWS isn't an option even though we would like it to be.
> > > Sticking with JAWS for a moment though: there is a really neat
> > > feature
> > in JAWS where you can be in a Word document, press a keystroke and end
> > up in a math editor. The QWERTY keystroke is JAWS key+space followed
> > by
> > shift+equals, and braille display keystrokes are usually implemented.
> > shift+You
> > can use the braille keyboard of your braille display to type in this
> > window in either UEB or Nemeth and, when you press enter, the braille
> > is converted into a Microsoft Word equation.
> > > We are looking for an equivalent option for NVDA. So far I have
> > > played
> > with the MathCAT implementation in NVDA 2026.1 beta and it does a good
> > job of outputting Word equations to a braille display correctly, but
> > so far, the closest I've come to being able to input from a braille
> > display is by brailing ASCII math and then using the context menu to
> > switch that from Linear to Professional. The student is tech literate
> > but not sold on math, so asking him to read math one way and write it
> > another is not something we really want to suggest and to be honest,
> > even if it's ultimately what we end up doing in this case, it's not a
> > particularly good indictment for braille or NVDA and I think it's in
> > our interest as a community to solve the problem properly.
> > > With this in mind, does anyone know of an existing solution or any
> > > work
> > which is already being done to produce one?
> > > Thanks and best wishes,
> > > Matthew
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