Hi Jeff,
On Aug 29, 2011, at 10:48 AM, Jeff wrote:
>
> I have wondered how Braille deals with unusual fonts, and now I know. OK, each one of the runes are "keyed" to a particular letter so I can put them in a document, but in truth they do not particularly look like those letters. For example, the Air Rune, which is typed with the letter "g" in my Runic font package, looks like a spiral. The Mastery Rune actually looks like a three-pronged crown. The Movement Rune, typed with the letter "s" is a three-legged triskelion. The Earth Rune, typed with the letter "d" is a square. And so forth.
> Yep, a font is a completely foreign concept in Braille. All we really have to work with are letters, numbers, punctuation, and what are called "contractions," representing combinations of letters or even whole words depending on context. Any resemblance between any of these and their printed equivalents is purely coincidental. I won't go into the vagaries of Braille codes for things like math and science, though I guess a runic code is a possibility…
> I know groups in Berlin, London, Berkeley, Biddulph, and Seattle…
> Seattle is closest to me in Portland, Oregon, but still prohibitively far, as I don't have reliable transportation. What about Internet groups? I do have Skype, among other similar programs.
Thanks for the explanation, it's intriguing and helpful.
Yours,
Zack.