Unicode has 256 braille characters, each a grid of up to 8 dots. Besides real braille, people use them as tiny pixels to draw pictures and animations in plain text.
⣿
How a braille cell works
Each braille character is a cell of 2 columns × 4 rows. The dots are numbered 1-2-3-7 down the left and 4-5-6-8 down the right. ⠁ is dot 1 only, ⠿ is dots 1–6, and ⣿ is all eight. The block runs from U+2800 (⠀, a blank cell) to U+28FF (⣿).
Real braille
In English braille the six-dot cells stand for letters and contractions: ⠁ a, ⠃ b, ⠉ c, ⠙ d. Our dotted text tool converts a–z to braille cells. It's a simple letter-for-letter conversion, not full contracted braille, so don't rely on it for real accessibility material.
⠙⠕⠞ ⠉⠕⠏⠽ ⠏⠁⠎⠞⠑
Loading spinners
Terminal tools animate spinners by cycling through braille frames:
⠋ ⠙ ⠹ ⠸ ⠼ ⠴ ⠦ ⠧ ⠇ ⠏
Bars and graphs
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣀⣀⣀⣀ 60%
⣀⣤⣶⣿⣶⣤⣀
The blank braille character
U+2800 (⠀) looks empty but is not a normal space. Some apps that remove spaces keep it, so people use it for blank lines. Use it sparingly: screen readers may announce it.
Questions
How many braille characters are there in Unicode?
256, from U+2800 to U+28FF, covering every combination of 8 dots.
Is braille art accessible?
No. Screen readers read each cell as braille dots, so add a text description too.
Why does braille art look broken on my phone?
Braille art needs a font where the blank cell and dot cells are the same width. Many phone fonts aren't, so the picture shifts.