Moon has travelled a long way in 150 years including into Cyberspace.

HISTORY

Once taught and printed on 4 continents William Moon's embossed reading code is now little used outside the UK. But the 1990s have produced a new wave of interest and confidence in the continuing need for a line based code for the UKs185,000 potential readers who cannot access either braille or print. A dynamic educational resource called Moon Base was launched in February 1997.

PRODUCTION

Moon's embossed reading code based on the Roman letter form was originally printed using a wire letter form cut by hand The books produced by it are very bulky and there was little scope for individuals to write in Moon for themselves. Since the 1930s the existence of Moon type faces has simplified the printing process but the end product remined the same.

Locally the Brighton Society of the Blind which makes its home in William Moon Lodge in Hollingdean offers full details of the code today on their web site.

Today several experiments are taking place which address all the historic limitations of moon. With computer technology Moon readers can produce their own moon labels or literature using an ASCII keyboard, printer, and photocopier with a sheet feed for "swell paper" which responds to light to create raised areas where ever the black appears. A special fuse printer to completed the process is now manufactured by Zychem Ltd

Truetype Moon Fonts are available online for either MAC or PC format. You can download the Moon Fonts from the Moon Literacy Website at http://www.moonliteracy.org.uk/.