Re: [orca-list] orca to read latex

[Fredrik Larsson <fredrikl listor flproduction se>]

Hi,

I think as a blind student, I would learn LaTex code. This also gives me 
the possibility to write nice documents with advanced science and readable 
bysighted people, such as teachers and coming friends at work. I know it 
is verbose, but so is also AsciiMath and MathML.

My first thought for reading was to use latex2html which make nice HTML 
code from the document. The formulas will be images though, but with alt 
texts corresponding to the formulas. It might be a little less verbose 
since you get rid of some LaTeX commands but not the problem of 
too verbose formulas. There is also latex2rtf but I don't know how 
accessible RTF it produce.

However, my point is that latex2html is open source and it should be 
possible, maybe as some kind of plug-in framework, to change what html 
that is produced by what latex command. In that way, one can construct a 
mode where formulas on the alt text will be something else, for example x 
greater than or equals to y, or just x>=y.

Fredrik

On Sun, 14 Sep 2014, Paula Estrella wrote:

> Hello, thanks for all the replies! Actually the students need to read
> content written in latex, in particular study material that the
> teachers write in latex and then publish in pdf, but the pdfs are, as
> you point out, not a good format for screen readers, that's why
> students try to understand the contents from the latex source. And by
> literally I mean that latex code gets read literally, for ex. $x \gt
> z$ is read "dollar sign x backslash g t z dollar sign" and students
> have to mentally reconstruct what that means but if it were read "x
> gretaller than z" it would be easier
>
> Does emacspeak read latex in the same way (what I call literally) or
> it produces more natural reading?
>
> Thanks again,
> Paula
>
> On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 1:15 AM, Janina Sajka <janina rednote net> wrote:
> > Yes, for output one would be better served by MathML.
> >
> > Unfortunatly, I believe the only good MathML readers for blind users are
> > proprietary applications running MS Windows:
> >
> > http://www.dessci.com
> >
> >
> > Browser support for MathML has been going backwards in recent years with
> > Google pulling support from Blink.
> >
> > Janina
> >
> >
> >
> > Alex Midence writes:
> > > Her students are probably trying to read output not input.  I've been there.
> > > It's hard to make out the math in a pdf document created with LaTeX with
> > > screen readers.
> > >
> > >
> > > On 9/13/2014 7:27 AM, Janina Sajka wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > > You should look at emacspeak for the best speech based access to latex
> > > > authoring.
> > > >
> > > > http://emacspeak.sf.net
> > > >
> > > > It provides solid speech support for various tex modes of emacs.
> > > >
> > > > I have also used vim's latex mode with Speakup.
> > > >
> > > > Or, if using refreshable braille display, brltty with either emacs or
> > > > vim in a console is probably best.
> > > >
> > > > I'm unaware there's any particular support for latex in blind user
> > > > oriented graphical AT such as Orca, and it's not the tool of choise for
> > > > emacs and vim.
> > > >
> > > > Janina
> > > >
> > > > Paula Estrella writes:
> > > > > Hello, I'm new to the list so I apologize if this topic has already
> > > > > been discussed, in
> > > > > that case point me to the right threads.
> > > > >
> > > > > We're trying to assist our blind students in computer science and at
> > > > > the moment the option chosen is orca but it gets difficult when they
> > > > > have to read maths in latex, so the question is: is there any orca
> > > > > module to specifically read latex (in a more natural way than
> > > > > literally)? if not, do you think it would be too difficult or of any
> > > > > interest to contribute to orca by developing such a module?
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks a lot for any information
> > > > > Paula Estrella
> > > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > > orca-list gnome org
> > > > > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
> > > > > Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
> > > > > The manual is at http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
> > > > > The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
> > > > > Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
> > > > > Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp
> >
> > --
> >
> > Janina Sajka,   Phone:  +1.443.300.2200
> >                         sip:janina asterisk rednote net
> >                 Email:  janina rednote net
> >
> > Linux Foundation Fellow
> > Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup:       http://a11y.org
> >
> > The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> > Chair,  Protocols & Formats     http://www.w3.org/wai/pf
> >         Indie UI                        http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/
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