Re: [orca-list] orca to read latex

[Janina Sajka <janina rednote net>]

Good points, Fredrik. I think latex eminently worth learning. I wish I'd
picked it up sooner in my life with computers because it's still a
viable option today, whereas so many tools I once used daily and heavily
haved gone to the big desktop in the sky.

Janina

Fredrik Larsson writes:
> 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
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > orca-list mailing list
> > > > > > 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/
> > _______________________________________________
> > orca-list mailing list
> > 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
> _______________________________________________
> orca-list mailing list
> 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/