Re: [orca-list] Heads up: Just committed some support for speaking MathML content in Firefox

[Vincenzo Rubano <vincenzo rubano studio unibo it>]

Hi Joanmarie,

as a CS student I have to read/produce a lot of Maths content. So I’m really interested in this stuff! :D

I’ve stopped playing with linux and GUI a few weeks ago for various reasons, but I’d like to give you a 
suggestion. Please, do not do what the Apple guys did. I’ll be clearer in the next lines! :-)

Since the Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks release, Voiceover (the built-in OS X screen reader) supports MathML. If 
you just depends on speech output, it’s simply amazing unless you want to explore the content (i.e. read it 
symbol by symbol). But, if you’re like me (and the majority of blind people dealing with Maths), you’ll also 
use a Braille display to read that content. On the Braille display, though, you *do not want* to read exactly 
the string that the screen reader is pronouncing. In Braille, there are proper codes/symbols/conventions to 
report fractions, square roots and any sort of operators/Maths content. Long story short, to support MathML 
properly a screen reader should read it properly and, at the same time, show it on a Braille display by using 
the proper Braille code. Just a little example to clarify what I’m saying:

<mfrac>
<mrow> <mi>x</mi><mo>+</mo><mn>2</mn> </mrow>
<mn>3</mn>
</mfrac>

the screen reader could read something like

fraction (x plus two) hover tree

but the Braille display should present this string by using the Braille code symbols, not showing it exactly 
on the Braille display. That’s something the Apple guys didn’t understand even after various reports...

BTW, the MathPlayer with NVDA should work in the way I would expect, but I’ve not had time to test it yet.

hope this helps.

Vincenzo.

> Il giorno 02 lug 2015, alle ore 09:32, Joanmarie Diggs <jdiggs igalia com> ha scritto:
>
> Hey guys.
>
> I just flipped the proverbial switch to get Orca to start presenting
> MathML content as spoken math rather than rendered text. As stated in
> the commit message:
>
> * This is the very, very beginning of this support. It's far from done.
> * The current focus is on speaking MathML when navigating by line. This
>  is so that we (communities, plural) can try to reach consensus on what
>  screen readers should speak for various MathML expressions.
> * Other caret navigation may or may not work and/or work as expected.
>  Some of this will need to be fixed in Orca; some in Gecko. Speaking
>  of which:
> * This only works with Firefox currently. And you will need Firefox
>  Nightly.
>
> Feedback is encouraged. Patience is mandatory. :) Orca 3.18 will rock.
>
> If you happen to be a user who consumes spoken Math, especially MathML,
> and are able to test Orca master, please do (keeping in mind the many
> disclaimers above <grins>).
>
> Thanks!
> --joanie
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Vincenzo Rubano
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