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Re: Screen readers, math symbols, and Word

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From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Nov 17, 2010 2:00PM

I appreciate that MathML is the preferred solution, but I'm concerned that there seems to be a pretty significant learning curve -- the page you pointed to is quite a bit to digest.

And we will need an even more significant cultural change before we can adopt MathML as the standard for producing these documents. After all:

- The many authors who contribute to these documents do not know markup language, so training would be needed.

- The people who review them during production are used to using Word's tools for reviewing, revising, and commenting. There is no ready solution I'm aware of for doing the same thing in markup language -- and even if there is, we're back to that need for training.

- Some of the people who receive these documents after they are published want them in Word.

- These documents are a relatively small part of a production scheme that involves Word and PDF -- in part because of relative ease, familiarity, and availability; in part because they meet our need for all forms of the document to have a uniform format.

- These documents are fairly lengthy and are heavy with text. The math is interspersed in various places -- in fact, in many cases, the "math" is simply a character next to a value in a table. So are we supposed to have everyone learn a new technique of producing, distributing, and digesting documents, just so they can insert the occasional mathematical symbol?

- And what if we have a series of 20 related documents, and only one of them needs mathematical symbols? Must we use MathML for the whole bunch? Or have a unique production method for just the one?

I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'm not sure how we would get there from here.

Cliff

Cliff Tyllick
Usability assessment coordinator
Agency Communications Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
512-239-4516
<EMAIL REMOVED>


>>> On 11/17/2010 at 11:50 AM, in message < <EMAIL REMOVED> >, Stephen L Noble < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
The preferred solution is to use web documents using MathML (i.e.,
XHTML+MathML). At this juncture, native accessibility to mathematical
content within a Word document has not been solved.

For a broader discussion, see NCAM's Accessible Digital Media
Guidelines:
http://ncam.wgbh.org/invent_build/web_multimedia/accessible-digital-media-guide/guideline-g-math
Technique G2.1 / Use MathML to provide access to scientific and
mathematical expressions
"MathML is the best choice for a markup language for expressing math.
The advantage of MathML is it provides mathematical information in an
open, standard format that can be exploited by a wide range of assistive
technologies."

Best regards,
--Steve Noble

------------------------------------
-- Steve Noble
Chair, National Technology Task Force
Learning Disabilities Association of America
<EMAIL REMOVED>
502-969-3088

--------------
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>>> Cliff Tyllick < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 11/17/2010 11:55 AM >>>
One of our authors who has tested Word documents in JAWS 9 has
doscovered that the "greater than or equal to" symbol (Unicode character
2265) is announced as "greater than."

In some cases this might be a minor annoyance, but the difference is
important in documents that tell people how to comply with environmental
regulations. Is there a good solution to this problem?

If not, we're thinking of just replacing the character with an inline
graphic of the same size with appropriate alt text. Thoughts?

And is this just a JAWS thing, or do other screen readers do the same?

Cliff


Cliff Tyllick
Usability assessment coordinator
Agency Communications Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
512-239-4516
<EMAIL REMOVED>