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Re: MathML Usage for Styling

for

From: Mike Warner
Date: Aug 2, 2016 2:13PM

Thanks for the test results, Abi. We're working on this, too. We aren't
using complex math yet, though, so we may end up with an aria-hidden div
with the math written normally and a hidden mathml div for screen readers.
The image and hidden div combo sounds like an interesting solution for when
we progress beyond simple things like fractions and the like, even though
students can't copy the math to paste it anywhere.

Mike Warner
Director of IT Services
MindEdge, Inc.

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Message: 5
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2016 10:07:30 +0000
From: "James A." < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: Olaf Drümmer < <EMAIL REMOVED> >, "WebAIM Discussion List"
< <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] MathML Usage for Styling
Message-ID:
< <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The lack of standards and advice on best practice with how symbols are
being styled/marked up is definitely an issue at the moment. While
stand-alone equations maybe marked up using mathml (or similar) I have come
across numerous examples where they are unintelligible to screen-reader/TTS
users.

Below is a description of the experience of using NVDA with a paragraph
from a scientific paper that I used to demonstrate the issue. This contains
3 equations within the text each marked up differently:

Equ 1: html - NVDA attempts to read this phonetically and it is not
possible to perceive the contents correctly
Equ 2: mathml - NVDA first reads it phonetically then reads correctly
using the mathml
Equ 3: image of equation with n alt-tag "View the MathML source"
followed by a hidden container containing the MathML of the equation. NVDA
reads the alt-tag followed by the equation read correctly using the mathml

In addition that paragraph contains <em>C<sub>j</sub> &nbsp;</em> which
should be read as C subscript j but is reads as C j and
<em>topN</em>&nbsp;⩽&nbsp;<em>N</em> which is read as top N N missing out
the "less than or equal to" (screen readers seem to only read the few most
common html entities).

The standalone equations are read correctly using a hidden class
containing the mathml. I get a similar results when using Read&Write Gold
except Equ 2 is not read aloud but this is read correctly if mathjax is
turned on (although that stops NVDA reading the equations...).

This is just 1 paragraph on 1 paper...

I have conversations with STEM publishers who are keen to improve
accessibility. They are in a catch-22 situation as the content they are
publishing meets the current standards but they would like more guidance as
you can see they are using many different approaches. The main culprit
seems to be the use of html entities and mark-up when the content should be
semantically tagged as maths.

Regards

Abi


===================================== Dr Abi James
Research Fellow
Accessibility Team, WAIS, ECS
University of Southampton
Web: https://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk/
Email: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Mike Warner
Director of IT Services
MindEdge, Inc.