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Re: MathML and simple maths content

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: May 29, 2019 7:29AM

MathML support is spotty/inconsistent and sometimes downright missing.
Kepe inmind that IE11 is eventually going to g away, probably in a
matter of years, so we, as a community must focus on
Chrome/Firefox/Edge (which will run on Chomium).
In 2011 I had a short stint with Design Science, makers of Mathplayer
(wich renders MathML into speech), but even then there lack of user
agent support was a big problem for MathML. My understanding is that
it's not improved, but we have nothing else to replace it.
So I'd recommend going with MathML for now and then file issues with
browsers/screen reader vendors to draw attention to the problem with
missing MathML support.



On 5/29/19, L Snider < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hi Isabel,
>
> Sounds like it is the same as EPUB in terms of the issues with MathML.
> Sorry, I made an error in my first email, the best practice is to do MathML
> and an image with alt text. My brain was tired! Sometimes people did text,
> but only for the most simple math (and even then image would be best
> practice).
>
> From my limited research about 5 months ago, it is still the best one right
> now. However, people are working on different solutions, as this has been
> an issue since it came out.
>
> Cheers
>
> Lisa
>
> On Wed, May 29, 2019 at 4:43 AM Isabel Holdsworth
> < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Bim,
>>
>> That's very interesting.
>>
>> We're using the Wiris math editor for the web, and rather than
>> producing a graphic with alt text, it produces a styled equation whose
>> aria-hidden attribute is set to true, accompanied by a visually hidden
>> MathML expression.
>>
>> It's the MathML expression that's causing problems for our customer,
>> since it isn't spoken in the same way, and often not at all, depending
>> on the browser/screenreader combination.
>>
>> The graphic wouldn't be ideal for us either, for two reasons:
>>
>> 1. It's essentially an image of text which will pixellate when it's
>> zoomed up, unless they're using SVG.
>>
>> 2. VoiceOver speaks alt text as a single string, and I don't think
>> there's any way to interrogate it so as to break it down into its
>> component parts. This is usually fine for short texts like button
>> labels, but users need more granularity when reading complex maths
>> expressions.
>>
>> But our customer might decide it's a better solution than what they've
>> got at the moment, so thank you.
>>
>> Cheers, Isabel
>>
>> On 29/05/2019, Bim Egan < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> > Hi Isabel,
>> >
>> > I did a little research on this for a client, and found the following
>> that
>> > may be useful.
>> >
>> > WIRIS Math Type (equation editor and image producer:
>> > https://docs.wiris.com/en/mathtype/start
>> >
>> > It's engine not only produces an image, but also the alt text that I
>> > thought
>> > made the equation very clear.
>> >
>> > There's an example on one of their tutorial pages at:
>> > https://docs.wiris.com/en/mathtype/mathtype_desktop/basic_tutorials
>> >
>> > HTH,
>> >
>> > Bim
>> > -------------
>> > Bim Egan
>> > Skype phone: 01223 96 87 96
>> > Personal Email: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>> > Skype ID: bim.accessequals
>> >
>> > Coordinator: Describe Online
>> > W: www.describe-online.com
>> > E: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>> > ----------------------------------------
>> > Partner: AccessEquals
>> > W: www.accessequals.com
>> > E: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>> >