RE: accessible math
- From: Dónal Fitzpatrick <dfitzpat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:45:44 -0000
Hi,
There are several ways of showing math on the web.
1. The first (and most common) is to take an equation generated in LaTeX
and produce some kind of image from it. This image can have (as with all
images) alt-text associated with it. As Dorene says, you're at the mercy of
whoever puts the textual description in there which can, as we all know, be
a problem.
2. The second, and more recent way of doing this, is to use a markup schema
such as mathML. Browsers are starting to support this format; usually
through plug ins. There is a tool from a company called Design Science
called Mathplayer. It runs as a plug in to IE6 or higher and enables
equations to be spoken. It isn't bad, though a lot of work still needs to
go into it.
The fundamental problem with this, of course, is that, when you convert from
a printed equation to a textual representation, you are effectively going
from a two-dimensional presentation to a very serially oriented one. If the
equation is very long, this can pose problems. For example, it's one thing
presenting the symbols but yet another depicting the semantics. (I could go
on and on ad nauseum about this topic but I'll shut up now! *smile*
Best,
Dónal
__________
View the list's information and change your settings at
//www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
Other related posts:
