[Blindmath] Mathematical document accessibility

[Michael Whapples]

I think the variation in useage of LaTeX depends on level, I feel for 
someone at university doing maths or something needing a reasonable 
amount of maths then LaTeX is well worth the while. For those at an 
earlier stage in maths teachers become less knowledgeable on LaTeX, and 
possibly rightly as LaTeX may be more than really is needed at such a 
level, particularly for the student to learn if they may not go on to do 
maths. This is why I ask whether a simpler system for writing is needed 
(eg. RST from the docutils package is a nice wysiwyg style markup 
language (I think that is a fair description) which is reasonably easy 
to learn the basic document formatting, and if it could be extended to 
math then it might be a good system for people at an earlier stage. The 
problem is that it doesn't have a math notation system, but may be we 
need to look at this and try and encourage any development to be an 
accessible one IE. one which can be compiled to mathml as one of the 
current systems suggested for math in RST produces images). LaTeX would 
still be a better option for those serious about maths as LaTeX is so 
commonly used at university level.

Michael Whapples
On 13/03/09 22:17, Jared Wright wrote:
> On 3/13/2009 4:23 PM, Blind Collegian wrote:
> "With LaTeX, very few teachers use it..."
> Really? Interesting. i'm at a fairly nondescript Midwestern 
> university, and you'd get run out of the Math department here if you 
> weren't at least familiar with the LaTeX basics.. The academic world 
> of math and science really does seem to use it extensively, which is 
> why I found it the most worthwhile medium for communicating 
> mathematical notation.
>
> Sorry, I know that doesn't help much. I'm just surprised your teachers 
> aren't all about working in LaTex.
>
> Jared
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Blindmath:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/mwhapples%40aim.com 
>