[Blindmath] MathPlayer 3 (Preview Release 1) is now available

Fri Dec 2 17:22:46 UTC 2011

Concerning Blackboard and accessible math, here are my observations on what is currently possible based on my own experimentation. Blackboard functions as a shell overlay on top of the content it is rendering. There are ways of getting accessible math into Blackboard, but they may not be apparent to the average professor who doesn't know that much about accessibility.

1) MathML can be copied into Blackboard's internal editor (or even hand coded), but when this content gets loaded by the system, it gets rendered by Blackboard's system shell though the WebEQ display engine. Although that looks fine to a sighted user, the end result is not accessible--even though MathML was used internally. So that route won't work.

2) A route that *will* work under the right circumstances is to create a web page with MathML content with some other editing tool (I commonly use MathType) and then upload that page to Blackboard. However, there are some important caveats.
* If the desire is to have these math pages open within the Blackboard environment, then the instructor will probably have to save the page in two different formats: both HTML and XHTML.
* If the page is only saved as HTML with MathML islands, it will only work with IE plus MathPlayer. That's fine for accessibility, but students who use Firefox, for instance, won't get the page displayed properly.
* Although XHTML+MathML will be fine for users who don't need accessibility and are using Mozilla-based browsers like Firefox, there's something about the Blackboard shell that won't let MathPlayer support XHTML files for IE users.
* Therefore, each page with math must be saved in both formats if the desire is to support both IE and Mozilla users and have the pages open up within the Blackboard environment. The only other option is to simply upload all the pages only in XHTML, and instruct students to simply download the files onto their PC and use them outside of the Blackboard environment.

Hope that helps.

--Steve Noble
steve.noble at louisville.edu 
502-969-3088

-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bente Casile
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 9:38 AM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] MathPlayer 3 (Preview Release 1) is now available

Neil,

 This is a question for you, but I am putting it out here because others may benefit from the dialog.  After teaching and demonstrating Math Player we have convinced out math teachers to start using it to develop their materials so our blind students can have accessibility....!!!  Here's the glitch.  We have a stats teacher who has developed all her materials but is having trouble putting them on Blackboard.  I must admit our Blackboard uses Mozilla, and that may be the issue.  Is there any way for us to get around this and get her material out there.  We are hoping to Math Jax on at the server level to avoid issues from the student browser side.  Any guidence/info would be greatly appreciated.

Bente J. Casile

Bente J. Casile
Math Learning Specialist
Disability Services
Holding Hall Room 124
Wake Technical Community College 
 Email correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized state official (NCGS. ch. 132).  Student educational records are subject to FERPA.

>>> Neil Soiffer <NeilS at dessci.com> 12/1/2011 8:11 PM >>>
After many months of saying MathPlayer 3 will be available in a couple of
weeks, it is now really available.  For more info about what's in
MathPlayer 3, see:
http://accessiblemath.dessci.com/2011/12/mathplayer-3-preview-release-1-is-now-available.html 

If you use IE9, I do NOT recommend that you download MathPlayer 3 at this
time.  Late in the development, we discovered that IE 9's support of XHTML
is not letting AT get at MathPlayer's interfaces.  We have been working
with the IE9 team since then to identify the problem and try and get it
resolved.  That discussion is still on-going.  For visual display of
MathML, MathPlayer and IE9 work well together.

Neil Soiffer
Senior Scientist
Design Science, Inc.
www.dessci.com 
~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~
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