[Blindmath] LaTeX

[Michael Whapples]

Hello,
Just to explain why MikTeX 2.8 is recommended over 2.9, as I am probably 
partly responsible for that advice.

The main problem is that MikTeX 2.9 comes with a broken TeX4Ht, or at 
least the handy batch scripts which make it easy to use TeX4Ht are 
broken in MikTeX 2.9. MikTeX 2.8 had a working TeX4Ht.

Why is TeX4Ht important for accessibility? If you want to be able to 
read output from LaTeX in a more natural way, then TeX4ht allows you to 
export LaTeX documents to HTML or XHTML with MathML for the equations 
and then view the output in Internet Explorer with MathPlayer and thus 
have a form of accessible math.

Admittedly this functionality is not important to all people thus if you 
will not be using TeX4ht then just use MikTeX 2.9.

Ideally MikTeX 2.9 should be fixed so that it has a working version of 
TeX4ht, but at the time I discovered the problem researching it on the 
internet seemed to suggest it was not a particularly high priority thing 
to the MikTeX developers. May be things have changed and there might be 
a fixed version, if anyone knows there is then please mention it.

Michael Whapples
On 08/06/2013 10:22, Jonathan Godfrey wrote:
> Shalini,
>
> Choice of editor is mostly a personal one.
>
> I've used TexEd, then WinEDT, then plain old notepad, my own editor written
> in Python, TeXnicCenter and back to notepad.
>
> Each has its advantages. On balance, I would recommend TexnicCenter to a
> novice LaTeX user and have just done so for my new PhD student. Mywife has
> also started learning LaTex but because she is using it for non-scientific
> work she is using notepad for minor editing following use of her BrailleNote
> for writng everything up.
>
> If you choose TeXnicCenter, then you'll need to optimise it for use with
> your screen reader. There is a specific option to set.
>
> The editor is just one part of the installation though. You will need to
> have the engine that converts the raw LaTeX document into the final document
> for sighted readers. Most windows users work with MikTex and I've seen
> recommendations that say to use version 2.8 and not the 2.9 that is
> available. I've been waiting for this advice to be withdrawn. I can't see
> any point in testing it eigher as 2.8 works well. Note also that the editor
> that is installed with MikTex, called TexWorks does not work well with
> screen readers. Many of our postgraduate students use this editor but each
> time I open it (by mistake) I'm left without sound.
>
> For those that are wondering why I use Notepad: Well its probably because my
> typing is faster than my use of menus - most of the time. I also tend to use
> batch files to process the files rather than the menus and hot keys. It's a
> question of efficiency. For me that means some old school techniques. If I
> was starting out with LaTeX today, I'm sure I'd work differently.
>
> Jonathan
> Btw: NZ 23, France 13 final score.
>
> ----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Shalini
> Menon
> Sent: Friday, 7 June 2013 11:11 p.m.
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: [Blindmath] LaTeX
>
> Hello!
>
> I'm just about to get started with LaTeX, but I'm not sure which editor
> would work best with Jaws. Is there anything else I would need to download
> before creating a LaTeX document?
>
> Thanks a lot,
> Shalini
>
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