[Blindmath] IOS7 and math support

Mon Oct 7 08:52:10 UTC 2013

I don't know anything about how accessibility in iBooks works so can't offer
any help other than to say that if there are some rules to follow that would
make it work then I'd be happy to integrate them into my class.

Unfortunately, I find producing ePub3 for iBooks somewhat hit and miss.
I would really like some tool like firebug where I could tweak things on the
device and see the effects in real time.  Continually editing and reloading
the file takes too long to be practical.  If there were some proper guide then
that would help matters considerably.

Andrew

On Sun, Oct 06, 2013 at 11:32:19PM +0100, Michael Whapples wrote:
> I have only looked at the second ePub, wanting something shorter.
> Unfortunately that does not seem to yield math accessibility like I
> was able to experience in safari (IE. no Nemeth, no exploring of
> equations, etc, about all VoiceOver was finding was a few
> characters).
> 
> That second one was very much matrices so that is why I specified it
> was only the second one I tried. However my feeling is that may be
> there will not be the same accessibility as the content control for
> showing the book page in IBooks does not have the same sort of
> navigation with VoiceOver as one has in safari.
> 
> I have sent an email to Apple accessibility asking whether the maths
> accessibility does extend to other apps such as IBooks, I await
> their reply.
> 
> It will be a shame if IBooks really does not have the same math
> accessibility as I have found in safari, iBooks might have been a
> platform which authors/publishers might have been willing to use to
> make books accessible.
> 
> Michael Whapples
> On 06/10/2013 21:05, Andrew Stacey wrote:
> >I have some ePub3s with MathML in them if anyone would like to use them to try
> >out iBooks' accessibility.
> >
> >This one is quite long, and the maths is graduate-level:
> >
> >http://www.math.ntnu.no/~stacey/documents/diffloop.epub
> >
> >This one is about quaternions (aimed at graphical programmers):
> >
> >http://www.math.ntnu.no/~stacey/documents/Quaternion.epub
> >
> >This one is about shaders in OpenGL programming (but still has some maths in
> >it):
> >
> >http://www.math.ntnu.no/~stacey/documents/Shaders.epub
> >
> >I create these from LaTeX source using a class that I've developed for
> >converting LaTeX documents into XHTML or ePub3 so I can make webpages, PDFs,
> >and ePub3s from the same source code.  The fact that iBooks has (some) support
> >for MathML was one of the reasons why I developed this.
> >
> >Andrew Stacey
> >
> >On Sat, Oct 05, 2013 at 08:08:40PM +0100, Michael Whapples wrote:
> >>If you have an ePub with MathML, then I believe you can just load
> >>that into IBooks. Load it into IBooks either by using iTunes data
> >>sharing or may be simpler attach it to an email and send it to
> >>yourself, and open the attachment using the IOS device and use the
> >>button for "Open in IBooks".
> >>
> >>Unfortunately I do not have an ePub with MathML content to try this,
> >>but I do hope that the math support extends to IBooks and that
> >>authors do use MathML when inserting math into ePub files.
> >>
> >>Michael Whapples
> >>On 05/10/2013 19:47, Kevin Fjelsted wrote:
> >>>Are there any iBook EPub applications that we can see as samples for Nemeth presentation on IOS?
> >>>
> >>>-Kevin
> >>>
> >>>On Oct 5, 2013, at 1:13 PM, Ed Summers <Ed.Summers at sas.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>Neil, The math on that page did not display correctly on my iPad running iOS 7.0.2.
> >>>>
> >>>>I believe iOS7 does a good job with presentation MathML in Safari and iBooks. Check out this very simple test page from W3C:
> >>>>http://www.w3.org/Math/XSL/pmathml2.xml
> >>>>
> >>>>There are a few features of this new support that should be noted:
> >>>>
> >>>>It is a multimodal experience that supports Nemeth, spoken math, and  support for low vision users. This support is tightly integrated so a user can read with their fingers, eyes and ears at the same time. I think there are two very powerful consequences:
> >>>>1 - it is an easy way to learn Nemeth code.
> >>>>2 - it is a nice way for a sighted general ed math teacher to work with students with visual impairments, i.e. the general ed math teacher does not have to know the Nemeth code.
> >>>>
> >>>>To see this behavior in action:
> >>>>Turn on Voiceover on your iOS device.
> >>>>Connect a braille display.
> >>>>Open the url above in Safari.
> >>>>Move the VO cursor to an equation on that page.
> >>>>Observe that VO reads the equation using speech and displays it on the braille display.
> >>>>Play with the rotor and note that you can read the equation by symbol, small expresions, large expressions, etc.
> >>>>Activate the equation with a double tap, 3-6-chord, etc and view the equation in full screen mode.
> >>>>Move through the equation using the VO cursor and drill down on an expression or term to view it alone in full screen mode.
> >>>>
> >>>>Best,
> >>>>Ed
> >>>>Sent from my iPad
> >>>>
> >>>>On Oct 5, 2013, at 11:47 AM, "Neil Soiffer" <NeilS at dessci.com<mailto:NeilS at dessci.com>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>If you want some simple math to try out, take a look at the site
> >>>>onemathematicalcat.org<http://onemathematicalcat.org>.  It has alg 1, alg 2, and geometry.  Susan said she
> >>>>had problems there but she had IOS 7 problems.  Hopefully others will have
> >>>>more success.  Here's a sample page with some simple fractions and powers:
> >>>>http://www.onemathematicalcat.org/algebra_book/online_problems/el_recip.htm
> >>>>
> >>>>Neil Soiffer
> >>>>Senior Scientist
> >>>>Design Science, Inc.
> >>>>www.dessci.com<http://www.dessci.com>
> >>>>~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~
> >>>>_______________________________________________
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> >>>>
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> >>
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