[Blindmath] Reading LaTeX source

[Tim Arnold]

Hi Ken,
I think making a command-line application to convert most LaTeX documents
to HTML+MathML(w/MathJax) and that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac is the
long-term goal.
There are a lot of parts to the system, so it will take some packaging
expertise and a custom installer (I'm thinking of using conda).

I didn't think of a REST interface, but that certainly could be done.
However, the user would have to send a POST to the server that contains the
LaTeX content. I didn't think there would be much use for that except among
programmers. Is that what you meant? I guess that POST could be in JSON
format and could specify the desired type of output. I'm interested to
learn more about how this could be useful.

I see a few people did try it out after Jonathan's announcement; most
succeeded, but a couple failed.
What I'm trying to do now is to make the converter generally useful so we
don't see very many failures.

thanks for checking it out.
--Tim


On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 6:40 AM, Ken Perry via Blindmath <
blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Are you guys thinking of making a library that people can package with a
> device so they don't have to be on line.  It could still use html or js or
> anything just so it's off line.  Failing that are you thinking of having a
> rest client for people who need this in their applications and don't mind
> being on line.
>
> Ken
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> Godfrey,
> Jonathan via Blindmath
> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2015 5:34 PM
> To: Bill Dengler (Windows 7 on Retina macBook Pro); Blind Math list for
> those interested in mathematics
> Subject: [Blindmath] Reading LaTeX source
>
> Hello all,
>
> Bill's message about reading LaTeX or versions of it come up fairly
> regularly on this list.
>
> Last year, I asked who would be interested in helping me do something about
> the problem and I received a couple of offers of assistance. I wanted to
> convert LaTeX source into much more readable HTML. I wanted a solution that
> was useful by anyone, not just the geeks out there. Tim Arnold came up with
> a solution that was more expansive than I had imagined. He wanted a web
> interface available to all whereas my focus was on the needs of blind
> individuals. Being a webpage, the solution is not restricted to anyone so
> is
> available to Disability Support Service staff and sighted academics as
> well.
>
> Ultimately, I encouraged Tim to go with his proposal and have helped test
> his developments over the last six months or so. My usefulness as his sole
> tester has run its course and we now need more users to try out the
> conversion tool that he has created.
>
> Bill and others should Go to
> http://convertlatex.com/
> where you can upload a tex file and have it converted to HTML with
> equations
> in three different formats: plain MathML, using MathJax, and graphics with
> alt tags that are the mathematical expressions written out in the original
> LaTeX.
>
> I'm very happy receiving the feedback to your experimentation (off-list is
> probably preferred) and you can also contact Tim from the web page itself.
>
> We do know of some limitations. Processing bibtex references for example
> and
> handling graphics. A shopping list of our needs is already in existence and
> the want list is there too. I wanted to know exactly what was written out
> as
> the mathematical expressions while others will want to use MathPlayer, but
> is there another representation that people would like?
>
> Please, if you do nothing else, look at the page and give thanks to someone
> that has used his time and energy to help our community.
>
> Thank you Tim for your efforts,
> Jonathan
>
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