[Blindmath] latex beginner questions

[Godfrey, Jonathan]

Hi,

Others are bound to chime in but I'll answer a few of your questions.


I've been contemplating learning LaTeX. The separation of content and formatting sounds appealing especially for blind users.
[AJRG] agreed. The fact that the source is plain text is a major plus for many of us.

1. Which distributions come with accessible editors for windows?
Pass. I haven't used any of these editors for years. I've used TexNikCenter on occasion but haven't for some time. 

2. How do you deal with large tables, for e.g 8x10 cell tables? It is easy to navigate by column or row and edit individual cells in a wysiwyg editor like microsoft word. Is there a way to do this in latex, or is it not suited for doing frequent modifications to large tables?
[AJRG] not suited. One might ask why you would want such tables, but if there is a need then there needs to be a solution. I used to keep a copy in csv format and then use a macro to add in all the necessary LaTeX markup. I haven't needed to for years because all the tables I generate come out of software that can generate those tables in LaTeX marked up form.

3. Are there accessible editors that allow you to switch quickly between reading the source document and reading how the document is rendered?
[AJRG] Nothing available that is comprehensive and freeware.

4. Is there a way of avoiding enclosing all mathematical expressions with $ signs? It would be easier to read without the enclosing $ signs.
[AJRG] If it is an inline expression then the dollars are it. If it is the double dollared form to get an equation on its own line (without equation number) then you'd have options, all of which are more verbose than $$.

5. How difficult would it be to use latex for generating drawings? (for the most part of trees and graphs).
[AJRG] There are numerous add-on packages for LaTeX. I used one for drawing node and edge diagrams that has been overshadowed by a variety of others. Most of them are painful to use though as you wn't necessarily know what you're getting as the picture. If I had to draw one today, I'd be looking at using alternative software to generate the diagram for me in a suitable graphic file for insertion into the LaTeX document.

6. Does anyone have any experience with lightweight markup languages like AsciiDoc, and how they compare with LaTeX? Its goal seems to also be to allow the writer to focus on the content.
[AJRG] I use markdown a lot. I think it is simpler than the alternatives, but simplicity comes at a price. A markdown document won't handle all the same things you can do in LaTeX unless you include the same LaTeX tags in the markdown document and convert it to pdf which uses the pdflatex compiler anyway. I revert to LaTeX as soon as I need anything fancy even if I know there is a solution out there for doing it in markdown because I know LaTeX well. In brief, markdown for small jobs, LaTeX for professional jobs.

[AJRG] Cheers,
Jonathan

-Vic


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