[BlindMath] Accessible PDFs from LaTeX

Thu Jul 30 04:20:40 UTC 2020

Hello,
pandoc -s inputfile.md -o outputfile.html
https://pandoc.org/
This will convert a markdown file to an HTML file. You can also use some
LaTeX, such as math, in Pandoc.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>

On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 6:52 PM Ramana Polavarapu via BlindMath <
blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi Jason, Hi Jonathan,
>
> I truly appreciate both your observations.  All these  days, I have
> been using only LaTeX for my work.  I would like to learn more about
> how to generate HTML through markdown.  Any pointers or tutorials
> where to  start?  Thank you.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Ramana
>
>
> On 7/30/20, White, Jason J via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > I am responding in support of Jonathan's central point that PDF should
> not
> > be assumed to be the desired output format nowadays. Not only, as he
> notes,
> > do some journals publish HTML alongside PDF, but the growing use of
> modern
> > digital publishing formats such as EPUB represents a shift away from
> > fixed-layout, page-based formats, and toward Web-based delivery via HTML
> and
> > CSS.
> >
> > The advantage of PDF is that it captures the exact typography and layout
> of
> > printed pages, just as Postscript did. It can also be viewed on a wide
> > variety of devices (screen displays as well as printers). However,
> Web-based
> > formats are better if you need to optimize the layout for desktop as
> well as
> > mobile reading without creating multiple representations of the document
> -
> > all you need are different style rules for the different display types. I
> > predict that there will be a continuing shift toward Web formats as the
> > primary publication medium.
> > For now, as noted, I simply create parallel HTML and PDF. For my work, I
> > often need features that aren't readily available in Markdown, such as
> > cross-references and greater control over presentation, so I find myself
> > writing documents directly in LaTeX. However, I write some simpler
> documents
> > in Markdown, including presentation slides - converted via Pandoc to
> HTML.
> > Git repositories provide revision control, and makefiles automate the
> > document generation.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Godfrey,
> > Jonathan via BlindMath
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 6:44 PM
> > To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> > <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> > Cc: Godfrey, Jonathan <A.J.Godfrey at massey.ac.nz>
> > Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Accessible PDFs from LaTeX
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > Like Jason, I use HTML as my go-to format for maximising accessibility of
> > the content, including the mathematical stuff.
> >
> > One of the critical points for making anything accessible is the amount
> of
> > extra work required to do so. For many of the people making material
> blind
> > people are expected to use, this is just too hard at present. There are
> > notable exceptions though, including an increasing number of publishers
> that
> > are making their journal articles available in HTML as well as the pdf.
> > Publishers get a great return on their investment in terms of the massive
> > number of pages they process.
> >
> > I used to use LaTeX for most documents; I wrote my doctoral thesis and
> many
> > other long documents and several journal articles using LaTeX. The only
> > documents I use LaTeX for today though are done this way because I'm
> still
> > using content created ten years ago in one form or another. I am
> converting
> > the more useful content from back then into more-friendly markdown to
> align
> > with how I do my work today.
> >
> > There are a few things I loved about using LaTeX that aren't particularly
> > easy in markdown, but they are the last 5% of a document. The effort
> > required on the first 95% of content is considerably easier to create in
> > markdown as compared to LaTeX.
> >
> > I can still create the pdf from my markdown source because that
> processing
> > is done via conversion to a *.tex file first. I could of course just
> convert
> > to word or html and print to pdf from there, but the reasons why people
> > wanted pdf in the first place apply to HTML too, with one exception. Many
> > pdf files were created so that people could not tamper with the content
> or
> > the presentation. It is possible to tamper if the user has the right
> tools
> > of course, but the basic consumer isn't going to do that. The same is
> true
> > for HTML which is consumed via a browser and cannot be edited without
> use of
> > a tool (sometimes part of the browser) to view and alter the HTML source.
> > The consumer does have quite a bit of power to re-present the content in
> a
> > form that suits them with font size and full screen viewing being the two
> > things sighted people in my world like to be doing.
> >
> > So, Bert's question is important to keep tabs on, but we should also be
> > asking why a format like the pdf (even if tagged) is actually what we
> want
> > in the end. I accept that might be the case, but is that because we are
> > asked to make a choice about which singular format the world wants to
> have;
> > we might say tagged pdf, but the implication is that we cannot have
> multiple
> > formats. The ability to produce multiple formats was a hard problem ten
> > years ago; I suggest that it is much less so today.
> >
> > Jonathan
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of White,
> Jason J
> > via BlindMath
> > Sent: Thursday, 30 July 2020 12:50 AM
> > To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> > <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> > Cc: White, Jason J <jjwhite at ets.org>; Bert Van Landeghem
> > <b.vanlandeghem at sheffield.ac.uk>
> > Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Accessible PDFs from LaTeX
> >
> > To the best of my knowledge, these packages are rather experimental at
> the
> > moment and require explicit manual tagging of the content using LaTeX
> macros
> > that generate the PDF structure tree. There's a mailing list, and
> packages
> > are under development, but they aren't at the point of working on typical
> > LaTeX documents without a lot of extra work on the author's part.
> >
> > What I normally do as a pragmatic solution is to generate an HTML version
> > alongside the PDF, using packages such as lwarp or TeX4HT. I take the
> view
> > that HTML of reasonable quality is more accessible, on more platforms and
> > devices, than tagged PDF is. My testing indicates that only users of
> Adobe
> > Reader under Windows would benefit from PDF tagging anyway at the moment,
> > and that it's simply ignored by other PDF readers. So, unless you're
> writing
> > for a publication that insists on receiving tagged PDF, I would recommend
> > generating HTML as your accessible format. For example, you can write a
> > makefile that keeps both the PDF and HTML versions up to date.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Bert Van
> > Landeghem via BlindMath
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 6:24 AM
> > To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> > Cc: Bert Van Landeghem <b.vanlandeghem at sheffield.ac.uk>
> > Subject: [BlindMath] Accessible PDFs from LaTeX
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> >
> >
> > The content of a LateX document can be read with a braille display and
> > allows screenreader users to access the mathematical content. However,
> the
> > compiled output (such as PDFs) are generally not accessible if no special
> > attention is given to the issue. We then first think about the formulae
> > which cannot be read with a braille display, but these PDFs are also not
> > tagged at least if you use the standard packages. I know that a lot has
> > happened over the last years in this field, and that several packages are
> > available to tag PDFs and to make formulae accessible in PDFs and other
> > output formats. The only problem is that I do not find a comprehensive
> > overview of the state-of-the-art. Could somebody point me to the most
> > reliable and comprehensive packages that are available in this field to
> > date?
> >
> >
> >
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Bert
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> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain privileged or
> > confidential information. It is solely for use by the individual for
> whom it
> > is intended, even if addressed incorrectly. If you received this e-mail
> in
> > error, please notify the sender; do not disclose, copy, distribute, or
> take
> > any action in reliance on the contents of this information; and delete it
> > from your system. Any other use of this e-mail is prohibited.
> >
> >
> > Thank you for your compliance.
> >
> > ________________________________
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