[BlindMath] Tutorial on Using RMarkdown?

Wed Jan 12 14:36:03 UTC 2022

Hello Jonathan,
Thank you, that, coupled with the earlier guide helped me get up and
running! My instructors had heard of R being run from the commandline, but
knew little more than it could be done.
Couple questions:
1. Tables in in HTML from RMarkdown are not using the <table> element for
some reason. I rendered a dataframe, and it gave me an ugly text only table.
2. I saw the VI command to render textual output, is there a another way to
explore data, possibly through sonification?
3. I didn't install R Studio, I think I just installed R. DO I need RStudio
for anything?
4. Do you think it would be possible to update the article:
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045612413-RStudio-Screen-Reader-Support#:~:text=After%20tabbing%20to%20find%20%E2%80%9CReload,Help%20%2F%20Accessibility%20%2F%20Accessibility%20Options%E2%80%A6
About using R on the command line or if RStudio Cloud is accessible? That's
the article I get when googling RStudio with a screen reader.
Thanks,

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

On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 8:18 PM Jonathan Godfrey via BlindMath <
blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hello Brandon,
>
> I'm writing this assuming less knowledge than I know you have just in case
> it helps others get started.
>
> RStudio is not accessible, but all tasks that your classmates do in
> RStudio can be replicated by you in R. It won't matter if you are using the
> GUI or the terminal version, the choice over which is a personal preference
> determined by your screen reader, whether you use a braille display,  and
> your skills with that combination.
>
> An R markdown file is  just plain text, editable using any text editor,
> even Notepad. It reads well in braille, especially 8 dot computer braille
> (my preference) which caters to the variety of brackets and other symbols
> as well as managing upper and lower case (crucial in R) well.
>
> It does get compiled into HTML by RStudio, which in turn uses various R
> packages and Pandoc in the background. The "knit" button used in RStudio
> just calls an R command: `rmarkdown::render("<MyFile.Rmd">)`
>
> Assuming your Rmd file is in the working directory (check using `getwd()`
> and list.files(pattern="Rmd")` at the R prompt) you use the render()
> command above to process the Rmd file (use the proper filename instead of
> <MyFile.Rmd> of course).
>
> A bunch of output will come into the R session window as the processing
> proceeds. Most of it is noise, but if the job gets done properly, the last
> line will tell you the name of the file you created. It should be the name
> of your Rmd file with "Rmd" replaced with "html".
>
> Open that html file in a browser. You could keep it open as you update the
> Rmd file. Inevitably you will need to update your work, fix mistakes (yes
> we all make them) and add your thoughts etc. The process we follow to
> replace the RStudio experience is:
>
> 1. Update and save the Rmd file.
> 2. Render the Rmd file in R.
> 3. Open or refresh the browser.
> 4. Repeat 1-3 until completion of your work.
>
> An RStudio user has multiple windows open on screen at the same time so
> they can see everything at once. Even if RStudio was accessible, you'd
> still have to cycle between windows for input and output with your screen
> reader to complete your work. The only additional pain for a screen reader
> user is to open the files and to quickly move around them. This is why I
> mention the skill level with screen readers and braille displays back at
> the outset. Rather unfortunately, far too many of the people who rely on
> screen readers are not using their tools to their full potential; I might
> even include myself in that criticism. Even novice screen reader users seem
> to gain skills in basic navigation of a webpage which makes the Rmd to HTML
> process really appealing even if the work required to get there feels
> burdensome.
>
> You can improve the experience with the output file by using standard
> markdown formatting practices. I use plenty of headings in my work so that
> I can jump around easily. I refresh my output html file and jump backwards
> from the top to get to the bottom quickly.
>
> Aside from the above, I expect all other assistance in learning R markdown
> should come from your course staff. Most people forcing students to use R
> markdown are doing so because we use it ourselves. Our work is therefore
> accessible to all students by default, certainly more so than it was using
> older LaTeX based workflows. There really does not need to be a tutorial
> for learning R markdown targeted at blind users beyond the above work
> arounds for RStudio.
>
> Feel free to ask more questions as required.
> Jonathan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Brandon Keith
> Biggs via BlindMath
> Sent: Wednesday, 12 January 2022 10:03 AM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <
> blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonkeithbiggs at gmail.com>
> Subject: [BlindMath] Tutorial on Using RMarkdown?
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone has any tutorials on how to use RMarkdown on the
> command line, with pandoc, or in some other accessible fashion?
>
> My class requires all assignments to be compiled to HTML from RMarkdown,
> but they're using R Studio which is not super accessible.
>
> I installed R, but it wasn't added to my path, and there's little
> documentation on how the different exe applications in the R bin work.
>
> I'm on Windows 10.
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs <
> https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbrandonkeithbiggs.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ca.j.godfrey%40massey.ac.nz%7Ce56472d29e0f4627c47608d9d545fbf7%7C388728e1bbd0437898dcf8682e644300%7C1%7C0%7C637775318835863145%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000&sdata=Sd%2By%2FxxocnefIHD52KH%2Beucp0zI5AP2br5SIeKF8AQE%3D&reserved=0
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