[BlindMath] Bookmarked PDFs

[Susan Kelmer]

PDFs are simply a display medium.  And while you can produce them with some formatting and bookmarks, the math will never be accessible because it is an image, and even with good OCR, the OCR output doesn't know how to format math for reading by someone using a screen reader.

And even if the book was originally written and formatted as a LaTex document, it doesn’t mean that the math was actually presented properly, but perhaps you could ask the publisher for the original Latex, if there is one?  

This is why people like me still have a job.  Publishers are producing PDFs, and if I'm producing files for a blind student, I must turn them into something usable by a screen reader.  Generally, I'm using Word with MathType and outputting as HTML/MathML and/or Braille, because MathType still doesn't render Latex.  I wish they'd get that fixed, it would save me a billion steps in trying to produce a Latex file from very good quality Word with MathType files.


Susan Kelmer 
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
Health and Wellness Services
T 303 735 4836
www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices 




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-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Lucas Nadolskis via BlindMath
Sent: Wednesday, February 1, 2023 3:08 PM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lucas Nadolskis <nadol012 at umn.edu>
Subject: [BlindMath] Bookmarked PDFs

Hello all.

I have been trying to access some books that are quite heavy on math.
I have found them on Bookshare, but the math content is not properly formatted, which in this specific case makes a lot of difference.

I then reached out to the publisher, who  sent me the bookmarked PDF of the book.

However, the math in the book is still beyond the reach of Jaws, VO or braille notetakers.

My  next step would be writing to the author, but considering how old the book is, I don’t have a whole lot of hope on this front.

I know this is a persistent issue, and I have emailed a couple of times in this list about it.
But I am wonder why PDFs, even those generated on LaTeX, are not accessible as far as math is concern.

I have used mathML and math type with fantastic results. However, unfortunately I still need to deal a lot with PDFs, and I can’t find a solution for that.

Thank you very much for any assistance.

Kind regards.

Lucas Nadolskis.


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