[nfbcs] latex benefits

Wed Jan 25 04:37:40 UTC 2017

There is not an easy way to get from LaTex to an output that works well with
screen readers, at least not in my experience. Once in PDF form, you would
need to find a way to get it back into word or whatever you wanted to use.
There are several ways to do this:
1. Copy and paste the text (not a good idea)
2. If you have a gmail account, send the file to yourself and open it on the
internet where the attachment will also be available as HTML
3. Buy Adobe Acrobat and save it as another format
4. Use JAWS to ocr the entire document (loses formatting)
5. Find one of the online services that converts PDF's to other formats
Perhaps I missed something, but, if you want something that a screen reader
can read and/or in another format other than PDF, why are you using LaTeX?

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Doug Lee via
nfbcs
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2017 8:14 PM
To: Christopher Chaltain via nfbcs
Cc: Doug Lee
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] latex benefits

Perhaps an ironic question, but a fair one nonetheless...

In my experience, pdflatex generates screenreader-readable text, but with
the following problems. Any known way to address these?

1. No PDF tags: Accessible PDF documents should have tags that indicate how
assistive technology should render them.

2. Ligature issues: Ligatures generate as low-numbered font characters that
JAWS, at least, can call other things. For example, in a document I just now
generated, "fi" in the word "figure" generates as character 12, which JAWS
calls a space. "ff" in "different" generates as character 11, which JAWS
calls "vertical tab." (For anyone who doesn't know, a ligature is a single
character that represents two print characters in a more visually pleasing
manner. Another common example is "ae.")

On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 09:02:52PM -0600, NFBCS mailing list wrote:
When sharing a LaTeX file, I usually generate a PDF file and distribute
that.
That's what I do with my resume for example.

I haven't found a tool that does a good job converting a .tex file into a
.doc file that you can then update in Word though.

On 24/01/17 20:23, Ryan Mann via nfbcs wrote:
>If you wanted to distribute a Latex document to somebody who uses Microsoft
Word, would it be difficult?  When I checked years ago, it seemed like it
would be.
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
>>On Jan 24, 2017, at 6:42 PM, Greg Kearney via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
>>
>>LaTex is a complex document processing and typesetting application that is
uniquely suited for blind users in my opinion. While the learning curve is
steep the results you will get out of LaTex and it's parent TeX are without
equal in quality.
>>
>>It is perfectly possible to generate database diagrams, math expression or
even music scores in LaTeX/TeX. There are addin modules to do all that and
more. IT is suited for blind users because it is a code based system in
which one composes the work in a text editor and then processes the code to
generate the PDF typeset file.
>>
>>I have used LaTex since the 1970's and it has never failed me yet. HArd to
learn but well worth the effort.
>>
>>Greg Kearney
>>>On Jan 24, 2017, at 3:32 PM, Andy B. via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>Someone recommended that I should start using latex. Is this true, 
>>>and if so, what are the benefits?
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
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--
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail

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-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
SSB BART Group           doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com
http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
Snowmen fall from heaven, unassembled.
--anon

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