[Athen] MathType/MathML questions

[John Gardner]

Susan, LEAN is capable of reading and creating anything expressible in
(Presentation) MathML up to version 3.  In fact, one problem is that it is
somewhat overwhelming for people just beginning simple algebra, so one or
more simplified versions will soon become available.  For now, you have the
Cadillac.  This is no concern if you only need to make those alt tags
though.  If you can write the math equations in MathType, you just need to
select the document, go to the desktop, and click on the LEAN_In icon.  It
then marches through the document adding those alt tags.

 

If you want to change the alt text format, you would open the LEAN_Edit app,
press CTRL_+p to go to its preference menu, and then change the alt text
format.  Then do the LEAN_In trick again.  This is not a difficult process!

 

I have just posted a preprint of a paper I gave earlier this month at the
ICCHP (International Conference on Computers Helping People with special
needs).  It is on the Access2Science web site, and the direct link is:

http://www.access2science.com/mathml/The%20LEAN%20Math%20Accessible%20MathML
%20Editor.htm

The paper is 8 pages long and gives a pretty thorough overview of LEAN.  FYI
LEAN was not written to provide access to reading math, although it does
that.  It was written to give people with print disabilities a fast and
convenient way to write and manipulate math.  And it does that!

 

John

 

 

 

 

From: Susan Kelmer [mailto:Susan.Kelmer at Colorado.EDU] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2014 7:03 AM
To: john.gardner at oregonstate.edu; Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: RE: [Athen] MathType/MathML questions

 

Does this work for higher-level math?  That is what we're dealing with, and
none of us are content experts so I doubt we could write the alt text needed
and make it right.  That is why we are using MathType in the first place.

 

Susan Kelmer

Alternate Format Coordinator

Disability Services

University of Colorado

303-735-4836

 

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of John Gardner
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 6:41 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] MathType/MathML questions

 

Susan, there is a simpler and, in many respects, better solution that might
interest you.  Download

http://www.viewplus.com/downloads/lean/Accessible_Word_MathType_Examples.zip

and have a look at the three Word files in it.  They are identical except
for the MathType alt text.  One has alt text as words (eg a x squared plus b
x plus c equals 0), the other two have Nemeth in the alt text, one using
ASCII font, and the other using Unicode font.  The alt text is accessible
with all screen readers. If your student reads with a braille display, this
is a much better solution than MathPage, because it is braille. And of
course, it is also the original Word document, so your footers and headers
are thre.

 

These were created using my new LEAN Math application.  You can have the
application, now in late beta, if you wish.  

 

John

 

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 8:38 AM
To: dsshe-l at listserv.buffalo.edu; Access Technology Higher Education Network
(athen-list at u.washington.edu)
Subject: [Athen] MathType/MathML questions

 

We are getting a lot of requests for math of late, and this has not been our
strong point in production.  So, we're still in a bit of a learning mode.
We've discovered a few things, and need some help.  

 

When converting to MathPage after editing our Word document using MathType,
we are finding two problems:

a.       We put page number in the header section of word documents as a
matter of routine.  The page numbers disappear in the finalized document,
and we're not sure why.

b.      If we have footnotes (we use the footnote function in Word to create
them), the output to MathPage fails.

 

None of us working on conversions (me or my student staff) are "math
people," so we are doing some struggling but making our way through.  If
someone could help us with these two issues, we'd be grateful!

 

Susan Kelmer

Alternate Format Coordinator

Disability Services

University of Colorado

303-735-4836

 

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