[Athen] MathType Alternative?

[George Kerscher]

Hello,
 
Passing this along from Neil Soiffer:
I haven't been keeping up with MathType. I have an old MathType 6.9 copy from before they went with the rental model. The problem with MathType which I don't think has been fixed (but I don't know for certain), is that the editor itself is not accessible. However, if someone prepares material with it, the result is accessible (but not easily edited). There is the problem of UIA vs MSAA:  depending on the version of Word and NVDA, one may need to change the UIA settings in NVDA to get the math to read. MathType uses MSAA and the Word editor uses UIA.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Best
George
 
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of foreigntype at gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 10:38 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] MathType Alternative?
 
My apologies to all for the mix up and what turned out to be misleading information. Thank you to all who have corrected me for our greater audience and everyone's benefit.
 
Wink Harner 
 
On Tue, Sep 12, 2023, 6:44 PM Cervone, Gian Carlo (gcervone) <gcervone at brockport.edu <mailto:gcervone at brockport.edu> > wrote:
Hello:

Here is some information from the developer of MathJax:


> Michael Cantino is correct, MathJax does not rely on MathType in any way (and never did).  MathJax will insert visually hidden MathML into the page where screen readers like NVDA, JAWS, Orca, and VoiceOver can find it and use that for voicing the mathematics, if they know how to do so.  Some of these tools use MathCAT to do that translation, but that is up to the screen reader, and is unrelated to MathJax itself.

> 

> MathJax can also produce its own translation of the math into a speech string and add ARIA attributes that can be read directly by screen readers, even those that don't have the ability to understand MathML.  MathJax has an equation explorer where users can "set into" an expression and have smaller pieces of it read one at a time, so that a user can move around within the expression to read it at their own pace and level of granularity.  There are several voicing possible (MathSpeak, Clearspeak, and ChromeVox), and the speech has been localized into a dozen languages, plus Nemeth Braille, which can be sent to a Braille device for interactive reading.

> 

> In versions 2 and 3 of MathJax, the interactive explorer and speech generation must be turned on by the reader using the MathJax contextual menu (available by right-click or command-click on any typeset expression), but in the upcoming version 4 (now out in beta release), the assistive tools will be turned on by default (and the old hidden MathML will no longer be inserted, though you can turn that back on via the contextual menu if you wish, or via the MathJax configuration that is part of the page).  The explorer in v4 is an improved version of the original, and should interact with screen readers more fluidly (the next beta version should include most of these improvements).

> 

> The original question seemed to be about creating the equations.  MathJax does not provide an editor for creating mathematical expression (it is only for display and voicing), but there are many such editors on line.  MathJax can accept expressions in any of three different forms:  LaTeX, MathML, or AsciiMath.  Many mathematical editors can produce LaTeX or MathML formats (e.g., the Word expression editor can output either form, if I recall correctly), and you can past these into a web page and MathJax will be able to render them.  Nothing special needs to be done to make them accessible -- MathJax will take care of that for you.  LaTeX is a human-readable form that many mathematicians already know, so you can certainly use that without any special mathematical editor, as it is just linear text that describes the math layout that MathJax will produce (e.g., $$x = \frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$$ should be easily enough entered into the web page by a page author) The AasciiMath format is intended for hand authoring as well, so doesn't need a special editor.  MathML is not meant for hand editing, but is used as an interchange format, so programs like Word, Mathematica, and so on, can generate this format, or accept expressions that are in this format.  There are a number of online editors that allow you type a document in Markdown syntax with embedded LaTeX or AsciiMath, and that show a live preview of what you are typing.  Google can help you find these.  




>> On Sep 11, 2023, at 3:06 PM, Michael Cantino <mcantino at nwresd.k12.or.us <mailto:mcantino at nwresd.k12.or.us> > wrote:

>> 

>> Warning: Message from non-Brockport Email Server. Treat message, links, and attachments with extra care.

>> 

>> Hi! 

>> I just wanted to quickly chime in about MathJax and screen reader compatibility. 

>> 

>> To my knowledge, MathJax does not require MathPlayer to make math content accessible to a screen reader, BUT NVDA does require MathPlayer or MathCAT. Basically, NVDA is not able to read math on its own, which is why you need an add-on like MathCAT (which is quite good). JAWS will read MathJax output without MathCAT/MathPlayer. VoiceOver will also read MathJax output, but not as well as JAWS or NVDA w/ MathCAT, at least in my experience.

>> 

>> Michael Cantino (he/him) 

>> BVIS Technology Professional Development Specialist

>> Northwest Regional Education Service District

>> (503)614-1339

>> Check out the BVIS Tech website to find helpful resources!

>> _______________________________________________

>> athen-list mailing list

>> athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu> 

>> http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list


Best,

-= G =-

Gian Carlo Cervone
Web Manager
SUNY Brockport
gcervone at brockport.edu <mailto:gcervone at brockport.edu>  • 585-395-5073





> On Sep 11, 2023, at 3:06 PM, Michael Cantino <mcantino at nwresd.k12.or.us <mailto:mcantino at nwresd.k12.or.us> > wrote:

> 

> Warning: Message from non-Brockport Email Server. Treat message, links, and attachments with extra care.

> 

> Hi! 

> I just wanted to quickly chime in about MathJax and screen reader compatibility. 

> 

> To my knowledge, MathJax does not require MathPlayer to make math content accessible to a screen reader, BUT NVDA does require MathPlayer or MathCAT. Basically, NVDA is not able to read math on its own, which is why you need an add-on like MathCAT (which is quite good). JAWS will read MathJax output without MathCAT/MathPlayer. VoiceOver will also read MathJax output, but not as well as JAWS or NVDA w/ MathCAT, at least in my experience.

> 

> Michael Cantino (he/him) 

> BVIS Technology Professional Development Specialist

> Northwest Regional Education Service District

> (503)614-1339

> Check out the BVIS Tech website to find helpful resources!

> _______________________________________________

> athen-list mailing list

> athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu> 

> http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list


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