[Using Sakai] [WG: Accessibility] Fwd: fMath or MathJax? Why I'm thinking MathJax...

[Mark J. Norton]

MathML is a WC3 extension to HTML5.  As such, it is likely to get a lot 
of attention from screen readers now and going forward, since it is the 
emerging standard.  LaTeX has some advantages, being the Math 
description language used by Moodle, for example, but I think it's a bit 
dated at this point.

 >  Math and scientific notation is a real frontier of web accessibility 
right now, and tough problem to solve* on and off-line.

Hardly a new area of research.  Accessibility support for mathematics 
has been around longer than the web.  There is, for example, an 
extension to Braille for math.  Still, it is a challenge, as Matt mentions.

Lack of support for screen readers is a big red mark against any CLE 
math plugin, IMO.

- mark

On 7/8/2013 10:25 AM, Neal Caidin wrote:
> [Looping back in sakai-dev and sakai-user ]
>
> See below for comments on fMath and MathJax wrt Accessibility and performance.
>
> -- Neal
>
>
> On Jul 8, 2013, at 9:18 AM, Matt Clare <Matt.Clare at BrockU.CA> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> 	MathJax is a display library with a very good reputation, especially around accessibility.  MathJax's implementation allows users of a screen reader to navigate through a formula.
>>
>> 	If Samigo adopts MathJax it gets a great math and scientific notation display tool.  If Samigo drops fMath it loses a math editor.
>>
>> 	My colleague Michael Brousseau (CC'd) is the feature requester for MathJax being implemented across the CLE and we've been experimenting with implementing it locally https://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/SAK-22384 via a site theme.
>>
>> 	MathJax's biggest limitation is it needs to parse the whole page for either MathML or LaTeX on every page load.  This is why we are adding it to an optional site theme, not just across the whole system.  Adding it to Samigo would be very welcome from our perspective.
>>
>> 	fMath is both a way to display math formulas and an editor for input.  We don't use it locally and have simply assumed that instructors would prefer to author equations in more sophisticated tools and copy the MathML or LaTeX output into Samigo.  The second assumption we've made is that JavaScript is preferable over Flash in almost all cases.
>>
>> 	It can't definitively speak to the screen reader support of fMath, but it does not work with the NVDA reader.  fMath's copying and zooming features would be a pragmatic way to make the tool *more* accessible to those poorly sighted, but not to those with no sight or those that need the reader for cognitive reasons.
>>
>> 	Math and scientific notation is a real frontier of web accessibility right now, and tough problem to solve* on and off-line.
>>
>> 	I'll add for context, MathML is much more like HTML and is supported natively by Firefox and generally by the Mozilla foundation, but IE requires a plugin and the other browsers ignore it.  LaTeX was here first, and often favoured by those working since and math  (that aren't also web devs) because of its ubiquity.  MathML has merit, LaTex is hard to dethrone.
>>
>> 	Those are our assumptions and experiences,
>>
>> 	.\.\att
>> 	
>>
>> * Pun intended, but not that funny.
>>
>>
>> ::  Matt Clare
>> Manager, eLearning
>> Centre for Pedagogical Innovation
>> Part-time Instructor
>> Interactive Arts and Sciences
>> Brock University, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada
>> http://brocku.ca/pedagogical-innovation    905 688 5550 xt 4539   Office: SBH321
>>
>> Isaak/Sakai Question? Contact edtech at brocku.ca or visit http://kumu.brocku.ca/sakai/FAQ
>>
>> On 2013-07-08, at 7:48 AM, Neal Caidin <neal.caidin at apereo.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Accessibility group,
>>>
>>> Is anyone familiar with Accessibility friendliness of fMath (currently in Sakai CLE 2.9) and MathJax (being considered by the Samigo team)?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Neal Caidin
>>>
>>> Sakai CLE Community Coordinator
>>>
>>>
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>
>>>> From: "Mark J. Norton" <markjnorton at earthlink.net>
>>>> Subject: Re: [Using Sakai] fMath or MathJax? Why I'm thinking MathJax...
>>>> Date: July 8, 2013 7:39:10 AM EDT
>>>> To: sakai-user at collab.sakaiproject.org
>>>>
>>>> On 7/5/2013 4:16 PM, Keli Sato Amann wrote:
>>>>> fMath is a Flash plug-in for CKEditor. It brings up a WYSIWYG editor that lets you create an image of your equation
>>>> I wonder how accessible this is.  Modern screen readers have support for
>>>> reading MathML expressions, but they have a hard time with images,
>>>> unless the alt text was VERY detailed.
>>>>
>>>> - Mark
>>>>
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