Hello Axel and all, my answers/comments are below marked with JAG
John

At 02:13 PM 1/27/2004, Schmetzke, Axel wrote:
>I have several questions pertaining to this discussion thread.
>
>1. What would be a good mathML authoring tool? (I found a downloadable
>version of EzMath on the web, but it appears to be an out-of-date
>experimental version.)

JAG: Most people will probably use MS Word and MathType, the big brother of
the equation editor bundled with Word and also made by Design
Science.  Academic price is $99, and many universities probably have site
licenses.  The "export as math page" item in the MathType menu saves the
math as mathML and text as excellent HTML 0- much better than the MS "save
as web page".  Most other math authoring applications will be competing
soon if they aren't already.  WebEq is one direct web equation authoring
tool I know, because it now belongs to Design Science.  None are accessible
to me yet though.


>2. What other accessible alternatives are there if web-browser
>readability is not a requirement? Technique 8.2.2 on the NCAM-WGBH site
>suggests the use of MAVIS to convert LaTeX into Nemeth Code (math
>Braille). Is this still considered to be a viable solution?

JAG: Unfortunately MAVIS never reached market, though some people continue
to use old betas.  Duxbury licensed portions of the MAVIS technology
and can convert from Scientific Notebook I believe.  I keep pleading for
Tiger users to at least try DotsPlus math - which can be printed directly
from Word and MathType files with nothing more than a font conversion.  Not
many blind people are using DotsPlus math, but the ones who do are wildly
enthusiastic.  And it's just so easy.

>3. What would be a good up-to-date article that discusses the options
>available to someone wishing to create accessible electronic math and
>science documents and that I could recommend, as introductory reading,
>to this math professor?

JAG: I am not aware of any general intoductory article on "standard
methods", because almost anything would make a math professor's eyes glaze
over.  I have a web article describing how to make math accessible using
the new technologies developed in my lab.  Written for ordinary faculty
members.
http://dots.physics.orst.edu/~gardner/ScienceEd.html


John A. Gardner
Professor and Director, Science Access Project
Department of Physics
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331
tel: (541) 737 3278
FAX: (541) 737 1683
        SAP URL: http://dots.physics.orst.edu/

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