RE: MathML - and action 1494.

An extreme +1 to Rich here.

Please note that I was also tasked, within the HTML5-a11y TF, to provide
feedback on MathML (ref: @longdesc), and I forwarded the following email to
that group May 24, 2014:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-a11y/2014May/0090.html


	"I contacted 2 well-respected accessibility experts, Sean Keegan
(Stanford
University & President of ATHEN - Access Technology Higher Education
Network) and Greg Kraus (North Carolina State University) to solicit from
them the current state of accessibility support for MathML. Both men are
known to be involved specifically with accessibility issues related to
MathML.

	Both respondents noted that overall, support for MathML in browsers,
and in
combination with Assistive Technology is far from robust. Both were in
agreement that moving forward, using (and anticipating continued improvement
for MathML support) was the correct response; however both also noted that
today using MathML alone does not provide the support to their students that
they are legally required to provide, and both institutions are using a
combination of MathML and external (non-html) content to provide that
support."

JF

*************

From: Richard Schwerdtfeger [mailto:schwer@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2014 5:07 AM
To: James Craig; cooper@w3.org; Janina Sajka <janina@rednote.net>
(janina@rednote.net)
Cc: PF
Subject: MathML - and action 1494.

I am reading through the minutes and saw that action 1494 was created about
recommending that MathML be used over the Math role.

I have to tell you that the solution to putting this text in the ARIA spec.
was far too simplistic and rather irresponsible for us. Here is why:

1. MathML is rendered in very few browsers so telling authors they should
use MathML over a Math image having a Math role makes us look naive.
2. Very few assistive technologies support MathML. In fact the feature that
allowed Design Science to hook in and read math in IE was removed and they
have to find an alternative way in
3. Readium, and most companies, are having to use MathJax to render Math and
Benetech is operating off Microsoft grant to provide a cloud based reading
solution.

Net: we cannot just say go use MathML because one platform solution provides
limited access even though we all want people to use MathML for obvious
reasons. W3C and PF needs a much better strategy to push the MathML agenda
with browser manufacturers. Chrome pulled MathML support out and IE does not
support it. That is a lot of market share with a huge hole in it.

chicken an egg. We have a huge industry problem where teachers are not
producing digital Math output because the browser manufacturers are not
rendering it and browser manufacturers are not supporting it because people
are not writing to it.

We need to see a more focused strategy in W3C to push MathML adoption to
back up the change. I will bring this up on Monday's call.

I have been very involved with the MathML issue as part of Raising the Floor
and Readium so this is a huge hot button for me. The need for access to
digital math may be one of the biggest accessibility issues we have in WAI
and little has been done about driving its adoption. This is another example
where a standard was created and no solid strategy was put in place to back
it up.

yes, this is a soap box item for me.

Rich


Rich Schwerdtfeger

Received on Sunday, 10 August 2014 16:44:49 UTC