Re: Change to Easy Checks draft about images

Dear Neil,

Thank you for your comment on Easy Checks. EOWG [1] considered your suggestion.

We have taken an action item to add this to a tutorial we are developing about images. (The in-progress rough draft is at: <http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/app-notes/images/>; however, please do not distribute that draft URI. We plan to have it at a distributable URI within a few weeks.)

In Easy Checks, we will point to that tutorial, which will soon include information about using MathML instead of images for math equations. We decided not to add anything specifically about MathML to Easy Checks because it does not meet our criteria for easy checks (which is at <http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/wiki/Eval_Analysis#Criteria_for_checks>).

fyi, your comment is logged at <http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/wiki/Easy_Checks_Comments#.5Bclosed.5D_Neil_Soiffer_8_July>

We welcome additional comments on this issue or others.

Best regards,
~Shawn


[1] EOWG <http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/#intro>

On 7/8/2013 7:53 PM, Neil Soiffer wrote:
> In the section on images [1], there should be a mention that images
> of math equations should be encoded in MathML and not as a static
> image.  Any static alt text for math will likely be poor for people
> who are blind or poor for people with learning disabilities.  The
> former group needs to know where 2-d math notations begin and end and
> for the later group, hearing "begin xxx"/"end exx" adds to the
> complexity of decoding a math expression.  Furthermore, math has its
> own braille code that can not be generated from a textual
> description.  With MathML, textual descriptions can be generated on
> the fly as can various braille math codes.
>
> If you talk with anyone at a disabilities service office, they will
> tell you that math accessibility is one of the biggest problems they
> face. This page should be pushing people to do the right thing, not
> ignoring the problem and thereby perpetuating it.
>
> Some WCAG pages related to using MathML are [2] and [3].
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Neil Soiffer Senior Scientist Design Science, Inc. www.dessci.com
> <http://www.dessci.com> ~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer,
> MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~
>
>
>
> [1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/preliminary#images [2]
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/tests/test135.html [3]
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G115.html

Received on Friday, 26 July 2013 18:32:56 UTC