Re: Question about reading math in PPTs with NVDA + MathCAT

In addition to Deyan's sound advice, I'll add my own recollections and throw in a 4th technology. Microsoft Narrator will (based on my past experience and quick retry) read native Microsoft Equation Editor expressions in PowerPoint. But...I think that's about it.

Best regards,

--Steve



Steve Noble
Principal Researcher, Accessibility
Psychometrics & Testing Services

Pearson

502 969 3088
steve.noble@pearson.com<mailto:steve.noble@pearson.com>

[https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/xFjftXlwMzpdFeTtDgc4_IwyMYm8ThtQHIsgElkS8fyiCO2M7ZM0WaO7r2uy-bmKAe5S2sIcg7d-mwbD4ArkJhyafHke-SgJ2ui8DoGoBhZw4YIyWeK3LUozNMwBff4JR2tdu8nZ2fvoNvkkA06KNw9-s3P9UvYsHSTphHss6X0=s0-d-e1-ft#http://accessibility4school.pearson.com/access/4c49fe02-e204-46b4-b6f0-82f5a3f159cb/pearson-accessibility.jpg]

[NSF's Convergence Accelerator - 2022 Cohort Member]<https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/convergence-accelerator>


________________________________
From: Deyan Ginev <deyan.ginev@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2023 1:14 PM
To: Ciporen, Laura <laura.ciporen@mheducation.com>
Cc: www-math@w3.org <www-math@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Question about reading math in PPTs with NVDA + MathCAT

Hi,

It is certainly true that this list aspires to be a welcoming home for all MathML-related discussions, including questions about speech generation from math. Thank you for writing in!

Your question appears to narrowly address a technical problem between 3 technologies: MS Office, NVDA and MathCat. As it doesn't address a general topic of discussion, it may be better filed as a project-specific issue to a repository, or emailed directly to a maintainer?

In this case I suspect a good next step would be opening a MathCAT github issue at:
https://github.com/NSoiffer/MathCAT/issues


It sounds like a kind of problem that should be solvable and within the intended scope of the tools mentioned.

Greetings,
Deyan


On Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 12:31 PM Ciporen, Laura <laura.ciporen@mheducation.com<mailto:laura.ciporen@mheducation.com>> wrote:

Hello, all.

I was told this was a good group to write to with questions about using and reading math with screen readers. Any help would be appreciated.

I am working on creating PPTs with math in them that has been rendered using Microsoft’s built-in equation editor. I’ve downloaded MathCAT (latest version) but when I go to the slide with NVDA it only reads the numbers in my equations, not the full thing. This is true both of the equation that I added inline in a regular text placeholder and the one that I added as its own object. I haven’t changed any settings in NVDA (or MathCAT) from its defaults except to change the voice to Microsoft Speech API, per the MathCAT user guide<https://nsoiffer.github.io/MathCAT/users.html>.

The attached slide reads fine when I author the math in MathType, but not if I author it with Microsoft’s equation editor.

  1.  Does MathCAT just not work for PPTs, or not work for math created with Microsoft’s built-in equation editor?
  2.  Is there some additional thing I need to do to make it work properly?
  3.  Are there navigation commands that are needed to get the equation to actually read?

Thank you for your help.



[McGraw-Hill logo.]<http://www.mheducation.com/>

Laura Ciporen, CPACC

Digital Content Accessibility Manager

McGraw-Hill | Higher Education

1325 Avenue of the Americas, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10019

P: 646-766-2269

laura.ciporen@mheducation.com<mailto:laura.ciporen@mheducation.com>

mheducation.com<http://mheducation.com/>



[JAWS Certified 2015 logo Freedom Scientific]     [Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies from IAAP (CPACC)] <https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/cpacccertification>



The information contained in this message may be confidential and/or constitute a privileged attorney-client document.  If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify McGraw Hill immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer.  Thank you.