[accessibility] Current packages and methods of generating tagged PDF from LaTeX

[Ulrike Fischer]

> I understand that here we are addressing the issue that a large per
> cent of documents are currently authored in some flavor of LaTeX and
> that this situation is unlikely to change. And it seems so far that
> tagged PDF is being considered as the best neutral format.  If that
> is correct then one question is whether it is really the best option?

No, pdf is in no way "the best neutral format". Parsing the inner
structure is quite a nightmare, and it always contains a lot overhead
not needed to describe a structure (like e.g. fonts).




> One item that got me to thinking about other options is the
> solution described in the article “Creating PDF documents with
> accessible formulae” by Ahmetovic, et. al. in TUGboat 39(3) p 224.
> This article proposes a method for retaining in a created PDF
> document a hidden copy the LaTeX source associated with each math
> expression that’s in the document so it is available for generating accessible formulae.

adding the latex code as actual text is better than nothing, but imho
adding at the end adding associated files with mathml content is
better. But it is unclear when the screen readers will support this.

Be aware that the method described in tugboard creates illegal pdf,
they don't pass a preflight test.



> Now that digital storage seems virtually unlimited via the cloud, I
> wonder if another option for retaining the source would be some
> protocol for separate storage of the entire LaTeX source used to
> create a PDF file?

That can already be done, e.g. with the embedfile or the attachfile
package.

Ulrike Fischer