[accessibility] LaTeX and Visual Studio Code

[Jason White]

On 31/12/22 05:39, Jonathan Fine wrote:
> Questions about LaTeX and Visual Studio Code are common on both the 
> Blind Math list and the Visually Impaired Programmers list. Here's the 
> latest such question:
> http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindmath_nfbnet.org/2022-December/010465.html
>
> Are you interested in this topic? I hope I'm not the only one.

I'm more of an Emacs and Vim user (mostly Emacs for LaTeX work), but I 
have also investigated VSCode and documented the findings in my paper on 
markup languages and accessibility.

Note that the accessibility bug in VSCode whereby soft word wrap could 
not be used with a screen reader has recently been fixed. This should 
improve the experience for screen reader users who are writing in 
various markup languages, including TeX/LaTeX.

For Linux users and free/open-source enthusiasts, note also that there 
are versions of the software available which omit Microsoft's telemetry 
and other proprietary components (e.g., VSCodium).

I haven't devoted time to the accessibility of LaTeX-specific 
extensions, besides installing one in the course of testing. I take the 
view that Emacs with AUCTeX mode still offers a superior keyboard 
interface, and that screen readers can't compete with Emacspeak.