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LaTeX Guide : Accessibility & LaTeX

This guide includes links to software, tutorials, and templates to get you started using LaTeX typesetting and citing souces with BibTeX.

Accessible Documents

Accessibility refers to documents that are usable by people with disabilities, particularly low vision, blindness, and color blindness. This includes compatibility with screen readers and other assistive technology. While LaTeX documents may pass automated accessibility checks, LaTeX does not produce fully accessible PDFs at this time due to the way the resulting math is read by screen readers.

Creating Accessible Documents

In Canvas

Canvas supports the use of LaTeX syntax to write math anywhere, including discussion posts, comments, and messages. The LaTeX input is then rendered in an accessible form using MathJax.

Abstracts & Shorter Documents

For shorter and web-based documents, such as abstracts placed on a website, MathJax can be used to convert TeX and AsciiMath syntax into accessible math. Plugins are available for Wordpress and other popular authoring tools. Note: MathJax cannot currently be used on WiscWeb sites.

Articles & Longer Documents: PreTeXt

It is possible to create accessible PDFs and other formats from a LaTeX document, but additional tools must be used. PreTeXt is one such tool. While originally intended for creating accessible textbooks, it can also be used for articles and other document types.