The typesetting system LaTeX (pronounced “lah-tech”) is widely used in academia, especially (though not exclusively) in STEM fields, to represent content in an organized and visually appealing fashion. One of LaTeX’s great strengths is its ability to format mathematical equations and scientific formulas with much greater ease than word processors and other WYSIWYG editors.
When using LaTeX to prepare your documents, as in all other document creation scenarios, it is important that you keep digital accessibility in mind. Screen reader software should be able to parse your document and read it out to users just as if it were a Microsoft Word document or Google Doc, even if it contains complex formulas. Fortunately, while creating accessible documents in LaTeX is difficult, it is not impossible. In the remainder of this article, we will discuss effective practices for LaTeX accessibility, including both what to do and what to avoid if you wish the final product to be as accessible as possible.
If unmodified, LaTeX documents lack certain key accessibility features, such as an underlying semantic structure with headings and tags, that are found in (e.g.) Microsoft Word documents. To produce accessible output, you will thus need to implement additional measures after creating the basic LaTeX document. One option is to load the Accessibility package into the preamble of your LaTeX, with the parameters [tagged, highstructure]. You can also add alt text to images through the \alt environment.
However, even after taking these steps, you may find it difficult to generate a truly accessible PDF. This is especially true given the problems involved in remediating PDFs generally, whether or not they contain LaTeX. You may therefore find it easier to display your LaTeX in HTML, which is inherently more accessible than a PDF.
Use LaTeX in Your Canvas Course Site
If you wish to include LaTeX in Canvas, this step is straightforward. Canvas, like many digital ecosystems, uses MathJax to display equations. When you enter LaTeX into Canvas, either by using the graphical Equation Editor contained in the Rich Content Editor toolbar or by editing the LaTeX directly, MathJax will convert the LaTeX to HTML in the form of an image, accompanied both by alt text and by the HTML data-equation-content attribute specifying the content of the equation. Thus, if we enter the equation E=mc^2 into a Canvas Page, it is displayed as follows:
The corresponding HTML, accessible in Canvas via the RCE HTML view, appears as follows:
Using this method, you can create Canvas Pages, Assignment prompts, Discussion prompts, and more containing LaTeX that screen readers can parse.
Use Overleaf to Build Your LaTeX Document
If you are new to LaTeX, or if you wish to explore it in a welcoming, collaborative environment, you may wish to use Overleaf. Overleaf is part of UChicago’s portfolio of supported digital tools and offers both Visual and Code Editors for working with LaTeX. Its premade templates can streamline the content creation process and help you to build large, complex documents quickly. Overleaf also offers an integration with the citation management system Zotero to assist you in constructing bibliographies for your documents.
Conclusion
In general, there is no “one size fits all” solution for LaTeX accessibility. Given the vast number of ways in which LaTeX environments can be customized, each user is likely to have unique needs and challenges. If you are in doubt about how best to promote accessibility in your document, please reach out to us using the links found in “Further Resources and Getting Help” below. We can work with you to help ensure that all students, including those with disabilities, can use your LaTeX documents successfully.
Further Resources and Getting Help
- Build Math Equations in Canvas
- Build Chemistry Formulas in Canvas
- Making Accessible Documents Using LaTeX (American Mathematical Society)
- UChicago Library Guide to Overleaf
- Accessibility Checklist for LaTeX Documents (University of Lancaster, UK)
If you would like to know more about Canvas, Overleaf, and other digital tools supported by UChicago, Academic Technology Solutions (ATS) is here to help. We invite you to stop by our office hours, attend one of our workshops, or book a consultation with an instructional designer. If you have specific questions about digital accessibility, we also invite you to reach out to the Center for Digital Accessibility (CDA).
(Cover Photo by Bozhin Karaivanov on Unsplash)
