--gladtex should not be deprecated

[humenda]

Hi

Pandoc reports --gladtex as deprecated option and the release notes flag it as "ancient". Though it is not the most modern approach, it is one of the few approaches accessible to both (blind) screen reader users and sighted users at the same time, for instance when working collaboratively on a machine. This is one of the reasons why it is really easy to read Wikipedia articles with a screen reader, because formulas are rendered as image (and as LaTeX in the alt tag, at the same time).

As a side note, I'm aware that some accessibility exists for MathJS, but this doesn't really work with braille displays. Despite, GladTeX is still active.

I therefore request to exclude GladTeX from the list of deprecated flags.

Thanks

[jgm]

because formulas are rendered as image (and as LaTeX in the alt tag, at the same time).

The same is true for --webtex, which is still supported:

% pandoc --webtex
$e^2$
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle" src="https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?e%5E2" alt="e^2" title="e^2" /></p>

If you want something that will work offline, you can use --self-contained with this and get:

<p><img style="vertical-align:middle" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAA4AAAAQBAMAAADUulMJAAAAMFBMVEX///8AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAv3aB7AAAAD3RSTlMAZom7MkTNEO+ZIlR2q912Xf9AAAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAXUlEQVQIHWNgAALuQxNAFEMNwyUwHcYgBqa5GDTBNAPDKwjNGwChj3CBae7taxgYGAUV1v//xMBgyOAKEmRKYFcH0RwTBQtAdP0CEAmkCxjYQTRbAIMIiGZXBMsDAMJeDuhZ3lkvAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" alt="e^2" title="e^2" /></p>

[link2xt]

But doesn't webtex require internet access, using non-free service and submitting your data to third party? I think some standalone option to converting math to images should be left.

[jgm]

Alexander <notifications@github.com> writes:

But doesn't webtex require internet access, using non-free service and submitting your data to third party? I think some standalone option to converting math to images should be left.

Good point. Google can publish first by scooping up the equations from your work in progress! Note, however, that --webtex takes an optional URL. You can set up your own web service locally that takes a latex equation as input and spits out an image as output. This could even use gladtex behind the scenes.

[humenda]

> But doesn't webtex require internet access, using non-free service and submitting your data to third party? I think some standalone option to converting math to images should be left. Note, however, that --webtex takes an optional URL. You can set up your own web service locally that takes a latex equation as input and spits out an image as output. This could even use gladtex behind the scenes.

No sorry. This replaces a working solution with a hacky alternative. We are editing (university) lecture material for blind and visually impaired. We are using Markdown as a base and convert into HTML, since this format offers the best cross-platform accessibility for multiple disability groups. When we produce our material, we want to be able to ship ready-to-use HTML files, equations included both for sighted and blind users. WebTeX just makes the whole process more painful and requires additional work at a place where it is not required. If you do not like the way how GladTeX interfaces with Pandoc, we can work on that.

[jgm]

It would have been helpful if you'd made this request when gladtex support was deprecated (six months ago). Now that it has been removed, it is harder to restore, but I can do it.

[humenda]

I am sorry that this causes inconvenience, but I only learned about the deprecation by seeing a message popping up after upgrading Pandoc. I will make sure to follow release notes more closely in the future.