PDF/A-3u as an archival format for accessible mathematics

Abstract

Including LATEX source of mathematical expressions, within the PDF document of a text-book or research paper, has definite benefits regarding 'Accessibility' considerations. Here we describe three ways in which this can be done, fully compatibly with international standards ISO 32000, ISO 19005-3, and the forthcoming ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0). Two methods use embedded files, also known as 'attachments', holding information in either LATEX or MathML formats, but use different PDF structures to relate these attachments to regions of the document window. One uses structure, so is applicable to a fully 'Tagged PDF' context, while the other uses /AF tagging of the relevant content. The third method requires no tagging at all, instead including the source coding as the /ActualText relacement of a so-called 'fake space'. Information provided this way is extracted via simple Select/Copy/Paste actions, and is available to existing screen-reading software and assistive technologies. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.