Mathematics on the web: emerging opportunities for visually impaired people

This paper discusses the state of the art of mathematics on the Web in the context of its accessibility to visually impaired people. It goes on to explain how the use of the MathML markup language to embed mathematical expressions in Web pages could improve the accessibility and usability of Web published scientific documentation when consulted with speech synthesis and/or Braille devices. This work was carried out as part of the @Science project. @Science is a thematic network funded by the European Commission eContentPlus Programme. Its goal is the preparation of guidelines and best practices for production and use of digital scientific documentation accessible to visually impaired university students.