Accessible teaching with LaTeX

Lecturers who use LaTeX often face a choice that seems irreconcilable: Either build content in LaTeX and publish it in PDF, knowing the information won’t be accessible, or create Word or HTML documents that take forever to generate and lack necessary functionality. Luckily, though, the choice is no longer so stark. It is possible to consider accessibility in LaTeX documents – and it’s possible to build some equations in the LMS.

Key points:

  • Even in LaTeX-heavy subjects like mathematics, it’s possible to build some content in the LMS.
  • The Equation Editor in the LMS makes LaTeX equations screen-readable.
  • Even when building in Overleaf or similar, it’s still possible to make some accessibility upgrades.

Watch the full video with Dr Paul Fijn to find out what tools he experimented with, and how he strikes that balance.

  • PAUL: Hi, I'm Paul Fijn and I'm a lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics in the Faculty of Science.

    This year we built a new subject for Maths and Stats called Critical Thinking with Data, and we set ourselves a challenge to make the subject as accessible as possible. It was an interesting challenge to set because it forced me to think creatively about practices I had never questioned before.

    One of the first things I experimented with was putting assignments and answer guides straight in the LMS rather than using LaTeX PDFs.

    Building content in the LMS or any kind of HTML helps students who use assistive technology. It really helps balance the scales for students who otherwise would have to wait for material to be converted.

    Previously I never would have even thought of building in the LMS. I usually created everything in TeXworks and published it in PDF documents, although I had started using RMarkdown for producing HTML assignments for another statistics subject (Analysis of Biological Data). Everyone uses LaTeX, and it really is helpful in creating large slide decks for maths content. I've tried using PowerPoint before, but it was a bit annoying. I had also assumed that creating content in the LMS would be more time consuming.

    Surprisingly, though, the LMS worked fine. It was easy to type LaTeX equations straight into its equation editor. Since assignments and answer guides are short, and since they don't use too many equations, it wasn't any more time consuming than creating a PDF.

    With HTML assignments, I did still provide a PDF copy as a backup just in case students wanted to print it out and scribble on it, but students actually seem to prefer the HTML version. For example, sighted students can use assistive technology to customise fonts and layout, which is also helpful for students with dyslexia. Even students who don't use assistive tech said that it's easier to navigate.

    I'm glad we set ourselves this challenge. It was interesting to question our long-held practices and discover that it's possible to put some content in the LMS directly.

    My hot tip: Accessibility is much easier to integrate than writing new content. Luckily, we create new assignments all the time, but since we were creating a whole new subject, it was a great opportunity to build in accessibility right from the start.

When LaTeX documents are unavoidable

PDF documents based on LaTeX are virtually unreadable by assistive tech, but sometimes the LaTeX format is necessary. Luckily, it is possible to partially remediate LaTeX to make it more accessible, and easier to convert when necessary. Our top tips are:

  • Use built-in heading styles and generate a table of contents
  • Use accessible fonts, such as Georgia for headings and Helvetica for body text
  • Left-align text to avoid creating ‘rivers’ of white space
  • Hyperlink meaningful text, such as the title of a website, rather than a URL
  • Whenever you use colour to indicate meaning (as in a graph), use a pattern as well.

This will improve accessibility for a wide range of users. However, formulae, graphs and other images still won’t be readable by most assistive technology. For the PDF to be readable, it would require the reading order to be tagged, and images and tables to be described in text. This process does take time, and requires either the accessibility tools in Adobe Acrobat Pro or the accessibility tools in Nitro PDF (Windows only).

Relevant support resources

This page was last updated on 17 Apr 2026.

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