Transforming LaTeX to Accessible and Inclusive Formats: A Guide for Open Educational Resources: Leveraging the TeX4ht Framework for HTML and EPUB Conversion

Abstract

This article presents a process for using TeX4ht to convert LaTeX documents into accessible Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Electronic Publication (EPUB) formats, aiming to reduce document processing barriers for open educational resource (OER) practitioners. These practitioners—including instructor-authors, librarians, and instructional designers—are often responsible for making mathematically intensive and other openly licensed documents accessible (e.g., compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) AA 2.1 standard) for individuals with print disabilities and those who rely on screen reader technologies. Despite this responsibility, many practitioners are either unfamiliar with or under-supported in using existing technical conversion tools such as Pandoc, AMS TexML, the LaTeX axessibility package, and LaTeXML. These tools are often perceived as overly technical and time-intensive to learn. Other options, such as ADA-compliant LaTeX-to-PDF tagging tools, are not yet non-operational. Rekeying entire manuscripts is labor-intensive, and the common fallback, manually remediating (e.g., tagging) PDFs, fails to meet sustainability standards. This approach bolts accessibility features onto the PDF after recompilation, rather than embedding them into the source files. As a result, accessibility tagging must be redone each time the LaTeX source files are edited and recompiled, undermining long-term accessibility and maintainability. In this article, we offer both a rationale and a step-by-step guide for converting LaTeX source files into HTML and EPUB formats for book-length, mathematics-intensive OER. We introduce command-line prompts suitable for users new to the command line. Having faced these challenges ourselves, we aim for this documentation to support staff in library-based OER initiatives, under-resourced OER publishing programs, authors in mathematically intensive STEM disciplines, and LaTeX users seeking sustainable accessibility solutions.