SMILES

A text-based notation system that represents chemical molecular structures as short character strings, making them both machine-readable and human-readable. For accessibility, SMILES is significant because it provides a linear, non-visual way to represent chemical structural formulas that would otherwise be inaccessible bitmap images in textbooks and papers. SMILES strings can be read by screen readers, converted to Braille, and used to generate accessible visual, tactile, or auditory representations of molecules. This makes SMILES a crucial bridge technology for blind and low-vision students studying chemistry, where understanding molecular structure through visual diagrams is otherwise considered essential.