The problem has nothing to do with improving display. As I said, that will be via an image such as a GIF or PNG. The microformat is solely for the purpose of associating a MathML or TeX representation with the image. As with other microformats, normal HTML content is what the user sees while software sees structured, useful data.
Paul > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:microformats- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jeff McNeill > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 8:52 PM > To: For discussion of new microformats. > Subject: Re: [uf-new] an equation/MathML/TeX microformat? > > Aloha Paul, et al, > > Microformats won't fix any display problems that folks have, but could > help with say the problem of searching for a given formula across > semantically marked up content. > > However, since the problem to be solved seems to be rendering the math > visually, with a variety of ways of doing that, would a microformat > require all the formulations (aka mathml, texvc, mimetex) to provide > support for yet another markup? > > (Paul, I recall your comments on my blog entry trying to implement > just such rendering on a mediawiki install > http://jeffmcneill.com/2007/01/24/mathml-tex-latex-texvc-mimetex-oh-my/ > ) > > You are right, it is a mess. Not sure how microformats could help, > though. > > -- > Sincerely, > Jeff McNeill > http://jeffmcneill.com/ > > > On 10/25/07, Paul Topping <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I'm trying to determine whether microformats is the right venue for > > developing a standard math representation within HTML. > > > > Back in '98, many of us involved with the W3C's MathML standard had > > hopes of it being widely supported within most browsers in a few > years. > > That has sort of happened. MathML is supported natively within Firefox > > but users experience font problems and it only works if pages are > XHMTL, > > rather than HTML. My company's free MathPlayer plugin makes MathML > work > > in Internet Explorer. MathML support is still missing from Safari, > > Opera, and other browsers. People interested in publishing math on the > > web still find serving up pages as XHTML challenging (getting the MIME > > type right, etc.). Some websites, blogs, and wikis convert TeX or > LaTeX > > to images on the server to handle equations in content. Quite frankly, > > the space is a mess. > > > > Regardless of whether the math is represented using MathML, TeX, > LaTeX, > > or some other notation, it is important to expose the mathematical > > structure behind the equation to the client in order to support > > accessibility (ie, allow screen readers to speak the math) and > > interoperability (eg, allow users to copy equations from pages into > > Mathematica, MS Word docs, MathType, or new pages). What is needed is > a > > consistent way to associate an underlying math representation with its > > visual representation regardless of whether it is a GIF or PNG image > or > > MathML formatted by the browser (or a browser plugin). > > > > This seems like a job for a microformat but I must admit that I have > > limited knowledge of the microformat philosophy. On one hand, > > microformats embed semantic representations in HTML in a practical but > > rigorous way. On the other hand, in most (all?) microformats the > > representation is visible in the browser. In the kind of > representation > > I'm imagining, the user won't actually see the actual MathML or TeX > code > > in the browser window. > > > > Thoughts? Is microformats the right place for this kind of thing? > > > > Paul Topping > > Design Science, Inc. > > www.dessci.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > microformats-new mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-new > > > _______________________________________________ > microformats-new mailing list > [email protected] > http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-new _______________________________________________ microformats-new mailing list [email protected] http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-new
