[FRIAM] condensed MathML matters

[Carl Tollander]

In a highly economical post, we have Condensed matter AND 
MathML...http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/blog/archives/001357.html

This is the same guy who did itexToMML for the N-Category Cafe - he has 
some musings
on what might be going on with Safari vis-a-vis MathML. 
...http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/blog/archives/001369.html

This has some of the same display issues as asciimath, just another way 
of getting to the MathML.  I still think a reasonable interim solution 
is to hand the browser a picture, then have links off to the side that 
will deliver the MathML or even the original asciimath, itex, webtex, 
etc to some non-browser application if you want something 
machine-parsable or want to do some semantic markup.  Display isn't the 
main problem MathML was supposed to address.  It would be nice to start 
thinking of the displayed equation as a kind of thumbnail catalog image 
that one could consult to decide whether to delve deeper.

Carl

Owen Densmore wrote:
> Executive summary: Can we as a community rely on MathML compliance  
> within our browsers?
>
> Details: I've come across an interesting javascript equation builder  
> that takes an ascii string in backticks (i.e. ` ... `) and converts  
> it to MathML.
>    http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimath.html
>
> This is nifty, but has one pretty bad downside: it requires your  
> browser to support MathML.  I seem to recall some hassles like  
> downloading weird fonts and so on.  From my notes:
> 	- MIT MathML Fonts: Mathematica 4.1 TrueType
> 	  Note: Installer did not include CMSY10 CMEX10 (TeX computer modern),
> 	  due to a bug.  To stop annoying popup about missing fonts, use:
> 	  user_pref("font.mathfont-family", "Math1, Math2, Math4, Symbol");
> 	  Put in prefs.js or use about:config creating new pref.
> In other words, your basic 2 hour fussing around.  This may no longer  
> be a hassle.
>
> Here's a page where you can build your own samples using ASCIIMathML:
>    http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimathdemo.html
>
> So here's the question: Can we rely on MathML for our collective  
> work?  Or do we have to use .gif's for all our math we'd like to  
> exchange with one another?
>
>      -- Owen
>
>
>
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