[Blindmath] Maths on the web (yet again)

[Greg]

hello,
Where do I get math player?
Thanks,
Greg Wocher
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Neil Soiffer" <NeilS at dessci.com>
To: <andrew.stacey at math.ntnu.no>; "Blind Math list for those interested in 
mathematics" <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 12:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Maths on the web (yet again)


> That's a very nice summary, and I agree with everything you say.  I do 
> want
> to point to a new technology called "MathJax"  (see mathjax.org).  MathJax
> is a Javascript based renderer that will render MathML or a standard 
> subset
> of TeX for math  (most people forget that TeX is a powerful programming
> language that allows its syntax and the meaning of commands to be changed 
> or
> extended).  MathJax has the ability to be configured so that it will pass
> MathML or converted TeX to the browser (for Firefox or IE+MathPlayer). 
> One
> great thing about MathJax is the chicken and egg problem is "cracked" 
> (sorry
> for the pun) -- MathML can now be rendered on all modern browsers, 
> including
> on iphones and ipads!
>
> If you are using IE+MathPlayer and have MathJax configured, then the math 
> is
> accessible.  Of course, anytime you convert from one language to another,
> there are some assumptions that get made, etc, but MathJax means that even
> if you authored your wiki, blog, or general web page with TeX, it can 
> still
> be accessible.  To author using MathJax, simply add the approppriate call 
> to
> MathJax in the header for the page.  See mathjax.org for details and
> examples.
>
> There are some really exciting developments related to MathJax and MathML 
> 3
> coming soon.  I'll be blogging about them over the next month or two.  At
> the risk of being too self-promoting, I invite everyone to check out the
> blog at http://accessiblemath.dessci.com/.
>
> Neil Soiffer
> Senior Scientist
> Design Science, Inc.
> www.dessci.com
> ~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 1:07 AM, Andrew Stacey
> <andrew.stacey at math.ntnu.no>wrote:
>
>> There's a new question and answer site starting up focussing on TeX and
>> LaTeX.
>> As was fairly predictable, one of the first questions is about putting
>> maths
>> on the web.  Having lurked here for a while, and taken part in the
>> discussion
>> on Terry Tao's blog a short while ago, I thought I'd try my hand at
>> answering
>> this question.  However, as I'm neither blind nor an expert on such
>> matters,
>> there are no doubt things that I've gotten wrong.
>>
>> Since the website in question is at the moment in a private mode (anyone
>> can
>> read the questions and answers via
>> http://stackmobile.com/site.php?site=tex.stackexchange, but only the
>> original
>> people who signed up can post stuff), and I've no idea how accessible the
>> site
>> it, I'm copying my answer below.  I will happily correct any mistakes I 
>> may
>> have made, or emphasis that I've mislaid, or add anything that members of
>> this
>> list feel should be said.
>>
>> The markup language for this is Markdown.  I don't know how email readers
>> will
>> cope with that so here's a quick explanation of the key points.  Firstly,
>> list
>> numbering is automatic so all my list entries start with a 1.  Secondly,
>> emphasis and bold are done by surrounding the word or text in underscores
>> or
>> asterisks.  Thirdly, links are done like this: [link text](url). 
>> Fourthly,
>> headers are done using hashes.
>>
>> My answer now follows:
>>
>> When embedding mathematics into a webpage, there are two primary 
>> questions:
>>
>> 1. What format should be used to display it?
>> 1. Where should the conversion be done?
>>
>> In my opinion, each of these has a definite answer and a different 
>> solution
>> should only be used if the optimal solution really cannot be done.
>>
>> 1. **MathML**.  Reasons:
>>   1. It is the *only* **accessible** way of doing this.  Putting the
>> original LaTeX in an `alt` tag on an image is not accessible - it relies 
>> on
>> the recipient being able to understand raw LaTeX source code (more on 
>> this
>> in a moment).  Also, not all of those requiring accessible webpages use
>> screen readers, some simply need to enlarge the page.
>>   1. It is **styleable** (not sure if that's a word).  Since MathML is 
>> part
>> of the XHTML suite, it can be styled in the same fashion as the rest of 
>> the
>> document (namely, via CSS), so the resulting display is far more 
>> harmonious
>> than any other (try changing the background colour to something easier on
>> the eyes at one of those wordpress blogs and you'll see what I mean).
>>   1. It is **small**.  A quick test on my system with 515 simple files 
>> that
>> I happened to have lying around showed that PNGs weighed in at 175kB 
>> whilst
>> the MathML equivalents were a shade under 60kB.  The PNGs were not large
>> resolution, for example the PNG containing the Zeta symbol was a 9x13 
>> image.
>>
>> 1. **Server-side**.  Reasons:
>>   1. It is **small**.  Instead of sending both the source _and_ the
>> instructions on how to compile it, you just send the result.
>>   1. It is **reliable**.  You can easily check that what you want the
>> person to see is what they should see.  In particular, a javascript 
>> solution
>> relies on two things being correct: the javascript script _and_ the
>> implementation of javascript in the browser.  MathML just relies on the
>> MathML implementation in the browser.
>>   1. It is **fast**.  With server-side caching, you only need to process
>> the mathematics once and then it's done.
>>   1. It is **verifiable** (similar to reliable, I guess).  I don't fully
>> understand the differences between the _types_ of spec that w3c produce, 
>> but
>> MathML is certainly a recommendation.  Even though browser support is
>> variable, the variations are known because they can be measured using the
>> open standard, and thus can be taken into account.
>>
>> Server-side MathML is the optimal solution.  Of course, it's not always
>> possible and then other solutions are useful.
>>
>> There are various standard arguments against using server-side MathML and
>> other myths about mathematics in webpages that are worth taking a minute
>> over.
>>
>> ###Myths###
>> 1. Sending the raw LaTeX code in an alt tag makes images accessible.
>>
>>   When people say this, they mean that they can read `$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$`
>> and understand it.  Try them on something a little more complicated and
>> you'll soon see that this is complete rubbish.  For example, try having
>> someone **read out** the following to you:
>> `$\begin{array}\ell^0(\mathbb{R})&\;\mapsto&\;\ell^2(\mathbb{R})\\\downarrow&&\uparrow\\L^2(\mathbb{R})&\subseteq\,&L^\infty(\mathbb{R})\end{array}$`.
>>  Of course, there's going to be people who will say, "_I_ can understand
>> that!" but _that's not the point_.  You write a webpage for other people 
>> and
>> the more complicated the LaTeX, the fewer the number of people who can
>> instantly read it.
>>
>> 1. MathML is badly supported.
>>
>>   This is the classic chicken-and-egg.  MathML support is absolutely fine
>> in Firefox, in IE with the MathPlayer plugin, and in Amaya (what's that, 
>> I
>> hear you cry!).  Plus there are groups working on it for Opera and WebKit
>> who just _need a little encouragement_!  Sending them an email saying, "I
>> love your browser but until it has proper MathML support then I can't use
>> it" would provide them with a little more motivation.  Of course, there 
>> are
>> bugs in the implementations in Firefox and the others, but those are 
>> _known_
>> and so can be worked around.
>>
>> 1. MathML requires documents to be valid XHTML.
>>
>>   Actually, this isn't a myth.  It's absolutely true.  But surely your
>> pages were valid to begin with!  I'm a mathematician and my ideal 
>> document
>> is one that _cannot_ be misunderstood.  That's impossible, so I try for 
>> the
>> lesser goal of where any misunderstanding can be laid at the door of the
>> person reading it rather than me.  MathML, as it's an open standard, 
>> allows
>> me to reach that goal on webpages - at least technically, the contents 
>> are
>> more variable!
>>
>> Finally - on this part - for those that _still_ worry about Joe Blogs (or
>> Ola Nordmann, to be geographically correct) not being able to read your
>> webpage due to using an old version of IE and refusing to install 
>> plugins,
>> it is actually possible to have two versions of the mathematics on your
>> server and send MathML to those that can see it and PNGs to those that
>> can't, thus getting the best of both worlds.
>>
>> What about implementation?  Well, there you're in luck.  [iTeX](
>> http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/blog/itex2MML.html<http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/%7Edistler/blog/itex2MML.html>)
>> can do it all, and in spades.  iTeX is a fast c++ program that converts a
>> subset of LaTeX mathematical language into MathML.  The original package
>> comes with bindings for ruby, and I've extended this to PHP, Perl, and
>> Python.  By combining it with other packages, in particular [svgmath](
>> http://grigoriev.ru/svgmath/) or [gtkmathview](
>> http://helm.cs.unibo.it/mml-widget/), it is possible to further convert
>> the MathML to an image for broken browsers.  (Contact me for these
>> extensions; I haven't gotten round to writing them up yet - it's on my 
>> TODO
>> list!)
>>
>> For examples, see the [nlab](http://ncatlab.org) (pure MathML) and the
>> [nforum](http://www.math.ntnu.no/~stacey/Vanilla/nForum<http://www.math.ntnu.no/%7Estacey/Vanilla/nForum>)
>> (MathML, SVG, or PNG depending on what browser you are using).
>>
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