Re: [MathOnWeb] what do you expect for 2019?

Hi Peter,

My wish list:

1) [a11y] Improve the way it is possible to browse a formula using ARIA
specification.

2) [CSS] Still interested in Math layout (with or without the help of
MathML).

During the year, for sure more ideas will arise!

Dani

On Thu, Jan 10, 2019 at 9:17 AM Peter Krautzberger <peter@krautzource.com>
wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> As we did last year, let's try for a thread with thoughts on the coming
> year and what we might focus on within this CG.
>
> I'll start below.
>
> Best,
> Peter.
>
> I think 2019 will be a difficult year for the CG. The main problem is the
> recently re-opened arguing around "native" MathML support in browser. I
> expect this to continue to have a negative impact on this group and the
> wider community.
>
> I wished there was an easy way to make a clear cut and simply have all
> "native" MathML fans take it elsewhere. But there isn't. Too many people
> (myself included) consider MathML a useful spec to capture print layout in
> an XML context (and thus critical for legacy content) and for them it will
> be difficult not to care if the spec ends up being damaged in another
> attempt to "bless" problematic browser implementations (remember Presto?).
>
> The second and sadly related problem is that the number of active group
> members has dropped recently. As Tzviya likes to say: standards are made by
> those who show up - and people aren't. Some of this has to do with the
> constant arguing around MathML. Since math on the web is a very small niche
> (and that won't change), there are very few people willing and able to work
> towards standardization, and even fewer who can afford to spend their time
> on standards work. I would like to encourage everyone on this group to be
> more mindful of this.
>
> What could the group work on in its current state? Some ideas:
>
> 1) Being a good space for the community. I was surprised with how often
> the CG telcos end up helping individuals who show up one time. I think the
> group can do more to be a place where the community gathers openly.
>
> 2) The accessibility task force has mostly joined the ARIA WG directly.
> That's a good move for now to keep things focused while moving up in the
> standards process. My personal favorite would be to get separate Braille
> streams moving forward but ther are other ways to make a positive impact on
> the web platform this year.
>
> 3) The CSS task force had a productive meeting with the CSS WG at TPAC and
> if there's progress on even a single item from our TPAC list it would be a
> significant step for the web as a whole.
>
> 4) Given the recent news about AsciiDoc working towards standardizing its
> syntax, I'd like to try to re-open the linear notation task force. I could
> imagine both AsciiMath and TeX-style syntax for the web could benefit from
> some standardization.
>
> 5) I would also like for the CG try to live up to its scope which is all
> mathematics (and possibly large chunks of scientific content) are part of
> it. Equation layout is a solved problem (even if separate braille streams
> are still on the todo list). Let's stop obsessing over it and think about
> other content or technologies (e.g., computational improvements to the web
> platform). I plan to follow up on my theorem-related posting a while back
> and perhaps other people have topics they're itching to discuss more
> broadly.
>
> Alright, that might be a decent start.
>
> Best,
> Peter.
>

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