Re: [Filter Effects][css3-transforms] Using MathML for formulas

On Apr 23, 2012, at 2:04 PM, Paul Topping wrote:

> Screen readers work with MathPlayer, the IE plugin that my company gives
> away for free. (I could not tell you which ones and which versions
> work.) If MathPlayer is installed, IE uses it to display MathML and
> screen readers use it to turn math into text to be spoken. If the page
> uses MathJax, and MathJax detects IE+MathPlayer, it defers to MathPlayer
> to display the math and screen readers will work fine on the math.

I know MathPlayer. I just checked MathJax on IE. The problem is that the script suggest that the MathPlayer plugin is needed to display the formulas on the demo site, even if that is obviously not the case! As much as I like MathPlayer and the output of MathJax, this behavior seems not to be applicable for a specification of the W3C. It is strange that I didn't get a popup on the main page of the project on the first load. So it looks like this popup can be blocked (without changes to the code itself)?

Greetings,
Dirk



> 
> Paul
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dirk Schulze [mailto:dschulze@adobe.com]
>> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 1:54 PM
>> To: Paul Topping
>> Cc: Rik Cabanier; public-fx@w3.org
>> Subject: Re: [Filter Effects][css3-transforms] Using MathML for
>> formulas
>> 
>> I would like to know more about MathJax before I come to a conclusion
>> for my self. MathJax is a Javascript library. Content in
> specifications
>> should not rely on JS at all in my eyes.
>> 
>> But if I understood it correctly, than you can add formulas in pure
>> MathML and the library would take care about the rendering? It would
>> still mean that you cannot read the specification on disabled
>> JavaScript and missing MathML support.
>> 
>> Is there a benefit to the idea of Aryeh to use CSS and check for the
>> MathML namespace? My priority is the accessibility. If we can use pure
>> MathML, the specs might be more accessible. The problem with Aryeh's
>> solution is, that current screenreader don't inspect elements which
> are
>> not displayed on the screen (e.g display:none). Therefore, on IE the
>> MathML code wouldn't be accessible for screen reader users since the
>> code does not get displayed. Would that be different with MathJax?
>> 
>> Greetings,
>> Dirk
>> 
>> 
>> On Apr 23, 2012, at 1:31 PM, Paul Topping wrote:
>> 
>>> It is not as fast as if MathML were supported directly in the
> browser
>> but JavaScript performance is getting faster all the time. It also
>> depends a lot on what browser you are talking about and what device.
> It
>> is very fast in IE with MathPlayer installed as it defers to
> MathPlayer
>> to draw the MathML. It is much slower on an iPhone, for example. Best
>> thing to do is try it on a sample page. There are also links to other
>> sites that use MathJax listed on the MathJax site. You might find some
>> analogous content.
>>> 
>>> Paul
>>> 
>>> From: Rik Cabanier [mailto:cabanier@gmail.com]
>>> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 1:26 PM
>>> To: Paul Topping
>>> Cc: public-fx@w3.org
>>> Subject: Re: [Filter Effects][css3-transforms] Using MathML for
>> formulas
>>> 
>>> This is great! Thanks for pointing this out.
>>> Do you know if the performance is good? Some spec pages are quite
>> long and I think mathjax has to process all the text.
>>> 
>>> Rik
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 12:52 PM, Paul Topping <pault@dessci.com>
>> wrote:
>>> You may be interested in the MathJax project (www.mathjax.org). It
> is
>> an
>>> open source JavaScript engine for displaying MathML and LaTeX
>> equations
>>> in all modern web browsers and ebook readers. It essentially fills
>> the
>>> gaps in browser support of MathML.
>>> 
>>> Paul Topping
>>> Design Science, Inc.
>>> 
>>> 
>

Received on Monday, 23 April 2012 21:23:29 UTC