Re: Plan to remove deprecated MathML features from Firefox

Hi Frédéric,

(I'm cc-ing the old W3 MathML discussion list.)

You write:

> I'm in discussion with Mozilla people (more specifically
> Mats and Emilio) and we are considering disabling support
> for the following MathML features ; and later remove the
> corresponding code. These removals have already been
> discussed and agreed in the MathML CG but I think it's
> good to provide some heads up / reminder so that people
> can communicate these to the relevant communities.

Working HTML documents with MathML still on the web go back
to about the year 2000.

In my view Mozilla/Firefox has been the standard bearer for
math in HTML since the beginning.

What do you (plural) expect the authors of old documents
(who are still able) to do?  Yes, I know that some of the
deprecations began ten or more years ago.

In my case for each such document I am likely to have the
source and making the repair would just be a matter of the
minute it takes to "rebuild" it with updated formatters.
But the number of such documents would make even this a very
substantial amount of work.

Have you thought about how your proposals might affect the
confidence of the public in Mozilla?  Or even their
confidence in MathML as a presentation vehicle?

Personally I'm particularly concerned about <mfenced>.  I
have long voiced objection to the deprecation of mfenced.

However "hard" it might be for Firefox to handle <mfenced>,
it must certainly be harder for it to handle
"mmultiscripts"?  Will that be on a future list for removal?

                              -- Bill


Email: hmwlfsr@yahoo.com
       gellmu@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/william.f.hammond
http://www.albany.edu/~hammond/

Received on Friday, 20 December 2019 13:08:10 UTC