Re: Last Call Working Draft of MathML 2.0, 2nd edition published

Hi.

> In a recent discussion with publishing colleagues the following question
> came up: What is the meaning of 
> 
> <mi mathvariant="bold">&#x1D538;</mi>
> 
> Is it at all allowed? If the answer is clear, then maybe the explanation in
> the spec should be expanded to include it. Or is it not possible to give a
> definite answer in the current version of MathML?

My opinion is that it's allowed, but not meaningful, and probably
shouldn't have any effect on rendering.  The relevant paragraphs from
section 3.2.2 of the spec that I base this on is:

   "A issue arises in that the natural interpretations of the mathvariant
   attribute values only make sense for certain characters. For example,
   there is no clear cut rendering for a 'fraktur' alpha, or a 'bold
   italic' Kanji character. In general, the only cases that have a clear
   interpretation are exactly the ones that correspond to SMP Math
   Alphanumeric Symbol characters.

   "Consequently, style sheet authors and application developers are
   encouraged in the strongest possible terms to respect the obvious
   typographical interpretation of the mathvariant attribute when applied
   to characters that have SMP Math Alphanumeric Symbol counterparts. In
   all other cases, it is up to the renderer to determine what effect, if
   any, the mathvariant attribute will have. For example, a renderer
   might sensibly choose to display a token with the contents &sum; (a
   character with no SMP counterpart) in bold face font if it has the
   mathvariant attribute set to 'bold' or to 'bold-fraktur', and to
   display it in a default Roman font if the mathvariant attribute is set
   to 'fraktur'. As this example indicates, authors should refrain from
   using the mathvariant attribute with characters that do not have SMP
   counterparts, since renderings may not be useful or predictable. "

--Robert

------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Robert Miner                                RobertM@dessci.com
MathML 2.0 Specification Co-editor                    651-223-2883
Design Science, Inc.   "How Science Communicates"   www.dessci.com
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Received on Monday, 5 May 2003 10:56:32 UTC