RE: support of MathML in Safari?

The W3C Workshop on Web Applications and Compound Documents
(http://www.w3.org/2004/04/webapps-cdf-ws/index.html) might be a good venue
in which to at least get started on a standards-based plugin architecture
capable enough to support MathML plugins like MathPlayer.

Paul Topping
Design Science, Inc.
www.dessci.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Libbrecht [mailto:paul@dfki.de]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 2:00 AM
> To: www-math@w3.org
> Subject: Re: support of MathML in Safari?
> 
> 
> 
> I know that Safari rendering engine is entirely based on WebCore, 
> itself an open-source extension, rewrapping, and port of KDE's 
> Konqueror.
> These two are open-source so I would presume it should be relatively 
> doable to get into the code and arrange for a linking between 
> MathPlayer and WebCore.
> And if all goes well, there would even be the chance to actually port 
> MathPlayer to Linux and other KDE ports.
> 
> WebCore:
> 	http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/webcore/index.html
> Konqueror:
> 	http://konqueror.kde.org/
> 
> paul
> 
> PS: Netscape has been trying to establish a comittee to revise the 
> notion of plugins after the M$IE behaviours came out... did 
> no-one had 
> an echo of the development of such a comittee ?
> 
> 
> On 12-Apr-04, at 19:10 Uhr, Paul Topping wrote:
> > My thoughts would be to establish a plug-in interface that 
> was general
> > enough to handle XML-based extensions, such as MathML and SVG. It 
> > would have
> > similar functionality to the ones that MathPlayer uses in Internet 
> > Explorer
> > (but better, of course):
> >
> > - A mechanism (possibly user controllable) would allow the 
> association 
> > of
> > plugin software with a particular namespace URI (eg, MathML 
> or SVG). A
> > MathPlayer installer would make this association for MathML.
> >
> > - Based on the above mechanism, Safari would invoke the 
> plugin on each
> > instance of <math>, passing it a DOM interface starting at 
> that node.
> >
> > - During layout, Safari would call the plugin with ambient 
> properties, 
> > such
> > as font, point size, text color, etc. The plugin would lay out the 
> > equation
> > and return the dimensions of the equation, as well as baseline and
> > side-bearings.
> >
> > - During display (and print), Safari would call the plugin 
> with some 
> > kind of
> > display (print) context, and the plugin would perform graphics 
> > operations to
> > draw the equation.
> >
> > Hopefully, there would also be other interfaces to support 
> such things 
> > as
> > interaction (mouse clicks, menus) and accessibility. It 
> would possibly 
> > make
> > sense to make this kind of plugin into some kind of 
> standard, although 
> > it
> > might not be within the W3C's scope.
> >
> > Although MathPlayer obviously has Windows and IE-dependent 
> code, it is
> > largely platform-independent code that uses library for 
> which me have 
> > a Mac
> > implementation. So, with any luck, it should be too much work.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Daniel Jamous [mailto:jamous@MIT.EDU]
> >> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 6:11 AM
> >> To: Paul Topping
> >> Cc: 'www-math@w3.org'
> >> Subject: RE: support of MathML in Safari?
> >>
> >>
> >> Dear Paul,
> >>
> >> Thank you very much for your response.
> >>
> >> I will try to see if there's anything we can do in this regard.
> >>
> >> Just a follow-up question: from a technical point of view,
> >> what would be the requirements for Safari to be able to
> >> support MathPlayer?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Daniel
> >>
> >> At 02:27 PM 4/8/2004 -0700, Paul Topping wrote:
> >>> Daniel,
> >>>
> >>> We at Design Science would like to help in this effort. We
> >> would like
> >>> to be able to create a version of MathPlayer that works
> >> inside Safari
> >>> and offer it for free just as we do for Internet Explorer.
> >> We have been
> >>> in contact with someone at Apple that has promised to put us
> >> in contact
> >>> with the Safari team but that has not happened yet. Last
> >> time I looked,
> >>> Safari had not committed to supporting XML or to a 
> plug-in interface
> >>> rich enough to make MathPlayer possible. But these things
> >> should not be
> >>> insurmountable barriers and the sooner we start addressing
> >> them the better.
> >>>
> >>> The best thing that you and others on the www-math list 
> can do is to
> >>> tell the Safari people how important MathML support in 
> Safari is. I
> >>> suspect that MathML support is somewhere on a long wish list
> >> of Safari enhancements.
> >>> Input from parties other than those who stand to profit from the
> >>> success of MathML can help move it higher on that list.
> >>>
> >>> Paul
> >>>
> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> Paul Topping                     email: pault@dessci.com
> >>> President                        phone: 562-433-0685
> >>>                                  http://www.dessci.com
> >> Design Science,
> >>> Inc.
> >>> "How Science Communicates"
> >>> MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, Equation Editor, TeXaide
> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: Daniel Jamous [mailto:jamous@MIT.EDU]
> >>>> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 1:29 PM
> >>>> To: www-math@w3.org
> >>>> Subject: support of MathML in Safari?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Hello,
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm just wondering if anyone knows whether there are plans to
> >>>> support MathML in future versions of Apple's browser Safari.
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks for any info you can share.
> >>>>
> >>>> Daniel Jamous
> >>>> Academic Computing -- MIT
> >>>>
> >>
> >
>

Received on Sunday, 18 April 2004 19:14:57 UTC