Re: linebreaking mathml

Dear all,

from someone who has been following this only from the side, it seems 
clear that there should probably be a W3C note on "Linebreaking in 
MathML". That summarizes the situation (and the discussion) and gives 
advice to MathML users.

Michael

Neil Soiffer wrote:
> Not that any user agent pays attention to it, but the <math> element
> does have the "overflow" attribute.  From the spec:
>
> ==============
> In cases where size negotiation is not possible or fails (for example in
> the case of an extremely long equation), this attribute is provided to
> suggest an alternative processing method to the renderer. Allowed values
> are 
>
> scroll
> 	The window provides a viewport into the larger complete display
> of the mathematical expression. Horizontal or vertical scrollbars are
> added to the window as necessary to allow the viewport to be moved to a
> different position. 
>
> elide
> 	The display is abbreviated by removing enough of it so that the
> remainder fits into the window. For example, a large polynomial might
> have the first and last terms displayed with "+ ... +" between them.
> Advanced renderers may provide a facility to zoom in on elided areas. 
>
> truncate
> 	The display is abbreviated by simply truncating it at the right
> and bottom borders. It is recommended that some indication of truncation
> is made to the viewer. 
>
> scale
> 	The fonts used to display the mathematical expression are chosen
> so that the full expression fits in the window. Note that this only
> happens if the expression is too large. In the case of a window larger
> than necessary, the expression is shown at its normal size within the
> larger window. 
> ==============
>
> This doesn't specifically say "don't linewrap", but it is close.  It
> does seem like it should be taken into account by any mechanism that
> gets developed, although I don't see developing a mechanism as a burning
> need.  I think it is more important to encourage auto linebreaking in
> renderers.
>
> Neil Soiffer
> Senior Scientist
> Design Science, Inc.
> neils@dessci.com
> www.dessci.com
> ~ Makers of Equation Editor, MathType, MathPlayer and MathFlow ~
>   
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-math-request@w3.org [mailto:www-math-request@w3.org] On Behalf
> Of Robert Miner
> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 3:19 PM
> To: www-math@w3.org
> Subject: RE: linebreaking mathml
>
>
> You raise a reasonable point.  While the CSS nowrap directive is
> probably a reasonable solution in Web contexts, it seems like there
> should be a way of disabling line breaking in MathML in non-CSS
> environments.
>
> --Robert
>
> Robert Miner
> Director, New Product Development
>
> Design Science, Inc.
> 140 Pine Avenue, 4th Floor
> Long Beach, California  90802
> USA
> Tel:  (651) 223-2883
> Fax:  (651) 292-0014
> robertm@dessci.com
> www.dessci.com
> ~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, WebEQ, Equation Editor,
> TexAide ~
>
>
>   
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: www-math-request@w3.org [mailto:www-math-request@w3.org] On
>>     
> Behalf
>   
>> Of William F Hammond
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:17 PM
>> To: www-math@w3.org
>> Subject: Re: linebreaking mathml
>>
>>
>> Hi Bruce,
>>
>> You write on an issue concerning presentation MathML in web browsers:
>>
>>     
>>>   I suppose that when MathML was originally developed, the authors
>>> imagined that the browser would be responsible for line breaking. 
>>> ...
>>>       
>> I am concerned with the community of authors having TeX backgrounds.
>> As one such author I want complete control over linebreaks in math.
>> I believe this is the general attitude among TeX users for traditional
>> print.
>>
>> I want to emulate that as much as possible in XHTML+MathML.
>>
>> Accordingly for all <math> elements I set the "white-space" CSS
>> property to "nowrap".  For examples such as you suggest I use <mtable>
>> with no more than 3 cells per row as the sole content of <math> in
>> display mode.  When there is insufficient width of the user's browser,
>> the window will require horizontal scrolling.
>>
>> As author I limit the width of content so that the need for horizontal
>> scrolling should not arise with a font of default size in a browser
>> window that is 60% of the width of a 1280x1024 display.
>>
>> The width limitation is natural when I am using one source markup for
>> both XHTML+MathML and print (via LaTeX).
>>
>>
>>                                     -- Bill
>>
>>     
>
>
>
>
>
>   

-- 
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 Professor of Computer Science     Campus Ring 12, 
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Received on Thursday, 7 June 2007 04:00:36 UTC