RE: MathML won't display (or: what triggers mathplayer behaviour?)

Hi Richard,

Looks good from here in Firefox 2.0.0.3 and IE6.0 + MathPlayer2.1a on Windows XP, SP2.

(FYI: From my POV, in Firefox the math is defaulting to a serif font, whereas in IE it defaults to sans serif. In both browsers, the body font and all other design elements seem to be sans serif.)

Best wishes,
Mike



> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-math-request@w3.org 
> [mailto:www-math-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Richard Kaye
> Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:58 PM
> To: www-math@w3.org
> Subject: RE: MathML won't display (or: what triggers 
> mathplayer behaviour?)
> 
> 
> Dear all
> 
> I have finally succeeded in getting my blog server to emit
>  Content-Type: application/xhtml+xml
> in the HTTP header.  This was with quite a lot of help from 
> the support group for Tomcat and David Czarnecki who wrote
> the blog software (blojsom) I am using.  The details aren't
> particularly important, except to say that it was necessary to 
> treat XML data as binary data and output it to a stream rather 
> than a text Writer.  (Java supports all the usual encodings so 
> it is almost trivial to support those other than the default 
> UTF-8. This will be done.)
> 
> I've tested it all quickly and it seems to work on all the 
> platforms and browsers I have available, including IE+MathPLlayer.
> You can try it yourself at
> 
> http://mat140.bham.ac.uk:8180/blojsom/blog/default/?flavor=xht
> mlplusmathml
> 
> (The output is legible, but I still need to do some design tweaks.
> You are not supposed to worry about those details right now.)
> 
> I learnt a lot in the process :) Thanks everyone for your interest 
> and help!
> 
> Richard
> 
> 
> On Tue, 2007-05-29 at 14:59 -0400, Waters, Michael, Springer US wrote:
> > Hi Robert,
> > 
> > Recent tests on serving static .xhtml files led me to agree 
> with Richard's assessment: the problem with MathPlayer not 
> being triggered "is due to the presence of "; charset=utf-8" 
> or something in the server's Content-Type header".
> > 
> > Just now I confirmed that observation by alternately adding 
> and removing a "AddCharset UTF-8" directive to Apache's 
> httpd.conf file. By adding that 1 directive, 
> stopping/starting the server, >>AND<< removing the local 
> browser cache, not just refreshing the page, I was able to 
> prevent the triggering of MathPlayer on the simplest MathML 
> demo page, thereby showing the XML tree. To re-enable the 
> correct MathPlayer behavior, I removed the directive, 
> stoppped/started the server, >>AND<< removed the local 
> browser cache, going back to the default 
> application/xhtml+xml MIME type for .xhtml and .xht files.
> > 
> > I haven't looked closely at various registry settings and 
> I'm no web server expert, but these quick tests indicate to 
> me that "application/xhtml+xml" works in IE6+MathPlayer, but 
> "application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8" is problematic. (I 
> haven't yet tested IE7.)
> > 
> > ----
> > Mike Waters
> > Springer
> > Process and Content Management
> > ----
> > 233 Spring St. | New York, NY 10013 | USA
> > Tel: +1 212 620-8457
> > Fax: +1 212 647-1898
> > mike.waters@springer.com
> > ----
> > www.springer.com
> > www.springerlink.com
> >  
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: www-math-request@w3.org 
> > > [mailto:www-math-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Robert Miner
> > > Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 11:49 AM
> > > To: Jacques Distler
> > > Cc: R.W.Kaye@bham.ac.uk; www-math@w3.org; William F. Hammond
> > > Subject: RE: MathML won't display (or: what triggers 
> > > mathplayer behaviour?)
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Hi Jacques,
> > > 
> > > There isn't a direct connection between the charset and 
> the XML tree.
> > > But just as IE doesn't seem to always follow the rules 
> for determining
> > > the encoding, it also does not play by the rules for 
> determining the
> > > MIME type (as I'm sure you know).  
> > > 
> > > The XML tree shows up when IE doesn't believe the http header's
> > > declaration that the MIME type is application/xhtml+xml 
> and doesn't
> > > start up MathPlayer.  Somewhere later on, it must realize 
> the document
> > > is XML at least, since it displays the tree.  But at the 
> point it is
> > > supposed to invoke MathPlayer if the MIME type is 
> > > application/xhtml+xml,
> > > the call never comes, at least as far as I can determine 
> by setting a
> > > breakpoint in the relevant routine in the debugger.
> > > 
> > > We had been experimenting with the charset parameter, on the 
> > > hypothesis
> > > that somehow that might be preventing IE from recognizing the MIME
> > > declaration in the http header. But it doesn't seem to.  
> > > Mostly it seems
> > > like if the document is dynamically generated, so there 
> isn't a file
> > > name in the http header, IE just sniffs the content and 
> get's it wrong
> > > for purposes of firing off MathPlayer.  At least that is what the
> > > experimental evidence seems to suggest to me.
> > > 
> > > I thought perhaps Richard's comment about the BOM meant 
> that if there
> > > was a BOM, suddenly IE's sniffer did the right thing and 
> > > recognized the
> > > content as application/xhtml+xml and fired up MathPlayer. 
>  But I guess
> > > not.
> > > 
> > > --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 ~
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
>

Received on Wednesday, 30 May 2007 20:02:57 UTC