RE: Typesetting for print

Hi Wendell

Good question.

A search on ptc (arbortext) for mathml produces just one link, which is to Design Science.
    http://www.ptc.com/appserver/search/results.jsp?q=mathml
    http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/partners/software/company.jsp?&icg_dbkey=844&im_dbkey=43236

A search on sdl for mathml produces no links.
    http://www.sdl.com/en/search/default.asp?q=mathml

Note:  APP is what was formerly known as 3b2.
    http://www.3b2.com/?context=psContext.php&page=3b2Page.html

Here is the official 3b2/APP data sheet, which makes no reference to math.
    http://www.ptc.com/WCMS/files/33821/en/4486_Arbrtxt_Pblshr_DS_EN.PDF

I think that sample XML + MathML input and PDF output showing high quality typesetting would help promote MathML.  Any chance an MathML evangelist could approach these companies and ask them to provide samples?

With best regards


Jonathan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wendell P [mailto:wendellp@operamail.com]
> Sent: 18 January 2012 03:55
> To: www-math@w3.org
> Subject: Typesetting for print
>
> Although I didn't see any past discussion of print typography
> here, there doesn't seem to be any place else to bring this up.
>
> I would like to produce mathematical documents in an entirely
> XML workflow. There are WYSIWYG editors that render SVG and
> MathML, several good utilities for generating SVG
> illustrations, equation editors that i/o MathML, and
> typsetting engines that take XML+SVG+MathML input.
>
> My main problem is that I have been unable to get sufficient
> quality in the typesetting of equations. I would prefer
> quality like TeX, but would be satisfied with that of MS Word
> 2007. OpenOffice is definitely not good enough.
>
> I'm hoping to get some discussion here on what is available
> and how to make best use of it.
>
> The two commercial engines I've tried are Antenna House
> Formatter and Prince XML. I was satisfied with both except
> for the equations. Why is equation layout not better? Is it
> just a case of not putting enough work into rendering
> equations, or is it actually harder to develop rendering
> rules for MathML than for LaTeX? Maybe the capability is
> there but it takes a deeper knowledge of the system. I looked
> but couldn't find any discussion along those lines.
>
> There are also the really expensive systems like Arbortext
> APP and SDL's XML Professional Publisher. Do the big systems
> really render MathML with TeX-like quality? Not that I could
> afford them, but I'd like to know if what I want is even possible.
>
> What else should I consider? I just want to output typeset
> PDFs from XHTML/HTML5+SVG+MathML files. I have even tried
> "Print to PDF" in Firefox. The equations were actually not
> too bad, but I doubt that any amount of fiddling could
> produce production quality documents.
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail.fm - Choose from over 50 domains or use your own
>
>
>

-- 
The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).

Received on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 10:38:50 UTC