Re: MathML capable browser

Robert --

In a previous message you had suggested, as an aside, that there would be
native support for MathML in the browsers of the future.  I replied, and
you responded:

: > Don't you mean native XML support?  (Do you think world really cares
: > about math?  Wasn't the html3.0 experience sufficiently clear?)
: 
: No and no.  I understand the mainstream browsers are working on XML
: support in a big way as a matter of course, but they are also working
: (or at least facilitating) direct MathML implementations.  

I would like to know more about what manner of native "direct" mathml
implementation is envisioned.

I now have become aware of HTML-Voyager, an xml language, which, as I
understand it, is proposed as the browser markup of the future and
which begins with html.  ( See http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-html-in-xml/ )

Although voyager may look different than html to an xml parser, it should
look the same to a browser.  But its dtd, which I did not see, should be
easily extendable to what we would call html+mathml.

On the other hand, the whole idea with voyager, which appears to be
Dave Raggett's baby, seems to be extensibility of the html tag set.
(And Dave has provided "tidy", a program for converting html to
voyager.)

Presumably there could be an arrangement, where one would only
need to serve voyager-xml with xsl code only for the non-html tags
in order to have something useful with xsl code for the html tags
being optional, tag by tag.

That said, a browser then could have "internal" knowledge of default
xsl code for MathML working under the mainstream xml/xsl engine.

Is this the game?

Thanks.

                                   -- Bill

Received on Thursday, 17 December 1998 10:27:08 UTC