[uf-new] an equation/MathML/TeX microformat?

[Paul Topping]

Because that eliminates its originally intended use as "alternative
text". Screen readers will read this literally, for example, and it will
show up in tooltips when one hovers over it with the mouse. It is
exactly this kind of hack that I'm looking to microformats to escape
from.

Paul

> -----Original Message-----
> From: microformats-new-bounces at microformats.org [mailto:microformats-
> new-bounces at microformats.org] On Behalf Of Jeff McNeill
> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 11:15 AM
> To: For discussion of new microformats.
> Subject: Re: [uf-new] an equation/MathML/TeX microformat?
> 
> Aloha,
> 
> Why not use the alt="" tag for a given rendered image? That is what
> works on the MimeTeX installations, see e.g.,
> http://garden9.com/wiki/user-talk:jeffmcneill
> 
> --
> Sincerely,
> Jeff McNeill
> http://jeffmcneill.com/
> 
> 
> On 10/26/07, Paul Topping <pault at dessci.com> wrote:
> > What you suggest is close to what I'm looking for but lacks
> declaration
> > of the kind of data the image/linked data bundle represents.
Software
> > working with the page would have to fetch the linked-to MathML or
TeX
> > and examine it to know it was an equation. As I understand it, what
a
> > microformat does is more than just hold the data, it declares a
> > datatype.
> >
> > Also, I want to put the MathML or TeX in the page, not in separate
> > documents. Typical pages with math in them might have dozens of
> > equations. Having their representation in separate files is
> inefficient
> > but perhaps the biggest problem is that it makes authoring a lot
more
> > tedious as lots of small files have to be managed.
> >
> > Paul Topping
> > Design Science, Inc.
> > www.dessci.com
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: microformats-new-bounces at microformats.org
> [mailto:microformats-
> > > new-bounces at microformats.org] On Behalf Of Christopher St John
> > > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 7:34 AM
> > > To: For discussion of new microformats.
> > > Subject: Re: [uf-new] an equation/MathML/TeX microformat?
> > >
> > > On 10/26/07, Paul Topping <pault at dessci.com> wrote:
> > > > The problem has nothing to do with improving display. As I said,
> > that
> > > > will be via an image such as a GIF or PNG. The microformat is
> solely
> > > for
> > > > the purpose of associating a MathML or TeX representation with
the
> > > > image. As with other microformats, normal HTML content is what
the
> > > user
> > > > sees while software sees structured, useful data.
> > > >
> > >
> > > To restate the hopefully obvious, just in case:
> > >
> > > You just want to say "this png image of an equation you're looking
> at
> > > is associated with the (MathML | TeX | Etc) ( at the end of this
> link
> > |
> > > embedded
> > > here in the document)"
> > >
> > > How would you do it now, without microformats? Something along the
> > > lines of:
> > >
> > >  <a href="some_mathml.xml"><img src="some_math.png"></a>
> > >
> > > with maybe a "class" or "rel" or something in there to tie them
> > together
> > > a bit tighter?
> > >
> > > Would "the rendering fallback for this MathML is this png image"
get
> > you
> > > the same effect? In which case you're maybe looking at the
standard
> > > <object> tag mechanism, but that gets you some (hopefully fading)
> > > issues on certain browsers. But do the semantics of <object>
> fallbacks
> > > match what you want to do?
> > >
> > > Have you read through the existing microformats in detail checking
> to
> > > see how similiar sorts of problems have been solved before? Not
sure
> > if
> > > there's anything exactly applicable, but it's probably worth a
shot.
> > >
> > > -cks
> > >
> > > --
> > > Christopher St. John
> > > http://artofsystems.blogspot.com
> > > _______________________________________________
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> >
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