Hi all (but probably Marc more specifically),
Just before I try, I was just going to ask if ASCIIMathML needs MathPlayer (or equivalent) installed in IE? I guess it will fall back to Mimetex if a player isn't installed?
Obviously Firefox has native MathML support, but it doesn't provide the kinds of features a MathPlayer provides. Or is there an equivalent for Firefox?
I was wondering if you might know if/when IE was going to support MathML without the need for a plugin?
Thanks in advance,
Ian.
The current version of ASCIIMathML requires MathPlayer and Adobe SVG for svg functionality if you use it with IE. The version linked to Sourceforge does not have fallback but should work.
David Lippman created a fallback version to mimetex which we have fiddled to allow fallback to mathtran as well. A version with session cookies will soon be available so the script advises what you may need and that it is falling back once. I have appended my working file..... You can use this as a drop in for the js file you get from the distribution. It also has some newer browser sniffer code.
Currently the distribution package from sourceforge is intended as a text filter, but Mauno discovered that its behavior is a bit unorthodox, so he suggested it be referenced via meta.php as opposed to through filters, and as we have been working on creating a common directory, my suggestion is that you create /lib/editor/common and put the asciimath folder there, and then reference it appropriately in meta.php, along the lines of the example here: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=96160&parent=425826
There are tools developing out there, most of which can be found with a little searching..... I had a list somewheres and will try to find it but until I do the w3c web page for MathMl is a good place to start. As I mention in the start of the "accessibility matrix" it seems that a number of the MathPlayer features are based on the MathML content..... if there are specific funtions you are looking for I will keep an eye out....
Microsoft does its own thing, and with them issuing OOML I wouldn't be surpirsed if IE never complies with the W3C standard. Safari on the otherhand would, but I think its just a decision as to where webkit puts its resources..... there was a GSOC position to add it to webkit, but I don't know if it was filled.
FF does require install of fonts (the STIX fonts will do) and while there has been quite a bit of discussion on the web about that for now the fonts would have to be installed.
David Lippman created a fallback version to mimetex which we have fiddled to allow fallback to mathtran as well. A version with session cookies will soon be available so the script advises what you may need and that it is falling back once. I have appended my working file..... You can use this as a drop in for the js file you get from the distribution. It also has some newer browser sniffer code.
Currently the distribution package from sourceforge is intended as a text filter, but Mauno discovered that its behavior is a bit unorthodox, so he suggested it be referenced via meta.php as opposed to through filters, and as we have been working on creating a common directory, my suggestion is that you create /lib/editor/common and put the asciimath folder there, and then reference it appropriately in meta.php, along the lines of the example here: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=96160&parent=425826
There are tools developing out there, most of which can be found with a little searching..... I had a list somewheres and will try to find it but until I do the w3c web page for MathMl is a good place to start. As I mention in the start of the "accessibility matrix" it seems that a number of the MathPlayer features are based on the MathML content..... if there are specific funtions you are looking for I will keep an eye out....
Microsoft does its own thing, and with them issuing OOML I wouldn't be surpirsed if IE never complies with the W3C standard. Safari on the otherhand would, but I think its just a decision as to where webkit puts its resources..... there was a GSOC position to add it to webkit, but I don't know if it was filled.
FF does require install of fonts (the STIX fonts will do) and while there has been quite a bit of discussion on the web about that for now the fonts would have to be installed.
Thanks Marc,
Umm, I tried FF this afternoon and it seemed to render math ok. I haven't installed any fonts. But then again it wasn't complicated math, so perhaps that's why I got away with it.
Cheers,
Ian.
Umm, I tried FF this afternoon and it seemed to render math ok. I haven't installed any fonts. But then again it wasn't complicated math, so perhaps that's why I got away with it.
Cheers,
Ian.
Often times the giveaway is the use of a radical..... and you may have adequate fonts already installed. Fonts can be obtained via this link: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/mathml/fonts/
If you used the zip I posted, the script may have just done a fallback (as I mentioned, the warnings are all turned off.....) and the equations may have been interpreted via mimetex..... (you will want to point the script at your own mimetex or at the mathtrans server). If you used the script that came in the distribution then you may have just skated....
see what http://moodle.yourdomain.com/filter/asciimath/asciimath.htmlASCIIMathML.html looks like ;=}
I will typically use a different color for asciimath as that immediately keys me into whether the equation being displayed is inside backticks are dollar signs.
Using the fallback, there is a way to turn on warnings so that the browser pops up the tex it is passing to mimetex, but that I think is turned off in the version I posted as well.
If you used the zip I posted, the script may have just done a fallback (as I mentioned, the warnings are all turned off.....) and the equations may have been interpreted via mimetex..... (you will want to point the script at your own mimetex or at the mathtrans server). If you used the script that came in the distribution then you may have just skated....
see what http://moodle.yourdomain.com/filter/asciimath/asciimath.htmlASCIIMathML.html looks like ;=}
I will typically use a different color for asciimath as that immediately keys me into whether the equation being displayed is inside backticks are dollar signs.
Using the fallback, there is a way to turn on warnings so that the browser pops up the tex it is passing to mimetex, but that I think is turned off in the version I posted as well.
Umm. It definitely didn't do a fallback. As you say, I think I just happened to have the fonts installed to render the math I was looking at. If I get the chance I'll have a look into it further tomorrow.
BTW: I've been fiddling around (the best way of putting it) with the accessibility matrix in Moodle Docs. I've made some changes. I wasn't sure what was required of the "Conversion to other formats" row, but I've added in information on how LaTeX and MathML are made accessible to the blind and visually impared. The conclusion is that basically you need a screen reader
. I've no experience of OMML - I don't know if any screen reader supports it. Screen readers either use the DOM directly (depending on the browser), MSAA, or (more typically) a mixture of the two.
Hope this helps,
Ian.
BTW: I've been fiddling around (the best way of putting it) with the accessibility matrix in Moodle Docs. I've made some changes. I wasn't sure what was required of the "Conversion to other formats" row, but I've added in information on how LaTeX and MathML are made accessible to the blind and visually impared. The conclusion is that basically you need a screen reader
. I've no experience of OMML - I don't know if any screen reader supports it. Screen readers either use the DOM directly (depending on the browser), MSAA, or (more typically) a mixture of the two.Hope this helps,
Ian.