[HN Gopher] Enabling Support for MathML in Chrome
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       Enabling Support for MathML in Chrome
        
       Author : pera
       Score  : 28 points
       Date   : 2021-02-21 15:22 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (bugs.chromium.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (bugs.chromium.org)
        
       | nprescott wrote:
       | The chromium bug ticketing system is all but unreadable to me.
       | The OP ticket itself is closed and links to another instead, is
       | there recent movement of note?
       | 
       | I know igalia[0] was working on this but I haven't been following
       | the bug trackers directly. Their site and news section gives a
       | better sense of the progress and includes small demonstrations
       | with many of their updates.
       | 
       | 0: https://mathml.igalia.com/
        
         | etimberg wrote:
         | The linked ticket has some activity from the fall of 2020, but
         | hard to say what the overall status is.
         | 
         | https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=6606
        
       | sxp wrote:
       | Is there a need for browser-level support for math formulas
       | anymore? https://www.mathjax.org/ is a good support library if
       | you want math in your webpage and don't want to resort to images.
       | I've used it with https://casual-
       | effects.com/markdeep/features.md.html#embedde... and haven't had
       | any issues.
        
         | rhn_mk1 wrote:
         | There's absolutely a need for some rendering of formulas that
         | doesn't need JavaScript.
         | 
         | Formulas don't have anything that would require Turing-
         | completeness to display.
        
           | saagarjha wrote:
           | Wait until you hear about font shaping.
        
         | drran wrote:
         | MathJax uses MathML. :-/
        
           | Kwpolska wrote:
           | Pretty much all uses of MathJax use it with LaTeX input and
           | HTML-CSS output, no MathML involved.
        
           | randomfool wrote:
           | It has a MathML fallback, but does not require MathML.
           | 
           | Here's a useful discussion about MathML support in KaTeX (an
           | alternative to MathJax) and it's importance for
           | accessibility- https://github.com/KaTeX/KaTeX/issues/593
        
             | pera wrote:
             | I believe the parent means that MathJax uses MathML
             | internally:
             | 
             | > _MathJax uses MathML as the basis for its internal format
             | for mathematical expressions, so MathML support is built
             | into MathJax at a fundamental level._
             | 
             | https://docs.mathjax.org/en/latest/output/mathml.html
             | 
             | I seems a requirement for accessibility.
        
           | zamadatix wrote:
           | It can use MathML, as an input or output format, but it's
           | certainly not limited to it for either.
        
           | disabled wrote:
           | Perhaps I should share how I take my electrical engineering
           | notes, which are extremely math heavy. It probably is
           | interesting.
           | 
           | MathML is effectively the accessibility standard for people
           | who have print-related disabilities (which I have), not
           | LaTeX. There really is no way around it. One way or another,
           | I basically do everything in MathML.
           | 
           | MathJax in academic courses, in terms of accessibility, is
           | the way to go. Here is an awesome reference: Preparing
           | Accessible Math Documents using MathJax v3
           | https://progressiveaccess.com/ahg19/ahg19.pdf
           | 
           | But MathJax is clunky and requires an internet connection. It
           | just is not sleek or nice to use.
           | 
           | There are some pretty good scripts which back-translate LaTeX
           | into MathML. Likewise, there are scripts that back-translate
           | MathML into LaTeX.
           | 
           | You may find this interesting: For my graduate electrical
           | engineering coursework, I take all of my notes using a
           | braille notetaker (8 key input where each braille cell is
           | created by combinations of these keys known as chords)
           | connected to my laptop running a screenreader known as JAWS.
           | 
           | I take all of my notes in Lambda braille code, which gets
           | back-translated to MathML on my computer. It is an extremely
           | efficient way of taking notes and doing coursework. My peers
           | are actually jealous of my ability to create such amazing
           | notes. I have the best cheat sheets for exams: everyone wants
           | a copy of mine.
           | 
           | Sometimes using OCR can be useful: Rarely I like to take
           | notes with a pencil and paper (I can see perfectly fine but I
           | have a print-related disability). Sometimes I like to take
           | screenshots of math online. Sometimes I want a whole page of
           | math equations from a textbook.
           | 
           | For this, I use MathPix (MathML, LaTeX, and several other
           | outputs): https://mathpix.com/
           | 
           | There is also InftyReader, which does the same (but no
           | handwriting recognition!), and is not nearly as user-
           | friendly, or updated, for that matter (MathML, LaTeX, and
           | several other outputs): https://www.inftyreader.org/
           | 
           | Perhaps some people here might be interested in speech-to-
           | text rendering of math in LaTeX, which I do not use. You may
           | want to check out this fascinating post:
           | https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/145367/how-can-i-
           | use...
           | 
           | There is some program called MathTalk which does this, in
           | conjunction with Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional:
           | https://mathtalk.com/mathtalk-products/
           | 
           | But, apparently, there is a better, more updated, open source
           | package, utilizing Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional,
           | which does speech-to-text LaTeX called Mathfly:
           | https://mathfly.org/
           | 
           | The speech aspect could be useful for learning, in terms of
           | reinforcement, especially with the braille keyboard rendered
           | MathML notes. It could be used for Anki flashcards (spaced
           | repetition), or audio notes apps such as Audio Notetaker or
           | Glean (see: https://sonocent.com/).
        
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       (page generated 2021-02-21 23:02 UTC)