[whatwg] Mathematics in HTML5

[Henri Sivonen]

On Jun 20, 2006, at 10:42, White Lynx wrote:

> Henri Sivonen wrote:
>
>> There are only stretchy brackets.
>> No stretchy parentheses or braces in sight.
>
> Did you check fences part at http://www.geocities.com/chavchan/css/ 
> annotated.css

I didn't. I checked the sample documents, and I didn't see any  
stretchy parentheses or braces.

>> Also, the stretchy square root hack is just ugly.
>
> May I ask how this issue is related to MARKUP proposal?

I wasn't commenting on markup. I was commenting on the claim that you  
had solved the problem of math rendering using CSS. You have not.

>> Fractions are only used in display math, etc.
>
> No. They can be used inline and can be nested anywhere. Check DTD.

I was referring to what *is done* in the samples.

>> This is no coincidence, because CSS doesn't do stretchy math
>> characters. Moreover, general-purpose text rendering subsystems and
>> fonts usually don't do stretchy characters which is why math
>> renderers typically special-case these with font-specific knowledge.
>
> Once again, how his issue is related to MARKUP proposal?

The markup has to be rendered. On the Web, this means specifying the  
rendering via CSS or making the rendering engine do special-case  
stuff when CSS is not sufficient.

Clearly, CSS today is insufficient for rendering math. (It doesn't do  
stretchy characters, for example.) It was already explained why it is  
a bad idea to expect CSS to change to accommodate your markup:
http://listserver.dreamhost.com/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2006-June/ 
006551.html
http://listserver.dreamhost.com/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2006-June/ 
006588.html

That leaves special-casing. The special-casing for MathML is already  
implemented in Gecko and Trident+MathPlayer. The special-casing for  
your markup isn't.

-- 
Henri Sivonen
hsivonen at iki.fi
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/