Re: behavior of @math with HTML output

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2022-10-14 07:06:03 +0100, Gavin Smith wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 12:40:08AM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > On 2022-10-13 21:15:57 +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> > > I agree with Gavin, you should not use @math if you want normal text,
> > > but given that there is now good support of TeX math in texi2any for
> > > HTML with any of the 3 HTML_MATH option,
> > 
> > All of them are buggy:
> >   * l2h generates image files as documented, which have many drawbacks
> >     (do not work with text browsers, not accessible, font size issues
> >     with a graphical browser...).
> 
> That is not a bug.

Well, so, broken design. It does not conform to the accessibility
rules and does not give correct rendering.

> >   * Concerning t4h,
> >       @math{@var{base} \le 16},
> >     yields "@varbase ≤ 16 ,", so @var doesn't work (while it is needed
> >     to ensure exactly the same typography/code as outside @math, e.g.
> >     <var>base</var>) and there is a spurious space before the comma.
> 
> This is a minor bug but Texinfo commands like @var should not be
> used inside @math.

This is not documented. And the syntax to get correct markup and
typography for any output is not documented either. But for manual
writers, it would be much simpler if @var were supported inside
@math.

> The space before the comma is also a bug - I haven't investigated
> whether is is in texi2any or tex4ht.
> 
> >   * mathjax is not compatible with text browsers.
> 
> Not a bug, working as designed.

Also broken design as there is no correct fallback for text browsers.

This is an important point for developers, in particular because
manuals may be on a remote machine accessed via ssh.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)