Re: behavior of @math with HTML output

[Patrice Dumas]

On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 01:41:20PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> On 2022-10-14 11:30:33 +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> > "In general, the contents of @math or @displaymath should be plain TeX 
> > only, with no interspersed Texinfo commands."
> 
> I assumed that this was for commands that exist in plain TeX, which
> is not the case of @var.

No, it is for all the @-commands, and, in my opinion, the sentence is
clear as is.  But do not hesitate to propose changes in the manual if
you think it can be ameliorated.

> > In the upcoming version, there is a converter to LaTeX, which allowed to
> > add the customization variable CONVERT_TO_LATEX_IN_MATH.  You could use
> > that in conjunction with HTML_MATH t4h to have Texinfo @-commands
> > produce TeX/LaTeX math in @math.  However, it won't do what you want in
> > term of formatting, as, if I recall well, @var is a no-op in conversion
> > to LaTeX in math mode, as math mode is already slanted.
> 
> Well, math mode normally uses italics, not slanted, but perhaps this
> is changed by t4h (or Texinfo).

I think it is indeed italics, but my point was that the font in math is
slanted (italics is slanted), which seemed similar enough to the effect
of @var in the main text (which is also slanted, though not with a
'cursive' style), that I chosed not to change anything else.

> There is another issue: math mode
> disables kerning (because a sequence of letters typically means that
> this is a product), unless some command is used to specify that this
> is actually text. Not a major issue, but incorrect typography can be
> disturbing.

I think that this is ok in printed output and in Info.  In HTML I don't
know, but I do not think that it is important.  We try to avoid ligatures
in math mode.

-- 
Pat