Re: behavior of @math with HTML output

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2022-10-14 16:01:58 +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 01:31:20PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > > On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 12:40:08AM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > > > 
> > > >   * 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...).
> > 
> > Well, so, broken design. It does not conform to the accessibility
> > rules and does not give correct rendering.
> 
> There is an ALT tag with the original LaTeX code.  Can you elaborate on
> what is missing and how this could be improved?

1. LaTeX code is hardly readable. Normal text should be used, with
   the math symbols from Unicode.

2. The "alt" attribute does not accept HTML elements. So instead of
   using <img> + alt, <object> should be used (when the <object> data
   cannot be rendered, such as an image on a text terminal, there is
   normal HTML fallback).

> > > >   * mathjax is not compatible with text browsers.
> > 
> > Also broken design as there is no correct fallback for text browsers.
> 
> I tested the page https://mathjax.github.io/MathJax-demos-web/tex-chtml.html
> with lynx (there are no Texinfo manuals with mathjax enabled I know of,
> if anybody knows about one, please tell me), and the result seems good
> to me, the LaTeX code is shown which is not a bad choice for math in
> a terminal.

Instead of "a \ne 0", one should get "a ≠ 0". The "ax^2 + bx + c = 0"
is OK, though "ax² + bx + c = 0" would be better, IMHO (or use <sup>).
Instead of "x = {-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac} \over 2a}", one should get
"x = (−b ± √(b²−4ac)) / (2a)".

-- 
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)