mathjax HTML export question

mathjax HTML export question

[Erik Iverson]

Hello,

I'm really enjoying MathJax HTML export in the development
version of org-mode!

I do have one question though:

Jan Böcker writes in this post,
http://www.mail-archive.com/emacs-orgmode@gnu.org/msg28630.html ,
that:

"I found that when an HTML file on the local hard disk uses
MathJax from the web, MathJax reverts to image fonts in Firefox (this is
caused by a security feature of Firefox and mentioned in the MathJax
FAQ). Using a local MathJax installation in a subdirectory fixes this."

I am using Firefox to view the exported HTML documents from org-mode,
and everything seems to look great.  MathJax ix clearly working
since I can right-click an equation and zoom in, show the LaTeX source,
etc.

Is there something that I'm missing, or that could be "better" with
a local installation of MathJax?  I don't know what "reverts to image
fonts in Firefox" means, but whatever is happening on my export seems
to look nice.

I also see at:
http://www.mathjax.org/resources/docs/?installation.html
under 'Notes about shared installations' that making a
small change to .htaccess:

"should make it possible for pages at other sites to load MathJax
from this server in such a way that Firefox will be able to download
the web-based fonts."

Is this what has happened with the org-mode hosted MathJax install,
or should I install a local copy to get the full benefits of
MathJax support?

Thanks for any explanation!

Erik

Re: mathjax HTML export question

[Jan Böcker]

On 08/23/2010 08:12 PM, Erik Iverson wrote:

> Is there something that I'm missing, or that could be "better" with
> a local installation of MathJax?  I don't know what "reverts to image
> fonts in Firefox" means, but whatever is happening on my export seems
> to look nice.

Hi Erik,

when MathJax cannot use its custom math fonts, it replaces each
character with a pre-rendered image (I think it has each character
available in a handful of different sizes).

At normal font sizes, the disadvantages of image fonts are not that
noticeable to me (except that math symbols in links appear black instead
of blue, because the images are only available in black).

The main disadvantage is that font quality degrades when you zoom in. I
have not tested if one can notice a difference when printing
(theoretically, real fonts will look better, because the printer has a
higher resolution).

In the context of Static MathJax, the disadvantage is that the script
cannot embed image fonts into HTML files, which is why I mentioned this
in my email.

The change to .htaccess had certainly not happened when I announced
Static MathJax, as I used the installation at orgmode.org for testing.

Best regards,
  Jan

Re: mathjax HTML export question

[Erik Iverson]

Jan Böcker wrote:
> On 08/23/2010 08:12 PM, Erik Iverson wrote:
> 
>> Is there something that I'm missing, or that could be "better" with
>> a local installation of MathJax?  I don't know what "reverts to image
>> fonts in Firefox" means, but whatever is happening on my export seems
>> to look nice.
> 
> Hi Erik,
> 
> when MathJax cannot use its custom math fonts, it replaces each
> character with a pre-rendered image (I think it has each character
> available in a handful of different sizes).
> 
> At normal font sizes, the disadvantages of image fonts are not that
> noticeable to me (except that math symbols in links appear black instead
> of blue, because the images are only available in black).
> 
> The main disadvantage is that font quality degrades when you zoom in. I
> have not tested if one can notice a difference when printing
> (theoretically, real fonts will look better, because the printer has a
> higher resolution).

Thank you for the explanation.  By comparing with the demos on
mathjax.org, I am indeed able to see what is meant by image fonts.

I was able to use the 'real' fonts by installing a local copy
of MathJax as the MathJax FAQ indicates.

> 
> In the context of Static MathJax, the disadvantage is that the script
> cannot embed image fonts into HTML files, which is why I mentioned this
> in my email.

I have not tried out static mathjax, but it looks interesting!

Thanks again!

> 
> The change to .htaccess had certainly not happened when I announced
> Static MathJax, as I used the installation at orgmode.org for testing.
> 
> Best regards,
>   Jan