Future WEB technologies and (La)TeX

An earlier answer ("converting to HTML") addresses the issue of converting existing (La)TeX documents for viewing on the Web as HTML. All the present techniques are somewhat flawed: the answer explains why.

However, things are changing, with better font availability, cunning HTML programming and the support for new Web standards.

Font technologies

Direct representation of mathematics in browsers has been hampered up to now by the limited range of symbols in the fonts one can rely on being available. Some existing (La)TeX to HTML converters provide maths symbols by hitching them to alternate font face specifications for standard code points in a non-standard way. This does nothing for the universality of the HTML so generated.

In the near future, we can expect rather wide availability of Unicode fonts with good coverage of symbols, which should make life easier for those who need to represent mathematics.

XML

The core of the range of new standards is XML, which provides a framework for better structured markup; limited support for it has already appeared in some browsers.

Conversion of (La)TeX source to XML is already available (through TeX4ht at least), and work continues in that arena. The alternative, authoring in XML (thus producing documents that are immediately Web-friendly, if not ready) and using (La)TeX to typeset is also well advanced. One useful technique is transforming the XML to LaTeX, using an XSLT stylesheet or code for an XML library, and then simply using LaTeX; alternatively, one may typeset direct from the XML source.

Direct represention of mathematics

MathML is a standard for representing maths on the Web; its original version was distinctly limited, but version 2 of MathML has had major browser support since 2002 with richness of mathematical content for online purposes approaching that of TeX for print. Browser support for MathML is provided by amaya, the 'Open Source' browser mozilla (and its derivatives including NetScape, Firefox and Galeon) and Internet Explorer when equipped with a suitable plugin such as MathPlayer. There's evidence that (La)TeX users are starting to use such browsers. Some believe that XHTML+MathML now provides better online viewing than PDF. Work to produce XHTML+MathML is well advanced in both the TeX4ht and TtH projects for (La)TeX conversion.

An approach different from (La)TeX conversion is taken by the GELLMU Project. Its article XML document type, which has a markup vocabulary close to LaTeX that can be edited using LaTeX-like markup (even though it is not LaTeX - so far), comes with translators that make both PDF (via pdflatex) and XHTML+MathML. Such an approach avoids the inherent limitations of the "traditional" (La)TeX translation processes, which have traps that can be sprung by unfettered use of (La)TeX markup.

Graphics

SVG is a standard for graphics representation on the web. While the natural use is for converting existing figures, representations of formulas are also possible, in place of the separate bitmaps that have been used in the past (and while we wait for the wider deployment of MathML).

Browser plug-ins, that deal with SVG are already available (Adobe offer one, for example). More recently, the open source graphics editor Inkscape has appeared, and has been reported to be useful for SVG-related work in at least one TeX-related project. Be aware that the developers of Inkscape have no illusions about being able to replace commercial software, yet...

Direct use of TeX markup

Some time back, IBM developed a browser plug-in called TechExplorer, which would display (La)TeX documents direct in a browser. Over the years, it developed into a MathML browser plug-in, while still retaining its (La)TeX abilities, but it's now distributed (free for Linux and Windows platforms) by Integre Technical Publishing.

The disadvantage of the TechExplorer approach is that it places the onus on the browser user; and however technically proficient you are, it's never safe to assume too much of your readers. An interesting alternative is MimeTeX, which sits on your server as a CGI script, and you use it to include your TeX, in your HTML, as if it were an image:

<img src="../cgi-bin/mimetex.cgi?f(x)=\int\limits_{-\infty}^xe^{-t^2}dt">

GELLMU

support/gellmu (zip, browse)

MimeTeX

support/mimetex (zip, browse)

TeX4HT

support/TeX4ht/tex4ht-all.zip

This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=mathml