MathML, TeX, LaTeX, TeXvc, MimeTeX, oh my!
All I wanted was to display statistical formulas on my wiki (and blog, well, actually any web page), but apparently that is not so easy. MathML is not widely implemented (IE 7 still uses a plug-in??!).
In addition, the exquisitely unhelpful discussions regarding any problems with TeXvc (the built-in MediaWiki LaTeX processor), and vacuum of cyberspace on googling such phrases, are enough to make one weep.
And so, to the LaTeX and TeX community… (or the web community, working with math/stats), I want to say, all is not lost. Though it is true we have to learn LaTeX and LaTeX-like syntax, at least a simple, server-side .CGI has come to our rescue, namely MimeTeX. Here is what worked to get this working on a MediaWiki 1.7 install (extensive documentation available here).
- Bash shell access
- Compiler group rights
- Download MimeTeX zip file
- Unzip file
- Compile with cc -DAA mimetex.c gifsave.c -lm -o mimetex.cgi
- Test .CGI file from the command line
- Relocate directory where appropriate, build symlinks as needed
- Test from browser (deal with rights issues 755 on the .cgi, if needed)
- Create a mimetex.php file (edit pathing in the example code on the MimeTeX site)
- Edit LocalSettings.php to require mimetex.php
This is much easier to deal with than the nasty TeXvc stuff that is supposedly “built in” to MediaWiki. Plus there are the handy WordPress plugins, etc.
From what I can tell, a complete dissertation could be written using MediaWiki with a “print” link to deliver it to the printer or in PDF. Use of CSS would provide all the necessary formatting. The only functionality that is still awkward would be the bibTeX challenges (flashback to aborted Masters’ project “bibmark,” sigh).
I will save that one for another post…
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3 Responses to “MathML, TeX, LaTeX, TeXvc, MimeTeX, oh my!”
Paul Topping - January 26, 2007
“MathML is not widely implemented (IE 7 still uses a plug-in??!)” refers to my company’s free MathPlayer plugin (www.dessci.com/mathplayer). Perhaps I’m overly sensitive, but this sounds like the writer thinks that plugins are a bad thing. It is not that simple:
While everyone would prefer that the latest version of everything come with a single install, or magically with no install at all, this is not going to happen.
While MathPlayer is technically a plugin, it ties directly into IE’s guts and renders MathML at high speed. Sometimes, when people read “browser plugin” they think of the old Netscape-style plugins and OBJECT tags. MathPlayer is not this kind of plugin.
MathPlayer actually supports more MathML than Mozilla and Firefox and has features that they don’t, such as MathZoom which lets one zoom up any equation with just a click so that one can better see small accents, subscripts, etc. It also works with screen readers that the blind use to read web pages and actually speaks the math.
Just thought your readers should know.
Paul Topping Design Science, Inc.
Reiner Wilhelms-Tricarico - February 6, 2007
This is very refreshing, oh my! The really funny thing, due to the complicated discussion (and online battle) about which math rendering method to use, I now arrived after hours of tinkering with all these packages, configuration files of apache, mediawiki, and who knows what ; at a solution where I can suddenly render latex commands in my (local only) wiki, but don’t have a clue which of the distributions I am using! That is the most confusing software “installation” I’ve seen so far.
physicspirate.com » Blog Archive » Using math formulas in wordpress 2.0 - February 17, 2007
[...] a couple of interesting blogs talking about the troubles of trying to get math on the internet. Jeff McNeill and sixthform. The crew at sixthform is doing a great job, they spend alot of time updating, [...]
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