211 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
211 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
.. _output-formats:
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**********************
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MathJax Output Formats
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**********************
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Currently, MathJax can render math in three ways:
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- Using HTML-with-CSS to lay out the mathematics,
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- Using :term:`SVG` to lay out the mathematics, or
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- Using a browser's native MathML support.
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These are implemented by the `HTML-CSS`, `SVG` and `NativeMML` output
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processors.
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If you are using one of the combined configuration files, then this will
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select one of these output processors for you. If the config file ends in
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``_HTML``, then it is the HTML-CSS output processor, and if it ends in
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``_SVG`` then the SVG output processor will be used. If it ends in
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``_HTMLorMML``, then the NativeMML output processor will be chosen if the
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browser supports it well enough, otherwise HTML-CSS output will be used.
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If you are performing your own in-line or file-based configuration,
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you select which one you want to use by including either
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``"output/HTML-CSS"``, ``"output/SVG"``, or ``"output/NativeMML"`` in
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the `jax` array of your MathJax configuration. For example
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.. code-block:: javascript
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jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"]
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would specify TeX input and HTML-with-CSS output for the mathematics
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in your document.
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The **HTML-CSS output processor** produces high-quality output in all
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major browsers, with results that are consistent across browsers and
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operating systems. This is MathJax's primary output mode. Its major
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advantage is its quality and consistency; its drawback is that it is
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slower than the NativeMML mode at rendering the mathematics.
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Historically, the performance in Internet Explorer (and IE8 in
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particular) was quite poor, with the page getting slower and slower as
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more math is processed. MathJax version 2.0 includes a number of
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optimizations to improve the display performance in IE, and it is now
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more comparable to other browsers. The HTML-CSS output uses web-based
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fonts so that users don't have to have math fonts installed on their
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computers; but this does introduce some printing issues in some
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browsers.
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The **SVG output processor** is new in MathJax version 2.0, and it uses
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`Scalable Vector Graphics` to render the mathematics on the page. SVG
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is supported in all the major browsers and most mobile devices; note,
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however, that Internet Explorer prior to IE9 does not support SVG, and
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IE9 only does in "IE9 standards mode", not its emulation modes for
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earlier versions. The SVG output mode is high quality and slightly
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faster than HTML-CSS, and it does not suffer from some of the
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font-related issues that HTML-CSS does, so prints well in all
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browsers. This format also works well in some ebook readers (e.g.,
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iBooks). The disadvantage of this mode is that it does not take
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advantage of STIX fonts, and so only has access to the characters in
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the web-based fonts, and it variable-width tables become fixed size
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once they are typeset, and don't rescale if the window size changes
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(for example). Since equation numbers are handled through
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variable-width tables, that means equation numbers may not stay at the
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edge of the window if it is resized.
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The **NativeMML output processor** uses the browser's internal MathML
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support (if any) to render the mathematics. Currently, Firefox has
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native support for MathML, and IE has the `MathPlayer plugin
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<http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer/>`_ for rendering
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MathML. Opera has some built-in support for MathML that works well
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with simple equations, but fails with more complex formulas, so we
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don't recommend using the NativeMML output processor with Opera.
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Safari has some support for MathML since version 5.1, but the quality
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is not as high as either Firefox's implementation or IE with MathPlayer.
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Chrome, Konqueror, and most other browsers don't support MathML
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natively, but may in the future, since MathML is part of the HTML5
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specification.
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The advantage of the NativeMML output Processor is its speed, since
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native MathML support is much faster than using complicated HTML and
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CSS to lay out mathematics, as the HTML-CSS output processor does.
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The disadvantage is that you are dependent on the browser's MathML
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implementation for your rendering, and these vary in quality of output
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and completeness of implementation. MathJax relies on features that
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are not available in some renderers (for example, Firefox's MathML
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support does not implement the features needed for labeled equations).
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The results using the NativeMML output processor may have spacing or
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other rendering problems that are outside of MathJax's control.
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Automatic Selection of the Output Processor
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===========================================
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Since not all browsers support MathML natively, it would be unwise to
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choose the NativeMML output processor unless you are sure of your
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audience's browser capabilities. MathJax can help with that, however,
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since a number of its combined configuration files will select
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NativeMML output when the browser supports it well enough, and
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HTML-CSS output otherwise. These are the configuration files that end
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in ``_HTMLorMML``.
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If you are doing your own configuration, there is a special configuration
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file that you can include that will choose between NativeMML and HTML-CSS
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depending on the browser in use. To invoke it, add ``"MMLorHTML.js"`` to
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your configuration's `config` array, and **do not** include an output
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processor in your `jax` array; MathJax will fill that in for you based on
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the abilities of your user's browser.
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.. code-block:: javascript
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config: ["MMLorHTML.js"],
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jax: ["input/TeX"]
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By default, MathJax will choose HTML-CSS in all browsers except for
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one case: Internet Explorer when the MathPlayer plugin is present.
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In the past, MathJax selected NativeMML output for Firefox as well,
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but we have found that there are too many rendering issues with
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Firefox's native MathML implementation, and so MathJax now selects
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HTML-CSS output for Firefox by default as well. Users can still use
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the Mathjax contextual menu to select the NativeMML renderer if they
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wish to choose greater speed at the expense of some quality.
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You can customize which choice MathJax makes on a browser-by-browser
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basis or a global basis. See the ``config/default.js`` file or the
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:ref:`Configuring MMLorHTML <configure-MMLorHTML>` section for further
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details. As an example, this configuration tells MathJax to use
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native MathML support rather than HTML-CSS output for Firefox:
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.. code-block:: html
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<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
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MathJax.Hub.Config({
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MMLorHTML: { prefer: { Firefox: "MML" } }
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});
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</script>
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<script type="text/javascript"
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src="http://cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
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</script>
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With this configuration, MathML output will be used for both Firefox
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and IE with the MathPlayer plugin. Note, however, that a user can
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employ the MathJax contextual menu to select the other renderer if he
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or she wishes.
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MathJax produces MathML that models the underlying mathematics as best
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it can, rather than using complicated hacks to improve output for a
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particular MathML implementation. When you make the choice to use the
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NativeMML output processor, you are making a trade-off: gaining speed
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at the expense of quality and reliability, a decision that should not
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be taken lightly.
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.. _html-css-with-ie8:
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HTML-CSS with IE8 and IE9
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=========================
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The performance of MathJax in Internet Explorer 8 and 9 has been
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substantially improved in version 2.0. The HTML-CSS output processing
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was redesigned to avoid the page reflows that were the main source of
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the speed problem in I8 and IE9. For test pages having between 20 and
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50 typeset expressions, we see an 80% reduction in output processing
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time for IE8, a 50% reduction for IE9, and between 15% and 25%
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reduction for most other browsers over the v1.1a times. Since the
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processing time in v1.1a grows non-linearly in IE, you should see even
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larger savings for pages with more equations when using v2.0.
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In the past, we recommended forcing IE8 and IE9 into IE7-emulation
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mode in order to get better performance. That is no longer necessary.
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Indeed, the fastest modes in IE8 and IE9 now are their IE8 standards
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and IE9 standards modes, so it is best to force the highest mode
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possible. That can be accomplished by adding
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.. code-block:: html
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<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
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at the top of the ``<head>`` section of your HTML documents. Note
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that this line must come at the beginning of the ``<head>``, before
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any stylesheets, scripts, or other content are loaded.
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.. _html-css-extensions:
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HTML-CSS Extensions
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===================
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The HTML-CSS output jax uses elements with width set to 100% when it
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typesets displayed equations. If there are floating elements on the
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left or right, this can mean that displayed mathematics isn't properly
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centered, and can cause equation numbers to overlap the floating
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content. To avoid this, you can specify the `handle-floats` extension
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in the `extensions` array of your `HTML-CSS` configuration block.
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.. code-block:: javascript
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"HTML-CSS": {
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extensions: ["handle-floats.js"]
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}
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This will use CSS that puts the displayed equations into elements that
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work like tabel cells, and won't overlap the floaring content.
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Because this is somewhat of a misuse of CSS, it is not used by
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default, but it has proved successful in most situations, so you may
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consider using it in pages that include material that floats to the
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left or right of text containing displayed mathematics, especially
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when equation numbers or tags are used.
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See the :ref:`HTML-CSS configuration options <configure-HTML-CSS>` for
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other options of the HTML-CSS output jax.
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