Author: giecrilj
Description:
Using the italic text tag for symbols is semantically incorrect: it does not distinguish symbols from other uses of italic text. It would be better to replace it with the variable tag.
That is, <math >X</math > thould transform to <span class="texform" ><var >X</var ></span > instead of merrie olde <i >X</i >.
Version: unspecified
Severity: trivial
| Status | Subtype | Assigned | Task | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolved | None | T12467 Use semantic HTML (tracking) | |||
| Declined | None | T12434 <i> should be <var> in texvc HTML output | |||
| Resolved | None | T18719 Math hashes should include versioning to allow sensible updates |
giecrilj wrote:
Except for constants: log <i >e</i > = 1, sin <i >π</i > = 0, etc.
rene.kijewski wrote:
(In reply to comment #1)
Except for constants: log <i >e</i > = 1, sin <i >π</i > = 0, etc.
No need to differ here: Constants like e, pi, i ... should never be italic in TeX. The user has to tell when it is a variable and when it is a constant.
ayg wrote:
Constants such as e and i are traditionally italicized in mathematical typesetting, same as variables. But I think <var> is appropriate for them anyway, even though they're not actually variables -- they're supposed to be presented the same as variables.
smccandlish wrote:
I belatedly concur with Aryeh. HTML's <var>...</var> isn't a declaration that something IS a variable, it's an instruction to the user agent to format it as one.
As HTML support was disabled by 09679f2f39e6c6c00e87757292421b26bfa7022a, closing as WONTFIX.
smccandlish wrote:
Tim Landscheidt, what does this mean?:
As HTML support was disabled by 09679f2f39e6c6c00e87757292421b26bfa7022a, closing as WONTFIX.
The link that generated (to https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#q,09679f2f39e6c6c00e87757292421b26bfa7022a,n,z) doesn't provide any information. This bug is a bug, not a feature, and still needs to be fixed.
The var element has certainly not been "disabled" (deprecated) in HTML5, if that's what this meant: http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/text-level-semantics.html#the-var-element
I was referring to http://git.wikimedia.org/commit/mediawiki%2Fextensions%2FMath.git/09679f2f39e6c6c00e87757292421b26bfa7022a; with that commit, the support for HTML in Extension:Math was disabled, so no HTML is generated anymore. MediaWiki 1.19 was released after that commit, so there's nothing left to fix.