Main problem
Status quo at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering-math:
- ⚪️ LaTeX source (for text browsers)
- ⚪️ MathML (experimental; no images)
- 🔘 Client side MathJax rendering (for browsers with limited MathML support)
- ⚪️ SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin)
It is not clear that "MathJax" and "SVG" are both powered by MathJax and both render an SVG.
This makes the upcoming change from "SVG" to "MathJax" bigger than it seems.
This makes the upcoming change from "SVG" to "MathJax" unclear. — MathJax provides multiple output formats (MathML, SVG, and TeX/CommonHTML). People may assume we plan to use its MathML or CommonHTML output format. If you happen to know our internals (MediaWiki converts LaTeX to MathML server-side), then you'll know the MathML output mode wouldn't make sense because it's already MathML before MathJax loads client-side, but this isn't obvious.
Reference to "no images" is unclear. — Historically, we had plain text LaTeX and two image formats (PNG and SVG). In that historical context, talking about images meant whether or not you got a visual or not, and implied you paid for it by downloading an image file. This has completely changed. All three options are visual now (MathML, client MathJax SVG, server MathJax SVG). And two of them use the SVG image format. The significant factor today is whether or not you download the client-side MathJax JavaScript application. The server SVG is cheap by today's standards.
Minor issues
- The "SVG" option is SVG image, but it doesn't say that it is an image. In the browser, users mainly interact with this as an image file. The fact that it is an SVG is a detail that fewer users will appreciate.
- The "SVG" option has outdated mentions of a "browser plugin". This is from a time where the MathML and MathJax options did not exist. Now that both exist, it no longer makes sense to refer to browser plugins as a way to show MathML or use MathJax.
- The "MathML" option says "no images" which is meant to contrast with the "SVG" option, which has images, but the "SVG" option doesn't say that it uses an image.
- The "MathML" option is unclear in what it does because the other two options also use MathML. I suggest emphasising that this option means "only" MathML.
- The "MathML" option says "no images". However only 1 of the 4 options uses an image. There used to be a PNG image option as well, but this no longer exists. Plus, when the SVG image was the default, this made sense as a way to contrast with that. I suggest removing "no images". Once we rephase "SVG" as "SVG image", I think that suffices.
- The "MathJax" option says "for browsers with limited MathML support". This is outdated, from a time when Chrome did not support MathML. Now Chrome does, but we still don't like this option by default, because the rendering isn't as good as MathJax. I suggest removing that wording and instead focus only on its use of MathJax rendering inside the browser.
Status quo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering-math
- ⚪️ LaTeX source (for text browsers)
- ⚪️ MathML (experimental; no images)
- 🔘 Client side MathJax rendering (for browsers with limited MathML support)
- ⚪️ SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin)
Option A: Fix minor issues
- ⚪️ LaTeX source (for text browsers)
- ⚪️ MathML only (experimental)
- 🔘 Client side MathJax rendering
- ⚪️ SVG image (uses MathML)
Option B: Bigger change
- ⚪️ LaTeX source (for text browsers)
- ⚪️ MathML only
- 🔘 MathML with SVG image (client side MathJax rendering)
- ⚪️ MathML with SVG image (server side MathJax rendering)