Basic WebEQ Concepts

WebEQ is a suite of software tools for putting math expressions in Web pages. Authors have a choice between using TeX-like commands to describe equations and creating equations graphically using the point-and-click WebEQ Equation Editor. Using the WebEQ tools, authors can then either create images of equations, or create dynamic interactive equations for display with the WebEQ Math Viewer in Web documents .

The WebEQ tools are quite versatile, and can be used together in a number of ways. Therefore, an important part of learning to use WebEQ to best advantage is learning how all the pieces fit together. To get quick idea of some of the things WebEQ can do, you may want to look at the WebEQ Tour before going on.

Authoring Tools

WebEQ provides two authoring tools, an Equation Editor, and a Page Wizard. The Equation Editor is a point-and-click editor for graphically laying out equations, while the Wizard is for processing WebTeX or MathML commands to lay out equations. n

Both the Equation Editor and the Wizard can be used to produce two kinds of output:

Math Graphics -- to reach the widest audience in the most dependable way, the best solution is still to make images of equations, and include them in HTML pages in the standard way. With the advent of MathML, this is beginning to change, but it hasn't quite happened yet.

Interactive Math Applets -- for the math equations with the most functionality, the Editor and the Wizard generate applet tags which invoke the WebEQ Math Viewer Applet. (See below.)

Choosing between images an applets depends mostly on the intended audience of a Web page. Consult the images vs. applets page for a discussion of the pros and cons of each method. By constrast, deciding whether to use the Equation Editor or the Wizard is more of a personal preference, although each tools is better suited to some tasks than others. Consult the wysiwyg vs. command-based editing page for a discussion of their relative strengths and weaknesses.

If you choose to use the Math Viewer applet to display interactive equations, you will want to set up your Web server to make downloading the applet as convenient as possible for your readers. There are two main ways so set up your server for use with the Math Viewer applet:

• The method that requires the minimum set up automatically downloads the Math Viewer applet to the reader's browser along with your Web pages. The main advantage is that the process is completely automatic, and requires nothing of the reader except a Java capable browser, and the only set up required on the server is copying the applet files to the same directory as your HTML files. The disadvantage is that downloading the applet can be quite slow, and readers will have to wait for the download each time they visit your site.

• Alternativley, readers can permanently install the Math Viewer applet into their browsers, like a plug-in. This is the preferred way of using the Math Viewer applet. Once it is installed, the Math Viewer will start immediately when a page containing Math Viewer applet tags is encountered. On the down side, setting up a server to distribute the Math Viewer plug-in installer is a little more involved, and may require slightly modifying the server configuration files.

Beginning in IE5, it is also possible to set up the Math Viewer to function as a DHTML rendering behavior. When used in this way, the Math Viewer automatically displays MathML markup the browser encounters in documents. This allows the Math Viewer to match the surrounding font and color scheme, and it also enables you to create documents with strictly-compliant MathML markup that render today in IE5 as well as early versions of Mozilla and other MathML capable browsers. DHTML behaviors will work with either method of downloading the Math Viewer. However, your HTML documents require some additional mark up to utilize behaviors. See Wizard Documentation for more details.

Tools for Dynamic Web Sites

Many authors are interested in taking full advantage of the Web to create engaging, dynamic, interactive Web sites. The WebEQ Math Viewer is an excellent way of putting dynamic math in Web pages. Interactivity can be added to an equation displayed by the Math Viewer in two ways:

1. The author can edit the WebTeX or MathML description of an equation to be displayed to directly encode five kinds of basic interactivity: links to other Web pages, foreground and background highlighting and statusline messages on mouse over, and toggling between two expressions on a mouse click.

2. Using JavaScript, authors can control the Math Viewer display via HTML buttons, and other interface elements.

Using these two methods, authors can achieve a wide variety of dynamic math effects. However, they are both basically contained within a single HTML page. Many dynamic math sites will inevitably require coordination between a number of pages involving some sort of server-side programming such as CGI scripts, ASP pags or Java servlets.

To facilitate the development of dynamic math and science Web sites, WebEQ provides two components in addition to the Math Viewer applet. The WebEQ Editor applet can be used to get math input back from readers, and the Command-line Page Wizard is a version of the Page Wizard that can be used from scripts, and is intended for processing MathML on the server. For example, it can be used to create images of equations submitted by readers using the Editor applet.

Both the Math Viewer and the Editor applets can be scripted using JavaScript. For example, a JavaScript function could be attached to a button's "onclick()" method which queries the Editor applet for the reader's input, and updates the display of a Math Viewer applet based on the input.