Re: lynx-dev Superscripts

[Sergei Pokrovsky]

>>>>> "Klaus" == Klaus Weide <address@hidden> writes:

  Klaus> On 6 Jun 2000, Sergei Pokrovsky wrote:
  >> Well, that's better than nothing, but I'd prefer a simpler
  >> TeX-like rule:
  >> 
  >> 1) normally <sub>foo</sub> should be rendered as ^{foo}
  Klaus> (I think you mean <sup>)

Yes.  What always confuses me is that <sup> has _descender_, while
<sub> has _ascender_; very perverse notation :)

  Klaus> That's easy to change in the code (just compare the HTML_SUB
  Klaus> logic to the HTML_SUP logic, see reference to thread below).

Yes, it looks pretty simple, and probably I would do that, but I also
want to be able to render <i>foo</i> as _foo_, <b>bar</b> as *bar*
etc, and all that not always, but in a specific printing mode.

  >> 2) exceptionally, if just one character appears in the
  >> superscript, it may be rendered as ^f.
  >> 
  >> Point (2) is not important for me, actually some people may see
  >> it as a nuisance.

  Klaus> Point (2) wouldn't be trivial.  The code doesn't keep track
  Klaus> of how many characters appeared between <sup> and </sup> [and
  Klaus> would that be characters in the input stream, or in an
  Klaus> intermediate (theoretical) Unicode representation, or in the
  Klaus> output rendering?

I think that the reduction of ^{n} to ^n is not very essential, though
it may produce nicer rendition.  For me it would be quite OK if the
algorithm could take notice the appearance in the superscript of a
single plain ASCII character (i.e. neither & or <).

  Klaus> Example where all three differ: "&reg;" -> U+00AE -> "(R)"].
  Klaus> Additional complications arise if there are nested elements
  Klaus> (including <sup><sup>...</sup></sup>).

It would be quite OK for me to see A^{n²} or A^{n^2}.

  >> I'm ready to tolerate "blah blah^{(TM)}.", it occurs very
  >> infrequently in the texts for which I use lynx.

  Klaus> Unfortunately I encounter such stuff (maybe more so with
  Klaus> &reg;) quite frequently; I assume that's true for most users
  Klaus> who use lynx in a general purpose way, without specific
  Klaus> interest in math or scientific pages.

What about dropping the parentheses in (TM)?  Then you would typically
get Foo^{TM} or Bar^{R}.  I admit that Bar^{®} looks worse.

-- 
Sergei

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