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Dynamic Math on the Web
Design Science WebEQ™ Developers Suite is a comprehensive Java toolkit for building web pages that include dynamic math. The world's leading e-learning companies, content developers and education portals are implementing WebEQ components to create web-based learning environments that help educators engage their students in math and science on the web.
WebEQ Developers Suite consists of five applications and applets, in addition to extensive documentation, sample scripts and templates:
• Editor
• Publisher
• Input Control
• Viewer Control
• Equation Server
WebEQ Editor is an intuitive WYSIWYG MathML editor with a comprehensive set of mathematical symbols and templates that are easy to access in pull-down palettes.
The Editor helps authors easily create MathML content for the web and includes:
• New easy-to-use interface with a customizable toolbar that lets you group and rearrange symbol palettes and templates to suite your convenience.
• Improved editing and intuitive management of MathML display properties.
• Advanced content recognition algorithms and visual syntax checking to generate both Presentation and Content MathML.
• Create interactive equations with mouse-over, toggle (expand equations, etc.), etc.
• Save equations as JPEG or PNG images, WebEQ Viewer Control applet code, or MathML.
The Publisher helps authors prepare web pages containing math markup for publication on a server. Once you have created a page containing raw equation markup, the Publisher will analyze your document and generate any extra HTML code or images necessary for publication on the web according to preferences you set.
Features:
• Recognize and process equations encoded in MathML or WebTeX.
• Generate output as images, applets and MathML.
• Set default sizes and colors for all equations in a page according to author preferences.
• Set options for Viewer Control applets according to author preferences.
The WebEQ Input Control is perhaps the most unique part of the WebEQ Developers Suite. It is a Java applet that functions as an easy-to-use graphical equation editor in a web page. Many companies utilize the Input Control so that students and educators can post math on a bulletin board, for instance.
Beneath its user-friendly exterior, the Input Control provides state-of-the art MathML processing, and a husky JavaScript programmers API. The Input Control toolbar can be extensively customized. Developers will find that integrating the Input Control into web applications is a snap.
Features:
• Includes detailed JavaScript SDK based on the W3C DOM standard for web developers to create virtually unlimited dynamic effects, from something as basic as embedding an easy-to-use graphical equation editing control in a web page to make math postings on a bulletin board, to generating hints in tutorials, to answer-checking for test questions.
• Allows developers to customize which templates appear on the tool bar, so users only see the kind of math symbols and expressions that makes sense for a particular context.
• Customizable online help.
The WebEQ Viewer Control is an applet that displays MathML (recommended for dynamic math equations) in any browser.
Features:
• Displays nicely-formatted equations in Java-capable browsers including Netscape 4.0 and higher, and Internet Explorer 4.0 and higher on Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris computers.
• Installs into readers' browsers to eliminate download time (requires making special installer files and scripts available on your web server).
• Displays equations encoded in either MathML or WebTeX.
• Automatic line wrapping of long expressions.
• Supports adding mouse-over, link and toggle actions to equations.
• Readers can copy and paste MathML from their browser to other applications.
• Can be scripted with JavaScript to change the current equation, or the equation size. Can also be queried using JavaScript for its preferred dimensions. Supports the W3C DOM standard for scripting.
The Equation Server offers the same functionality as the Publisher (but without the user interface), to facilitate batch processing and processing via scripts on a server. One common use is to convert reader input from the Input Control into an image that is incorporated into a response page. For example, a student might use the Input Control to create an equation for a posting to a message board. When the posting is submitted, a script on the server would then use the Equation Server to generate an equation images for usein the web page for the posting on the message board.
To publish a web page that uses the Viewer Control or Input Control applets, the WebEQ Control program files need to be available to readers' web browsers. That can be done in two ways. The files can be placed on a web server along with the HTML file, or they can be installed locally on each reader's computer.
The advantage of putting the files on the server is that they are automatically downloaded whenever a reader looks at a page using one of the WebEQ Browser Controls, so no special action is required of readers. The advantage of installing the files locally is that it eliminates the download time, and generally increases security and performance. Since these techniques are not mutually exclusive, many developers choose to use both simultaneously, to reach as large an audience as possible.
In order to install the WebEQ Controls locally into readers' browsers, WebEQ Developers Suite contains a Deployment Kit consisting of digitally-signed applet installer software that you can put on your server, along with sample scripts and sample pages illustrating a variety of techniques for making the installers available from your site.