User talk:Jon Awbrey

VN: Thanks for cleaning up the appearance of the math code in intersection of subgroups is subgroup! I'll keep in mind the tricks you've used. Feel free to do similar changes to the math code in other pages as and when you encounter them and get time, and I'll try to propagate similar changes to whatever content I edit.Vipul 20:17, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

JA: Thanks, will do. I'm doing what it takes to normalize character sizes in Windows + Firefox and to keep punctuations from breaking to next lines. I didn't like that practice at first &mdash; too much the "ransom note" effect &mdash; but you get used to it over the long haul. Of course, everything looks better to Mac-Eyed Monads, anyway. Jon Awbrey 20:34, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

VN: To further understand what you did, do you suggest that it is good to always render math as PNG? The MediaWiki default (which can be altered in Special:Preferences) is to render as HTML if very simple, else as PNG. Do you think it might be better simply to change the default to always render as PNG (I can change the default for all non-logged-in users, and logged-in users can change their own preferences) rather than edit the individual pieces of math code? Or was there something specific about the math code that you edited that you wanted it to be rendered in PNG? Thanks, Vipul 20:31, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

JA: It's just that when you see different size and even slightly different face chars in the same text, your brain has to slow down a &frac12;-sec and decide whether they mean the same thing. Or maybe that's just my brain. Don't know what to say about setting system defaults, as some people might be bugged by that. Jon Awbrey 20:40, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

VN: Thanks for the reply. Rendering everything as PNG doesn't look too good either, because sometimes stuff doesn't get aligned properly (particularly when there's a small $$g\!$$ and capital $$G\!$$ close together). But the appearance is definitely better in the particular edits you've made. I guess this is just the trade-off we have to pay right now for the quick-and-ready wiki format. So this should probably be handled on a case-by-case basis, until people come up with a better renderer in general. If you have suggestions for general guidelines, I'd be glad to hear them. Vipul 21:04, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

JA: Probably not worth worrying about it too much, as there are things like MathML and BlahTeX(?) "supposedly" coming down the pike "any day now". I used to do these things all in HTML for Wikipedia, but converting to LaTeX as much as possible made it easier to transport to and fro PlanetMath. Jon Awbrey 21:22, 25 February 2009 (UTC)