Using the Amaya Editor/Browser for XML/MathML
to Display and Use Mathematics on the Web

L. David Roper (roperld@vt.edu)

What is Amaya?

MathML is a subset of XML, which is a superset of HTML. In other words XML will eventually replace HTML and MathML will be the way to do mathematics in XML. Some useful web sites for learning about XML and MathML are:

• http://www.sciam.com/1999/0599issue/0599bosak.html
• http://www.gca.org/whats_xml/default.htm
• http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/5957/xml.html
• http://www.w3.org/XML/
• http://www.imath.org/MathML/index.html
• http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WD-MathML2-19991222/chapter7.html
• http://www.w3.org/Amaya/Activity.html (Amaya development activity)
• http://www.w3.org/Math/iandi/ (implementations of MathML)

Amaya is first an editor to create XML/MathML code to enable mathematics to be presented on World Wide Web (WWW) sites. See http://www.w3.org/Amaya/. Actually, as I understand it, Amaya creates XHTML, a reformulation of HTML 4.01 in XML.

Second Amaya is a browser to enable mathematics to be seen on the WWW. The browser part is necessary because the standard browsers Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer do not allow XML/MathML to be seen on the WWW.

MathML has the capability of allowing math to be done as well as seen on the Internet. By "done" it is meant that the user not only sees the mathematics, but can also manipulate it in the many ways mathematics can be manipulated. This is refered to as putting the "content" as well as the symbols on the WWW. Amaya does not yet have the capability of doing math on the Internet.

There is a useful overview of Amaya at http://www.w3.org/Amaya/Amaya.html.. Some frequently asked questions about Amaya are available at http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/FAQ.html. An Introduction to Amaya is useful to read. There is a users manual at http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/Manual.html.

Amaya was created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which distributes it free at http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/BinDist.html The W3C's Math Home Page has some valuable information about MathML.

There are other ways to present math on the Internet.

I have decided to concentrate on using Amaya to put mathematics on the WWW for the following reasons:

• It is an official development of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• It is easy to use and reasonable versatile in preparing math to put on the WWW.
• It allows one to graduate from using HTML to using XML.
• It is free.

Amaya as a Web Browser

Amaya has the basic browsers features, but not all features that the standard browsers have.

For a comparison of browsing versus editing see http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/Browsing.html.

The main deficiencies compared to the standard browsers are:

• Amaya does not support frames.
• Amaya requires that one type in http:// before www.xxxx.xxx in a web address.
• Amaya does not have a way to save web addresses (favorites or bookmarks).

Amaya as an XML/MathML Editor

I have used Amaya to create a rather complicated mathematical physics XML/MathML document: http://arts.bev.net/roperldavid/rollovers.xml. You will need to have Amaya on your machine to view the mathematics in that document.

I will describe some of the good features I have found in Amaya and some of the problems I encountered.

Good Features of Amaya

• One can display the WYSIWYG view of a file being edited or viewed in one window, the source-code view in another window and the structure view in another window. Editing can be done in either of these windows. A cursor or line marker shows in the non-active windows where the cursor is in the active window. BE SURE to save (File-Save or CTRL-s) or synchronize (File-Synchronize or CTRL-r) any changes made in the source window before switching to another window; all other windows automatically synchronize with the remaining windows. The sizes and locations of these windows can be fixed with Special-Preferences-Window Geometry. Another window can show the table of contents and another the links in the file.
• One can switch from viewing a downloaded web page into editing it by clicking on a pencil button, and then save the source code to a local disk.
• There is a palette for the major mathematics structures and it contains a button for another palette for the major mathematics symbols. These can be viewed with Amaya at http://arts.bev.net/roperldavid/amaya.xml.

Problems with Amaya

• It is not clear in the WYSIWYG view where the cursor is relative to MathML tags. One has to move to the source view to be exactly sure where the cursor is.
• When a MathML structure or a table structure is inserted at the end of a file in the WYSIWYG view, one has to move to the source view to move the cursor after the MathML or table tag. One can prevent this by entering some text and then putting the MathML or table just before the text.
• The source code often gets scrambled when one pastes items into a table cell in the WYSIWYG view, especially for MathML code. It is best to do such pasting in the source view.

Special Features of Amaya

• When viewing a downloaded web page, one can activate a pencil button to change the read-only web page into an editable web page. After changes are made, one can save the page to a local disk.
• One can set up the windows' size and location and then save the windows configuration, with Special-Preferences-Window Geometry, for future Amaya sessions.
• One can choose whether a single-click or a double-click activates a link. When editing it is convenient to have double-click activation; whereas, single-click saves time and effort when viewing only.