Re: [libreoffice-users] Input required -- font selection in the Math component

Hi John,


John Pye schrieb:
> Attention 'Math' users! LibreOffice is very wonderful, but there are a
> few niggles

Yes.

 with the Math editor, which I wanted to list here:
>  * There is currently no way to change the font used for Greek letters
>    in LibreOffice. Has this bothered you at all?

No. But if you like a different one, create an own symbol set. The 
advantage of OpenSymbol is, that all users of LibreOffice have got it. 
If you use a different font, the formula might look different on other PCs.

>  * Did you notice that the default OpenSymbol font does quite a bad job
>    with some expressions, such as {{1 over %alpha} + {1 over {%alpha +
>    1}}} ?

Do you have got the newest version? It should be 102.10.

In general the problem is the rendering engine, which is not able to use 
special features. In case of 1 over %alpha it is a bug, 
[https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48965] (and 
duplicates). Workaround 1 over {%alpha`} or 1 over {{}%alpha}


>  * Did you notice that the default for LibreOffice is now to have
>    lower-case Greek letters in non-italics, even though basically every
>    academic publication you'll ever see has lower-case greek letters in
>    italics, and this can only be changed to 'normal' behaviour using a
>    hidden 'advanced' setting?

Now there are two sets, one upright and one italic, so that you can 
write %beta and %ibeta and %BETA and %iBETA.

There exists an advanced setting GreekCharStyle with values 0,1 or 2.
Value 0 means: Write Greek symbols literal, those from set "Greek" 
upright, those from set "iGreek" in italic.
Value 1 means: Write all Greek symbols in italic
Value 2 means: Write large characters of set "Greek" upright and all 
others italic.
You need to restart LibreOffice after changing the value.

You can of cause force upright always with command nitalic, and force 
italic with command italic.

>  * Did you notice that if you set the default Math font size in Writer,
>    it also changes in Impress? One size fits all!

Math is a separate module. It is always inserted as OLE.

 It would be great if
>    the size setting were specific to the context in which the Math is
>    being inserted.

That is not possible, because the default configuration does not know, 
in which context it will be used. There exists only one default 
configuration. I use macros to adapt the formula in Writer or 
Draw/Impress, or I change the size in the first formula I write and make 
that the new default.

It might be possible, that in case, the formula editor is called 
in-place in Writer or Draw/Impress, that the context information can be 
used instead of the default.

>  * Did you notice that sometimes you can over-type text on top of a
>    Formula by typing F2 when a Formula is selected in Impress?

That is the text-box, which belongs to every OLE-object and every other 
object in Draw/Impress. You can use it to write a caption to the 
formula, which moves together with the formula. It does not belong to 
the formula itself but to the OLE representation of the formula. The 
position of this text is set in Format > Object and Shape > Text.

> I reported a bug in relation to the first of these at the link below. I
> was asked there to raise the issue here on the users' list, so that
> community support for the related changes could be determined.
> https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=67152
>
> Many of the above issues could be fixed by implementing a proper 'style'
> system for Math objects, which currently doesn't seem to exist in
> LibreOffice.

Math formulas are essentially MathML 2.0 
[https://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/]. ODF uses the original MathML 2.0 
definition, but only a subset is yet implemented in LibreOffice. The 
same kind "style", that exists for paragraphs in Writer or drawing 
objects in Draw/Impress, are not possible inside the Math formula. You 
can only "style" the OLE-object, e.g. set a background or border. For 
MathML itself, CSS styling would be possible.

> If you have a point of view on this stuff, or ideas on how it should
> work, please add a note to the above bug, and help to let the developers
> know what issues are niggling you.

My wish is, that LibreOffice becomes a very good MathML renderer and a 
good MathML editor. And that LibreOffice gets rid of the propriety 
"StarMath 5.0".

Kind regards
Regina

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