w3c / w3c/mathml

Decorated variables

Open
#465 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

intent MathML-Next
Dominant language
HTML
Stars
82
Forks
23
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

I would like to discuss the best way to indicate intent for
decorated variables.

Case 1:
f with something on top of it, such as:
bar, tilde, hat
(Those are not the official Unicode names.)

Typically these have a meaning, and commonly they are pronounced
"f bar", "f tilde", "f hat".

Ideally I would want it pronounced "f hat" and provide the reader
a way to know that it means "Fourier transform of f". But, I would
not want the reader to hear "Fourier transform of f" every time.
(So, I am willing to sacrifice the meaning in order to get the
usual pronunciation.)

Case 2:
f with a superscript that is a symbol, such as:
*, ', + .

Again, there may be a meaning, but commonly the pronunciation
would be "f star", "f prime", "f plus". It is okay with me if
AT says "f sup star", etc.

It would help if the default pronunciation is as described above.
Then a property could be used to indicate the meaning and not
change pronunciation.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No implementation files, entry points, or tests are identified in the issue. Start by reviewing the two decorated-variable cases and the requested interaction between default pronunciation and semantic meaning. Done would require an agreed design for pronunciation and any property needed to expose meaning without changing the spoken form.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
html
Domain
accessibility
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.