[Building Sakai] Equations (and charts) in FCK

[Algaze, Louis J]

We have been working on getting equations into Sakai and have come up with
the following solution:

Phase 1:
Use Google Services to convert Tex to an image which uses an undocumented
feature of Google charts, also in use by Google docs.
Put the following code into the source of the FCK area <img
src="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=tx&chl=Tex goes here">.
An example is: <img src="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=tx&chl=f_p
= 3\sqrt {area}  = 3\sqrt {2 \times 10^6 }  = 53800Hz;\;53.8kHz">
Please review Google usage policy at http://code.google.com/apis/chart/
Additional variables available per the Google Chart specs

Phase 2:
Develop a caching system that will, when called (URL change above) will get
the image from Google, store it locally and then deliver if it¹s already
cached reducing the number of hits to Google.

Phase 3:
Put a button in the FCK editor that allows easy input of Tex, something that
takes care of the code around the Tex, and maybe some basic Tex creation.

Phase 4:
Replace Google with our own Tex to image conversion application.

limitations discovered so far:
* Equations have a maximum length and spaces in TeX are not necessary
* Images are not https therefore some browsers display a warning, we might
be able to change that in Phase 2
* ³+² is not rendered correctly, use %2B
* Code to include in img link to make image background transparent is
chf=bg,s,FFFFFF00

We are in development of this solution and are confident that all 4 steps
can be implemented.  We are also open to feedback to see how others have put
equations in Sakai.

Thank you,

Louis


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