1. SSP 2008
MathType for MS Office, the
Web, and Accessibility
Paul R. Topping
May 28, 2008

2. The Nature/Science/Word 2007 Problem
• Word 2007 introduces a new equation format, OMML
• Publishers’ workflows revolve around MathType/Equation
Editor equations
• Many authors will continue to use MathType and Equation
Editor for ease-of-use, compatibility with other authors and
other applications, and reluctance of community to switch to
Word 2007
• Publishers ban submissions in Word 2007 format until
problems are resolved

3. A Solution
• MathType 6.5 in beta soon
• Converts OMML equations to
MathType via MathML
• Other features:
• MathML input translation
• TeX input mode in Word and PowerPoint
• Demo...

4. MathML Really Taking Off
• Accessibility:
• DAISY, PDF/UA
• Kentucky math textbook requirements
• Screen readers and MathPlayer
• Adoption in XML document formats and workflows
• DAISY, Open Document Format (ODF), NLM
• Increased use in publishing workflows
• MathFlow an important tool
• MathFlow SDK allows more integration options
• Microsoft ODF support and Save As add-ins need
to work with MathML

5. Education, Science, and Engineering
Moving to Web 2.0
• Continued use of email, instant messaging
• Increased use of blogs, wikis
• Wikipedia is a crucial resource
• Move to semantic web, microformats
• The web is more than just text
• Math has been left out somewhat

6. Making Math as Easy to Work with as Text
• Math is just structured text
• Limitations in word processors, HTML create
problems for displaying math
• MathML and TeX are now being used to represent
math on the web
• MathType will make math as easy to copy as text
with a wide range of applications and web sites
• Wikipedia now, more soon
• Math-enabled email, instant messaging, blogs, wikis
• Math search