Overview

The MathFlow editor interface includes two input/display modes - Design View and Source View.

• Design View is the standard mode for creating and editing your equations. In this view the input is displayed as it will be seen in your document.
• Source View is an alternate mode which displays the exact MathML syntax and structure, and operates just like a text editor, allowing you to directly edit equation content within the MathML itself.

After you have added the templates in the Design View, you can view and edit the MathML in the Source View. Click on the Design View or Source View tab just below the editor window to switch modes. Changes made in either mode are immediately reflected in the other. The Editor will always open into the view used in the last editing session. Most of the MathFlow Editor documentation is based on the standard Design View. Source View is discussed later in the Source Editing section and in the Getting Started Tutorials.

Equation templates

The editor is based on the idea of an equation template. There are templates for fractions, subscripts, superscripts, matrices, etc. To build an equation, you insert templates, and then fill in the blanks.

To fill in the blanks, enter letters and numbers from the keyboard, select symbols from a palette, or replace a blank with another template. If you select something before inserting a template from the toolbar, the symbol or expression you've selected will automatically be inserted into the first blank in the template. Some people describe this as "wrapping" a template around a selection.

By nesting equation templates inside one another, you can build up almost any equation. Navigate around an equation using the mouse and arrow keys. You can also cut and paste sub-expressions to build up more complex expressions.

The editor templates and symbols are directly based on MathML. MathML is the markup language for encoding math on the Web standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). You can certainly use the editor without knowing much about MathML.

Example: MathML source code for a very simple expression x + 4.

<math><mi>x</mi><mo>+</mo><mn>4</mn></math>

MathFlow Editor allows you to customize many typesetting and style properties to fine-tune visual appearances. You edit properties by selecting an expression and opening a property dialog box from the editor menu bar.

Typesetting and style properties mostly correspond directly to MathML concepts. That is, changing properties corresponds to setting MathML attributes. In most cases, MathFlow can process the full range of valid MathML attribute values.

The possible values for each style property are discussed in MathFlow Editor: Controlling Style Properties, and in the Editor online help.