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One feature that is definitely necessary to make this site useful to scientists is support for mathematical equations. There are several routes that could be taken to achieve this (i.e. MathML, LaTex, etc.) but I have decided that LaTeX support is the best solution. Anyone who needs to use equations witrh their work is almost definitely familiar with LaTeX syntax already, and my generating images of the equations it is possible to avoid the need for special plugins.
Progress
So far I have managed to install latex and ghostscript onto my webhost, which was no mean feat. Unfortunately I have discovered that the official Elgg LaTeX plugin is rubish. It appears only to support single line equations, and even then, only in blog posts. The blogs are intended merely as a way to point to places of interest, particularly within notebooks, and so this is rules out the official plugin.
I now have some shell scripts written which will convert a string into a PNG graphic of the equation, but I still need to actually implement the parsing and processing of content on the site. I'm not sure that this will be so easy as Elgg strips slashes from much of the input automatically.
The features listed in this section are planned, and this is a way to keep track of my progress on them.
I have been thinking what best I can use an open notebook for, and then it struck me: use it to plan out development of the site. Here I plan to keep track of the development. I do have a real job, though, so it might move slower than desired. Feel free to drop comments on any section with suggestions or feedback.
I've made different sub-pages for each different area of my research. I'll fill them all out in time! For now I've put some stuff in MQT Low Tc junctions.
