Render Math Plugin for Pelican
This plugin gives Pelican the ability to render mathematics inside post
content. It accomplishes this by using the MathJax JavaScript engine.
The plugin also makes Typogrify and recognized math play nicely together by
ensuring Typogrify does not alter math content.
Both Markdown and reStructuredText are supported.
Requirements
- Pelican version 4.5 or above is required.
- Typogrify version 2.0.7 or higher is needed for Typogrify to behave
properly with this plugin. If this version is not available, Typogrify will be
disabled for the entire site.
- BeautifulSoup 4+ is required to correct summaries. If BeautifulSoup is not
installed, summary processing will be ignored, even if specified in user
settings.
Installation
This plugin can be installed via:
python -m pip install pelican-render-math
As long as you have not explicitly added a PLUGINS
setting to your Pelican settings file, then the newly-installed plugin should be automatically detected and enabled. Otherwise, you must add render_math
to your existing PLUGINS
list. For more information, please see the How to Use Plugins documentation.
Once the plugin has been installed according to those instructions, your site
should be capable of rendering math using the MathJax JavaScript engine.
No alterations to the template are needed — just use and enjoy!
However, if you wish, you can set the auto_insert
setting to False
which
will disable the MathJax script from being automatically inserted into the
content. You would only want to do this if you have control over the template
and want to insert the script manually.
Typogrify
In the past, using Typogrify would alter math content, resulting in math
that could not be rendered by MathJax. The only option was to ensure that
Typogrify was disabled in the settings.
The problem has been rectified in this plugin, but it requires at a minimum
Typogrify version 2.0.7 or higher. If this version is not present, the
plugin will disable Typogrify for the entire site.
BeautifulSoup
Pelican creates summaries by truncating the post content to a specified user
length. The truncation process is oblivious to any math and can therefore
destroy the math output in the summary.
To restore math, BeautifulSoup is used. If it is not installed, no summary
processing will happen.
Usage
Templates
No template alteration is needed for this plugin to work. Just install the
plugin and start writing your math.
Settings
Certain MathJax rendering options can be set. These options are in a dictionary
variable called MATH_JAX
in the Pelican settings file.
The dictionary can be set with the following keys:
align
: [string] controls how displayed math will be aligned. Can be set to
either 'left'
, 'right'
or 'center'
. Default Value: 'center'
.auto_insert
: [boolean] will insert the MathJax script into content that it
is detected to have math in it. Setting it to false is not recommended.
Default Value: True
indent
: [string] if align
not set to 'center'
, then this controls the
indent level. Default Value: '0em'
.show_menu
: [boolean] controls whether the MathJax contextual menu is
shown. Default Value: True
process_escapes
: [boolean] controls whether MathJax processes escape
sequences. Default Value: True
MathJax_font
: [string] will force MathJax to use the chosen font. Current
choices for the font is sanserif
, typewriter
or fraktur
. If this is
not set, it will use the default font settings. Default Value: default
latex_preview
: [string] controls the preview message users are shown while
MathJax is rendering LaTex. If set to 'Tex'
, then the TeX code is used as
the preview (which will be visible until it is processed by MathJax).
Default Value: 'Tex'
color
: [string] controls the color of the MathJax rendered font. Default
Value: 'inherit'
linebreak_automatic
: [boolean] If set, MathJax will try to intelligently
break up displayed math (Note: It will not work for inline math). This is
very useful for a responsive site. It is turned off by default due to it
potentially being CPU expensive. Default Value: False
tex_extensions
: [list] a list of latex
extensions
accepted by MathJax. Default Value: []
(empty list)responsive
: [boolean] tries to make displayed math render responsively. It
does by determining if the width is less than responsive_break
(see below)
and if so, sets align
to left
, indent
to 0em
and
linebreak_automatic
to True
. Default Value: False
(defaults to
False
for backward compatibility)responsive_break
: [integer] a number (in pixels) representing the width
breakpoint that is used when setting responsive_align
to True
. Default
Value: 768process_summary
: [boolean] ensures math will render in summaries and fixes
math in that were cut off. Requires BeautifulSoup be installed. Default
Value: True
message_style
: [string] This value controls the verbosity of the messages
in the lower left-hand corner. Set it to None
to eliminate all messages.
Default Value: normal
Settings Examples
Make math render in blue and display math aligned to the left:
MATH_JAX = {'color':'blue','align':left}
Use the color
and mhchem
extensions:
MATH_JAX = {'tex_extensions': ['color.js','mhchem.js']}
Resulting HTML
Inline math is wrapped in span
tags, while displayed math is wrapped in
div
tags. These tags will have a class attribute that is set to math
which
can be used by template designers to alter the display of the math.
Markdown
This plugin implements a custom extension for Markdown resulting in math being
a "first class citizen" for Pelican.
Inline Math
Math between $
..$
, for example, $
x^2$
, will be rendered inline with
respect to the current HTML block. Note: To use inline math, there must not
be any whitespace before the ending $
. So for example:
- Relevant inline math:
$e=mc^2$
- Will not render as inline math:
$40 vs $50
Displayed Math
Math between $$
..$$
will be rendered "block style", for example,
$$
x^2$$
, will be rendered centered in a new paragraph.
Other Latex Display Math Commands
The other LaTeX commands which usually invoke display math mode from text mode
are supported, and are automatically treated like $$
-style displayed math in
that they are rendered "block" style on their own lines. For example,
\begin{equation}
x^2 \end{equation}
, will be rendered in its own block with
a right justified equation number at the top of the block. This equation number
can be referenced in the document. To do this, use a label
inside of the
equation format and then refer to that label using ref
. For example:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq}
X^2 \end{equation}
. Now refer to that
equation number by $
\ref{eq}$
.
reStructuredText
If there is math detected in reStructuredText content, the plugin will
automatically set the
math_output
configuration setting to mathjax
.
Inline Math
Inline math needs to use the math
role:
The area of a circle is :math:`A_\text{c} = (\pi/4) d^2`.
Displayed Math
Displayed math uses the math block:
.. math::
α_t(i) = P(O_1, O_2, … O_t, q_t = S_i λ)
Enabling Additional Features
In order for \frac
, equation numbering, and other features to work, the MathJAX JavaScript file must be added to the HTML file, either via your theme's template configuration (if supported) or by editing the relevant template file directly. The current MathJAX CDN is hosted at http://cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML
, and the code to add it to the HTML is provided below.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML"></script>
As long as this script is loaded in either the head or body of the HTML output, the complex expressions are also converted.
Contributing
Contributions are welcome and much appreciated. Every little bit helps. You can contribute by improving the documentation, adding missing features, and fixing bugs. You can also help out by reviewing and commenting on existing issues.
To start contributing to this plugin, review the Contributing to Pelican documentation, beginning with the Contributing Code section.
License
This project is licensed under the AGPL-3.0 license.