Author equations in Typefi Writer

Working with equations in Typefi impacts several components within your workflows and requires some forethought as to how you author equations and whether you format your equations as equation images or as MathML.

This article is an overview of the techniques and technologies required to create a seamless experience when working with equations. For information on working with equations within InDesign and accessible EPUB, see Equations in Typefi Designer.

Different ways to author equations

There are two main ways to author equations in Typefi Writer: WIRIS MathType and Microsoft Equation Builder. In MathType, equations are formatted as equation images; in the Equation Builder, equations are formatted as MathML. A third way, Microsoft Equation Editor, was discontinued in January 2018.

WIRIS MathType

Equation images (also frequently known as “MathType EPS”) have been used for decades to include complex equations in publishing workflows, and Typefi has long supported this workflow. But for more modern workflows, especially where accessibility is increasingly important, we recommend MathML instead.

For information about authoring equations with MathType, see Equation images in Typefi Designer.

Microsoft Equation Builder

Microsoft's built-in Equation Builder formats equations as MathML. MathML is a low-level specification for encoding both the presentation of mathematical notation and mathematical content.

For information about authoring equations with the Equation Builder, see Add and edit equations with Microsoft Equation Builder.

Should I use MathType or the Equation Builder?

Whether you use MathType or the Equation Builder to author equations depends on your specific workflow. Refer to the table below to choose the best fit. 

^* Microsoft Equation Editor (Equation 3.0) was licensed from Design Science in 1996. It has never supported equation images or MathML. Equation Editor became an optional install with Microsoft Office 2007 (where it was replaced by Equation Builder) and was discontinued in January 2018. 

^† MathType supports MTCode, which is based on Unicode 2.0 (1996) with additional support for some Unicode 3.1 (2002) and Unicode 3.2 (2002) math characters via the Unicode Private Use Area (see MTCode Encoding Tables).

^‡ Accessible HTML or EPUB output requires movemen MathTools v3 or later to replace the unintelligible equations exported by InDesign with either MathML or equation images with alt text.

If you are interested in a more detailed and highly technical feature comparison between Equation Builder and MathType, see Murray Sargent's blog posts: Other Office Math Editing Facilities and Equation-Editor Office-Math Feature Comparison.