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ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

blog.arxiv.org

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Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#161

Post by hutzlibu »

staunton wrote: post #137
ahepp wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think there's potential for language models to play a role here? I know that AI can get tossed around as a buzzword, but hasn't it proved quite successful in fields like computer vision? I'm not deeply familiar with the state of that art, but it seems like recovering the metadata from a PDF generated by LaTeX would be no more impressive than many other things we're currently seeing language models achieve?

I'm absolutely positive a few million dollars could get you a system that can "read aloud" pdf math papers in no time. I guess people will wait for it to become cheaper though.

You can also have that cheaper already. But having it stable and reliable - will take some time and possibly more money, depending on your definition of reliable.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#162

Post by sicariusnoctis »

Personally, I would prefer the conventional Latin Modern math font instead of Palatino math.

Latin Modern is used by:

- Wikipedia. - Math.StackExchange. - Nearly all papers, including the ones hosted on arxiv in PDF format. - Nearly any math videos, slides/presentations, notes. - Almost everything, really.

Palatino just looks weird.

Also, I imagine that authors might do math formatting hacks that were only tested on Latin Modern, and might end up breaking on Palatino.

TL;DR:

Palatino :(

Latin Modern :)

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#163

Post by [deleted] »

cozzyd wrote: post #99
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you work extensively with LaTeX? Two columns is good, albeit annoying on mobile. But the font. The typeface kills me, and almost every LaTeX-generated document sports it.

Hating on Computer Modern (ok, probably now Latin Modern) is something close to blasphemy.

[deleted]

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#164

Post by kibwen »

cozzyd wrote: post #99
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you work extensively with LaTeX? Two columns is good, albeit annoying on mobile. But the font. The typeface kills me, and almost every LaTeX-generated document sports it.

Hating on Computer Modern (ok, probably now Latin Modern) is something close to blasphemy.

Computer Modern was not designed for easy viewing on screens (think about the screens Knuth would have been using in 1977), it was designed for printing in books.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#165

Post by wolverine876 »

shakow wrote: post #147
wolverine876 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm ... accessibility is essential, but PDF is far better for static documents: There's no straightfoward, standard way to read an html document on another platform. Also, the html document may not be readable in 10+ years (unlike most PDFs), and updates are too fluid and hard to track. I think the general problem is that the end-user doesn't control an html document, e.g., for annotation, as a local record, etc.

> There's no straightfoward, standard way to read an html document on another platform. What do you think of the epub format?

I wish so much for it:

Despite all our advances, we lack an editable, local, multimedia, platform (and form-factor) independent, self-contained file - essentially a word-processing file for the 21st century (and I mean it's almost a quarter-century overdue). epub has that potential as a format, and being based on web standards it has capability, a universe of supporting tools and technology, and easy adoption to different applications.

But I haven't heard anyone else express that particular interest, and as of a few years ago epub doesn't allow annotations and is not stable (i.e., I don't know that today's epub file will be readable in 20 or 50 years) - two essential requirements for a serious local content, imho.

And even if it meets those specifications, we need epub editors that are the equivalent of word processsors for non-technical users.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#166

Post by nonethewiser »

wolverine876 wrote: post #138
murphyslab wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel surprised by how succinct, easy-to-understand, and sensible the policy (M-23-22) is: > Default to HTML: HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the standard for publishing documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. HTML provides numerous advantages (e.g., easier to make accessible, friendlier to assistive technology, more dynamic and responsive, easier to maintain). When developing information for the we…

Hmmm ... accessibility is essential, but PDF is far better for static documents: There's no straightfoward, standard way to read an html document on another platform. Also, the html document may not be readable in 10+ years (unlike most PDFs), and updates are too fluid and hard to track. I think the general problem is that the end-user doesn't control an html document, e.g., for annotation, as a local record, etc.

> There's no straightfoward, standard way to read an html document on another platform.

Such as? What doesn’t have a browser but can render pdfs?

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#167

Post by arp242 »

nyssos wrote: post #95
FredPret wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes sense - for paper. But pixels are infinite - HTML is far better for screen display, which is how people read things nowadays. The extra column next to the one I'm reading introduces a lot of visual noise, and the content is hard enough as it is. I'm sure physicists have all gotten used to it, but it certainly trips me up.

> The extra column next to the one I'm reading introduces a lot of visual noise Papers are generally not read start to finish in one go: there's lots of rereading and jumping back and forth between key parts, and anything that moves them further apart makes this harder.

I need to scroll up and down a lot more with two-column layout because a single page doesn't fit on my screen in my chosen font size (which is fairly large).

But HTML is so much more flexible, and ideally people can choose how they want it, although at this point it seems that's not (yet) implemented.

I find jumping back and forth is always a pain on computer screens and ebooks by the way, and is the major reason I much prefer print for this type of thing.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#168

Post by wolverine876 »

LordDragonfang wrote: post #153
wolverine876 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm ... accessibility is essential, but PDF is far better for static documents: There's no straightfoward, standard way to read an html document on another platform. Also, the html document may not be readable in 10+ years (unlike most PDFs), and updates are too fluid and hard to track. I think the general problem is that the end-user doesn't control an html document, e.g., for annotation, as a local record, etc.

...What are you talking about? HTML files are readable on basically every platform, even moreso because they are fundamentally text files (unlike PDFs, which are binaries). PDFs need special software, html can be read on the command line . Likewise, HTML is dead simple to edit and annotate. Seriously, name a single device that has PDF support that doesn't allow you to view HTML. I think you're conflating "html" and "…

How do I save an HTML document locally, and annotate it, in an easily sharable form, and in a form that is stable - i.e., in a way that will be readable and useable in 20-50 years?

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#169

Post by wolverine876 »

nonethewiser wrote: post #166
wolverine876 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm ... accessibility is essential, but PDF is far better for static documents: There's no straightfoward, standard way to read an html document on another platform. Also, the html document may not be readable in 10+ years (unlike most PDFs), and updates are too fluid and hard to track. I think the general problem is that the end-user doesn't control an html document, e.g., for annotation, as a local record, etc.

> There's no straightfoward, standard way to read an html document on another platform. Such as? What doesn’t have a browser but can render pdfs?

I mean, how do I save it locally on one platform and read it on any platform? Or share it with someone else to read (without them downloading software)? I.e., we don't have a standard, local, single-file html format.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#170

Post by pimlottc »

smartmic wrote: post #110
z2h-a6n wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not on arXiv (unless I'm much mistaken), which is a preprint server, not a conventional journal. arXiv accepts various flavors of TeX, or PDFs not produced by TeX [0], and automatically produces PDFs and HTML where possible (e.g. if TeX is submitted). In the case of the example paper under discussion, the authors submitted TeX with PDF figures [1], and the PDF version of the paper was produced by arXiv. The formattin…

FWIW, I recently learned that it is also possible to produce nice PDF papers with GNU roff (groff), have a look at this example: https://github.com/SudarsonNantha/LinuxConfigs/blob/master/....

Looks nice but seems strange to switch from two columns to one column after the first page? Although maybe they’re just trying to demonstrate its capabilities.
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