SUGGESTION:

Allow the "preview your work" feature to toggle on/off. It does nothing but impede my ability to type an answer because of funky scrolling effects.

Question

SUGGESTION:

Allow the "preview your work" feature to toggle on/off.  It does nothing but impede my ability to type an answer because of funky scrolling effects.

anonymous · Answer

I agree, or possible cut the typing window in half and posting the preview on the side or even below

amistre64 · Answer

the preview windows only saving grace is in translating the equation editors syntax into a useable form.

For common textbased replies its just a nuisance.

amistre64 · Answer

I agree tho, a toggle switch would give the replier a degree of control.

mathteacher1729 · Answer

Amistre, I can't believe that someone of your power-level here hasn't yet made LaTeX a second language. :)  I still agree that a preview-toggle would be super-duper useful.

shadowfiend · Answer

Hm. I'm sad to hear you still have serious scrolling issues with the preview area. We thought we'd gotten most of those (other than scrolling away from the bottom, which can still cause a couple of jumps). Are you using IE?

Oddly enough, the cause of all these problems is precisely the fact that we interpret the LaTeX during the preview process, because MathJax first removes the LaTeX elements and then creates content that is usually taller than what was there to begin with.

However, I've just had Yet Another idea on how to make the preview suck less... So let me get back to you on that.

anonymous · Answer

How about auto equation from typing like a^2 would automatically become $$a ^{2}$$

mathteacher1729 · Answer

I think some re-arrangement of the order of operations in the rendering process might be helpful.  

1) Type your answer in the reply box, with or without LaTeX. 
2) Click "Preview Post" (a preview window will pop up or display in some other fashion)
3) Click "POST your reply."

Shadow - the problem with previews goes beyond typing mathematics.  The live-preview scrolling interferes with the process even when I am typing regular text, as in this reply.   Also, I mainly use Chrome and sometimes FF.  I don't go near IE.

anonymous · Answer

i agree

shadowfiend · Answer

Hmm. Ok. Definitely going to take that under advisement. We'll see what we can cook up. Thanks!