I have trouble typing Chinese (the traditional type) while communicating via MSN Messenger with friends in China (they type simplified Chinese and I do traditional Chinese). The reason is simple for my trouble - I did not learn how to type Chinese using an English keyboard under Windows XP (somehow I was told that doing 'shift-alt' will toggle between Chinese input and English input on my laptop). Wonder if I can toggle into a mathematics symbol and equation inputting environment. Would it be nice to simply type text (English) and mathematics equations without leaving your alphabet keypad?

In LaTeX, you can type the equation in a linear fashion even the equation could be structurally complicated. You will see the 'real' equation once the LaTeX file is processed and output is generated in some format viewable format (e.g., PDF). Or some graphical input environment would allow you to have a visual of the equation structure as you 'type' (see this for an example).

Whatever the method in enabling mathematics input, I like it to be like entering Chinese in an English document. As I type, composing a mathematics lesson (a mathematics activity for the Web, or e-Activity), I should be able to toggle in and out of the mathematics input environment, and be able to see the mathematics equation right away in its intended form (or structure).

This is what I like to look into this next couple of weeks, at the same time I am working on the ActivityML (Activity Markup Language) and the GUI (as a Java applet) that do the presentation. Let me know if you have suggestions.