1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions stored therein that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to provide a live component for one or more displayable equation elements having user-edited format characteristics by performing contents configured to cause a computer to perform operations comprising: receiving a first live component comprising a first viewer module and a first component description file, wherein the first viewer module and first component description file define a set of displayable equation elements; executing an editor to: display a subset of the displayable equation elements; receive user input to invoke at least one rule in a pre-built application, the pre-built application included in the first viewer module, and the invoked at the least one rule related to editing the format of equation elements, wherein the at least one rule edits the format of at least one element in the displayed subset of displayable equation elements to indicate a new format for edited elements; and generate and display, based on the invoked at least one rule, the edited elements including the indicated new format; receiving edited displayable equation elements from the editor and generating a second component description file that includes items describing the content and the modified format of the edited displayable equation elements; generating a second viewer module that includes the pre-built application module used by the editor, rendering instructions, and equation evaluation instructions; the second viewer module executable in a browser to evaluate, render, or edit the elements in the second component description file; and generating a second live component comprised of the second viewer module and the second component description file, the second live component executable on a server or downloadable to a local system to display a component with the content and the modified format of the edited displayable equation elements according the second component description file, or further edit the format of the second live component using rules from the pre-built application module in the second viewer module.