


CSS3 vs. XSL-FO for Paginated Documents: Which Technology Reigns Supreme?
Dec 12, 2024 pm 04:09 PMPaginated Document Generation: Revisiting the Use of CSS2, XSL-FO, and CSS3
In the past, XSL-FO has been the preferred technology for generating paginated PDF documents from XML or XHTML content. However, with the advancements in CSS, there is a growing consensus that CSS can now handle the demands of paginated media and replace XSL-FO.
CSS2, released in 1998, provided basic support for pagination through the paged media module. However, it had limitations in terms of fitting text precisely to the page and handling complex layouts.
In 2011, CSS2.1 expanded on the paged media module, addressing some of its shortcomings. CSS2.1 allows developers to define the exact layout of the page, create multiple columns, and control page margins and headers.
With the release of CSS3, the standardization of paged media took a significant leap forward. CSS3 introduced new properties and modules specifically designed for handling pagination, including:
- Pagination: For defining page breaks and controlling page size.
- Columns: For creating multiple columns within a single page.
- Footers: For adding running footers to each page.
- Headers: For adding running headers to each page.
Reasons for Choosing CSS3 over XSL-FO
There are several compelling reasons why CSS3 is gaining traction as the preferred solution for generating paginated documents:
- Widespread Support: CSS is supported by all major browsers and rendering engines, including WebKit, Gecko, and Edge. This ensures compatibility across a wide range of devices and platforms.
- Ease of Development: CSS is a relatively straightforward and widely-understood language. Developers familiar with CSS for web development will find it easier to adapt to using CSS for print.
- Industry Adoption: Major publishers and organizations, including O'Reilly Media and the US Federal Government, have adopted CSS3 for their print production. This indicates a shift in the industry towards CSS-based paginated documents.
The Demise of XSL-FO
In 2013, the W3C officially ended development of XSL-FO 2.0, signaling the decline of this technology. The decision was based on the lack of participation in the Working Group and the emergence of CSS3 as a viable alternative.
The Future of Paginated Documents
CSS3, with its comprehensive support for pagination and its adoption by the industry, is poised to become the dominant technology for generating paginated documents. It offers the flexibility, ease of use, and compatibility necessary for meeting the demands of modern publishing.
The above is the detailed content of CSS3 vs. XSL-FO for Paginated Documents: Which Technology Reigns Supreme?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

Hot AI Tools

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor

SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use

Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

There are three ways to create a CSS loading rotator: 1. Use the basic rotator of borders to achieve simple animation through HTML and CSS; 2. Use a custom rotator of multiple points to achieve the jump effect through different delay times; 3. Add a rotator in the button and switch classes through JavaScript to display the loading status. Each approach emphasizes the importance of design details such as color, size, accessibility and performance optimization to enhance the user experience.

To deal with CSS browser compatibility and prefix issues, you need to understand the differences in browser support and use vendor prefixes reasonably. 1. Understand common problems such as Flexbox and Grid support, position:sticky invalid, and animation performance is different; 2. Check CanIuse confirmation feature support status; 3. Correctly use -webkit-, -moz-, -ms-, -o- and other manufacturer prefixes; 4. It is recommended to use Autoprefixer to automatically add prefixes; 5. Install PostCSS and configure browserslist to specify the target browser; 6. Automatically handle compatibility during construction; 7. Modernizr detection features can be used for old projects; 8. No need to pursue consistency of all browsers,

Themaindifferencesbetweendisplay:inline,block,andinline-blockinHTML/CSSarelayoutbehavior,spaceusage,andstylingcontrol.1.Inlineelementsflowwithtext,don’tstartonnewlines,ignorewidth/height,andonlyapplyhorizontalpadding/margins—idealforinlinetextstyling

Use the clip-path attribute of CSS to crop elements into custom shapes, such as triangles, circular notches, polygons, etc., without relying on pictures or SVGs. Its advantages include: 1. Supports a variety of basic shapes such as circle, ellipse, polygon, etc.; 2. Responsive adjustment and adaptable to mobile terminals; 3. Easy to animation, and can be combined with hover or JavaScript to achieve dynamic effects; 4. It does not affect the layout flow, and only crops the display area. Common usages are such as circular clip-path:circle (50pxatcenter) and triangle clip-path:polygon (50%0%, 100 0%, 0 0%). Notice

Setting the style of links you have visited can improve the user experience, especially in content-intensive websites to help users navigate better. 1. Use CSS's: visited pseudo-class to define the style of the visited link, such as color changes; 2. Note that the browser only allows modification of some attributes due to privacy restrictions; 3. The color selection should be coordinated with the overall style to avoid abruptness; 4. The mobile terminal may not display this effect, and it is recommended to combine it with other visual prompts such as icon auxiliary logos.

To create responsive images using CSS, it can be mainly achieved through the following methods: 1. Use max-width:100% and height:auto to allow the image to adapt to the container width while maintaining the proportion; 2. Use HTML's srcset and sizes attributes to intelligently load the image sources adapted to different screens; 3. Use object-fit and object-position to control image cropping and focus display. Together, these methods ensure that the images are presented clearly and beautifully on different devices.

The choice of CSS units depends on design requirements and responsive requirements. 1.px is used for fixed size, suitable for precise control but lack of elasticity; 2.em is a relative unit, which is easily caused by the influence of the parent element, while rem is more stable based on the root element and is suitable for global scaling; 3.vw/vh is based on the viewport size, suitable for responsive design, but attention should be paid to the performance under extreme screens; 4. When choosing, it should be determined based on whether responsive adjustments, element hierarchy relationships and viewport dependence. Reasonable use can improve layout flexibility and maintenance.

Different browsers have differences in CSS parsing, resulting in inconsistent display effects, mainly including the default style difference, box model calculation method, Flexbox and Grid layout support level, and inconsistent behavior of certain CSS attributes. 1. The default style processing is inconsistent. The solution is to use CSSReset or Normalize.css to unify the initial style; 2. The box model calculation method of the old version of IE is different. It is recommended to use box-sizing:border-box in a unified manner; 3. Flexbox and Grid perform differently in edge cases or in old versions. More tests and use Autoprefixer; 4. Some CSS attribute behaviors are inconsistent. CanIuse must be consulted and downgraded.
