CSS2 Properties - Paged media
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Paged support
CSS2 provides support for paged media. Paged media are the CSS media types of
projection, handheld and embossed.
@pageThis allows the size of the page box (i.e., the the page where content is
placed) and the size of the margins to be specified.
Since the page model has no conception of fonts, ems and exes are not
permitted on @page.
Page boxes
The page box is the 'page' that is used for output. You specify the size of
the page box using the size property.
Valid keywords for size are auto, portrait, landscape, or one or two lengths,
where the first length refers to width, and the second to height, and if the
second is omitted, it is assumed to be equal to the first.
@page {size: 8.5in 11in}
Percentages are not valid.
It should be noted that lengths on size require a page that is as large as
the @page.
Portrait specifies that the page box is the size of the target (e.g., the
piece of paper) but that the longer sides are the vertical ones. Landscape
specifies that the page box is the size of the target but that the longer sides
are the horizontal ones.
Transferring page boxes to pages
It should be noted that page boxes are not the same as pages. Typically, the
page box is smaller than the page. As a result, it is recommended that the page
box is centered within the sheet. However, this is not necessarily so.
If the page box is larger than the page, the page will either be scaled down
or rotated to fit.
Margins
Within @page, the margin properties apply as normal; however, paddings and
borders do not apply.
The normal margin propertiess are used to specify margins. Margins are
applied inside the page box. Thus size: 8.5in 10in; margin: 2in results in a
page area of 4.5 × 6 inches (if BODY and HTML have margins, this applies on top
of this).
% on margins refer to to the page box height in the case of vertical margins
and to the page box width in the case of horizontal margins. Negative margins
are valid, but it this may be clipped.
Marks
Some printing methods print marks just outside the page box. This property
specifies the type, equal to crop (these are used to indicate where the page
should be cut), cross (these are used for page alignment) or none. E.g., marks:
crop cross (to specify both) or marks: cross.
Left and right
Double-sided documents may require different page boxes (e.g. left and right
margins reversed) on the left and right side. These pseudo-classes permit that
(note the compulsory space):
@page :left {margin: 0 .75in 0 1in}
@page :right {margin: 0 1in 0 .75in}
These will be used even if the printer does not print doublesided documents.
:First
This pseudo-class applies to the first page. E.g., @page :first.
Naming a page
This is applied to an @page block so that it can be referred to by an
element.
@page bob {... }
The example above would mean that the element that asks to be on the page
called bob must be put on a page of the dimensions specified.
PropertiesPage breaks
Whereas the properties above apply only to the @page rule, these apply to
block elements.
Page-break-before and page-break-after
Valid values are: auto (permit a page break before (after) the element -
initial value), always (always force a page break before (or after if p-b-after)
the element), avoid (avoid a page break before (after) the element box), left
(force 1 or 2 page breaks before (or after) the element so that the next page is
formatted as a left page) and right (force 1 or 2 page breaks before (or after)
the element so that the next page is formatted as a left page)
These are not inherited.
These are supported by IE 4 and 5.
Page-break-inside
Valid are avoid (avoid a page break inside the element) and auto (permit a
page break inside the element - initial value). It is inherited.
TABLE {page-break-inside: avoid}
Orphans and widows
These are specified as an integer, initially 2, are inherited, and apply only
to block elements.
Orphans refers to the minimum number of lines of an element that can be left
at the bottom of a page, and widows to the minimum numbers of an element that
can be left at the top of a page. E.g., P {orphans: 2}.
Page
This forces the element onto the page of the specifications defined by an
@page rule. If the element is not on such a page already, there will be a page
break before an element on a specified page. Page applies only to block
elements, and is inherited. It might be useful for forcing some or all tables
onto landscape pages. The alternative and initial value is auto.
FORM {page: bob}
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