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 <h1>CSS Overflow Module Level 3</h1>

 <pre class="metadata">

 Status: ED

 ED: http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css-overflow/

 Shortname: css-overflow

 Group: csswg

 Level: 1

 TR: http://www.w3.org/TR/css-overflow-3/

 Previous version: http://www.w3.org/TR/2013/WD-css-overflow-3-20130418/

 Editor: L. David Baron, Mozilla, http://dbaron.org/

 Abstract: This module contains the features of CSS relating to new mechanisms of overflow handling in visual media (e.g., screen or paper).  In interactive media, it describes features that allow the overflow from a fixed size container to be handled by pagination (displaying one page at a time).  It also describes features, applying to all visual media, that allow the contents of an element to be spread across multiple fragments, allowing the contents to flow across multiple regions or to have different styles for different fragments.

 Status Text: The following features are at risk: …

 !Change Log: <a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/csswg/log/tip/css-overflow/Overview.bs">from 27 January 2015 to the present</a>

 !Change Log: <a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/csswg/log/tip/css-overflow/Overview.src.html">from 28 March 2013 to 27 January 2015</a>

 !Change Log: <a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/csswg/log/tip/css3-overflow/Overview.src.html">from 31 July 2012 to 27 March 2013</a>

 </pre>

 <pre class="link-defaults">

 spec:css-transforms-1; type:property; text:transform-style

 </pre>

 <!-- FIXME: the break-* link doesn't actually work! -->

 <pre class="anchors">

 url: http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/CR-css3-marquee-20081205/#the-overflow-style; type: property; text: overflow-style;

 url: http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css-break/#breaking-controls; type: property; text: break-*;

 url: http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css-multicol/#overflow-columns; type: dfn; text: overflow columns;

 url: http://dev.w3.org/csswg/selectors-3/#subject; type: dfn; text: subject;

 </pre>

 	<style>

 		table.source-demo-pair {

 			width: 100%;

 		}

 		.in-cards-demo {

 			width: 13em;

 			height: 8em;

 			padding: 4px;

 			border: medium solid blue;

 			margin: 6px;

 			font: medium/1.3 Times New Roman, Times, serif;

 			white-space: nowrap;

 		}

 		.bouncy-columns-demo {

 			width: 6em;

 			height: 10em;

 			float: left;

 			margin: 1em;

 			font: medium/1.25 Times New Roman, Times, serif;

 			white-space: nowrap;

 		}

 		.bouncy-columns-demo.one {

 			background: aqua; color: black;

 			transform: rotate(-3deg);

 		}

 		.bouncy-columns-demo.two {

 			background: yellow; color: black;

 			transform: rotate(3deg);

 		}

 		.article-font-inherit-demo {

 			font: 1em/1.25 Times New Roman, Times, serif;

 			white-space: nowrap;

 		}

 		.article-font-inherit-demo.one {

 			width: 12em;

 			font-size: 1.5em;

 			margin-bottom: 1em;

 			height: 4em;

 		}

 		.article-font-inherit-demo.two {

 			width: 11em;

 			margin-left: 5em;

 			margin-right: 2em;

 		}

 		.dark-columns-demo {

 			width: 6em;

 			height: 10em;

 			float: left;

 			margin-right: 1em;

 			font: medium/1.25 Times New Roman, Times, serif;

 			white-space: nowrap;

 		}

 		.dark-columns-demo.one {

 			background: aqua; color: black;

 		}

 		.dark-columns-demo.one :link {

 			color: blue;

 		}

 		.dark-columns-demo.one :visited {

 			color: purple;

 		}

 		.dark-columns-demo.two {

 			background: navy; color: white;

 		}

 		.dark-columns-demo.two :link {

 			color: aqua;

 		}

 		.dark-columns-demo.two :visited {

 			color: fuchsia;

 		}

 		.article-max-lines-demo {

 			font: 1em/1.25 Times New Roman, Times, serif;

 			white-space: nowrap;

 		}

 		.article-max-lines-demo.one::first-letter {

 			font-size: 2em;

 			line-height: 0.9;

 		}

 		.article-max-lines-demo.one {

 			font-size: 1.5em;

 			width: 16em;

 		}

 		.article-max-lines-demo.two {

 			width: 11.5em;

 			float: left; margin-right: 1em;

 		}

 		.article-max-lines-demo.three {

 			width: 11.5em;

 			float: left;

 		}

 	</style>

 	<p>

 	</p>

 <h2 id="intro">

 Introduction</h2>

 	<p>

 		In CSS Level 1 [[CSS1]], placing more content than would fit

 		inside an element with a specified size

 		was generally an authoring error.

 		Doing so caused the content to extend

 		outside the bounds of the element,

 		which would likely cause

 		that content to overlap with other elements.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		CSS Level 2 [[CSS21]] introduced the 'overflow' property,

 		which allows authors to have overflow be handled by scrolling,

 		which means it is no longer an authoring error.

 		It also allows authors to specify

 		that overflow is handled by clipping,

 		which makes sense when the author's intent

 		is that the content not be shown.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		However, scrolling is not the only way

 		to present large amounts of content,

 		and may even not be the optimal way.

 		After all, the codex replaced the scroll

 		as the common format for large written works

 		because of its advantages.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		This specification introduces

 		a mechanism for Web pages to specify

 		that an element of a page should handle overflow

 		through pagination rather than through scrolling.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		This specification also extends the concept of overflow

 		in another direction.

 		Instead of requiring that authors specify a single area

 		into which the content of an element must flow,

 		this specification allows authors to specify multiple fragments,

 		each with their own dimensions and styles,

 		so that the content of the element can flow from one to the next,

 		using as many as needed to place the content without overflowing.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		In both of these cases, implementations must

 		break the content in the block-progression dimension.

 		Implementations must do this is described

 		in the CSS Fragmentation Module [[!CSS3-BREAK]].

 	</p>

 <h2 id="overflow-concepts">Types of overflow</h2>

 	<p>

 		CSS uses the term <dfn>overflow</dfn> to describe

 		the contents of a box

 		that extend outside that one of that box's edges

 		(i.e., its <i>content edge</i>, <i>padding edge</i>,

 		<i>border edge</i>, or <i>margin edge</i>).

 		The overflow might be described as the elements or features

 		that cause this overflow,

 		the non-rectangular region occupied by these features,

 		or, more commonly,

 		as the minimal rectangle that bounds that region.

 		A box's overflow is computed based on the boxes and styles

 		of the box and of all its descendants whose containing block chain

 		<span class="issue">undefined term?</span>

 		includes the box.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		In most cases, any of these types of overflow

 		can be computed for any box

 		from the bounds and properties of that box,

 		and from the overflow (of that type)

 		of each of its children.

 		However, this is not always the case; for example,

 		when ''transform-style: preserve-3d'' [[CSS3-TRANSFORMS]] is used on

 		some of the children, their descendants with

 		''transform-style: preserve-3d'' must also be examined.

 	</p>

 <h3 id="ink-overflow">Ink overflow</h3>

 	<p>

 		The <dfn id="ink-overflow0">ink overflow</dfn> of a box

 		is the part of that box and its contents that

 		creates a visual effect outside of

 		the box's border box.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		Since some effects in CSS (for example, the blurs in

 		'text-shadow' [[CSS3TEXT]] and 'box-shadow' [[CSS3BG]])

 		do not define what visual extent they cover, the extent

 		of the <a>ink overflow</a> is undefined.

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		Should we try to define it at all and just leave pieces undefined?

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		The <dfn>ink overflow region</dfn> is the non-rectangular region

 		occupied by the <a>ink overflow</a>, and the

 		<dfn>ink overflow rectangle</dfn> is

 		the minimal rectangle whose axis is aligned to the box's axes

 		and contains the <a>ink overflow region</a>.

 		Note that the <a>ink overflow rectangle</a> is a rectangle

 		in the box's coordinate system, but might be non-rectangular

 		in other coordinate systems due to transforms [[CSS3-TRANSFORMS]].

 	</p>

 <h3 id="scrollable-overflow">Scrollable overflow</h3>

 	<p>

 		The <dfn id="scrollable-overflow0">scrollable overflow</dfn> of a box is the

 		set of things extending outside of that box's padding edge

 		for which a scrolling mechanism needs to be provided.

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		The following definition should be rewritten to use

 		the concept of <a href="http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css-transforms/#3d-rendering-context">3D rendering context</a> [[!CSS3-TRANSFORMS]]

 		and related terms,

 		particularly once those concepts stabilize following changes

 		proposed in the CSS WG meeting on the morning of 2014-01-28.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		Given the following definitions

 		<span class="issue">which belong in [[CSS3-TRANSFORMS]]</span>:

 	</p>

 	<dl>

 		<dt><dfn>3d-preserving child</dfn></dt>

 		<dd>

 			A child box B of a containing block C is a 3d-preserving

 			child if it has ''transform-style: preserve-3d''

 			and the user-agent is not required to flatten it

 			based on the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-transforms/#transform-style-property">requirements</a> in [[!CSS3-TRANSFORMS]].

 		</dt>

 		<dt><dfn>non-3d-preserving child</dfn></dt>

 		<dd>

 			A child C of a box P is a non-3d-preserving-child if

 			it is not a <a>3d-preserving child</a>.

 		</dd>

 		<dt><dfn>3d-preserving descendant</dfn></dt>

 		<dd>

 			Box D is a 3d-preserving descendant of box A if A is

 			an ancestor of D, and D and all of the boxes (if any)

 			in the containing block chain from D to A

 			are <a>3d-preserving child</a> boxes.

 		</dd>

 	</dl>

 	<p>The scrollable overflow of a box is the union of the following things,

 	all adjusted for transforms <span class="issue">undefined concept!</span> into the box's coordinate space:</p>

 	<ul>

 		<li>

 			for the box and all of its <a>3d-preserving descendant</a> boxes:

 			<ul>

 				<li>the box's own padding edge (for the box itself) or border edge (for <a>3d-preserving descendant</a> boxes)</li>

 				<li>the bounds <span class="issue">undefined term!</span> of any text directly in the box</li>

 				<li><span class="issue">MORE HERE!</span>

 			</ul>

 		<li>

 			for all the <a>non-3d-preserving child</a> boxes of the

 			box and its <a>3d-preserving descendant</a> boxes,

 			the scrollable overflow of the box

 		</li>

 	</ul>

 	<p class="issue">

 		I wrote this definition off the top of my head,

 		so it can't possibly be right.

 		It's missing tons of pieces!

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		The handling of preserve-3d subtrees here is probably wrong;

 		the elements should probably count

 		only towards the overflow of the element that flattens them.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		The <dfn>scrollable overflow region</dfn> is the non-rectangular region

 		occupied by the <a>scrollable overflow</a>, and the

 		<dfn>scrollable overflow rectangle</dfn> is

 		the minimal rectangle whose axis is aligned to the box's axes

 		and contains the <a>scrollable overflow region</a>.

 		Note that the <a>scrollable overflow rectangle</a> is a rectangle

 		in the box's coordinate system, but might be non-rectangular

 		in other coordinate systems due to transforms [[CSS3-TRANSFORMS]].

 	</p>

 <h3 id="border-box-overflow">Border box overflow</h3>

 	<p class="issue">

 		This concept has been proposed for some uses, such as for

 		determining what the 'outline' property goes around, and

 		as the basis of a coordinate system for specifying clips and masks,

 		but it's not clear if it's needed.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		The <dfn>border-box overflow</dfn> of a box is the

 		union of the box's border edge and the border edges of

 		the box's descendants.</p>

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		If needed, define more formally, as for scrollable overflow above.

 		(Maybe even share the definitions in an appropriate way!)

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		The <dfn>border-box overflow region</dfn> is the non-rectangular region

 		occupied by the <a>border-box overflow</a>, and the

 		<dfn>border-box overflow rectangle</dfn> is

 		the minimal rectangle whose axis is aligned to the box's axes

 		and contains the <a>border-box overflow region</a>.

 		Note that the <a>border-box overflow rectangle</a> is a rectangle

 		in the box's coordinate system, but might be non-rectangular

 		in other coordinate systems due to transforms [[CSS3-TRANSFORMS]].

 	</p>

 <h2 id="overflow-properties">Overflow properties</h2>

 	<p>

 		The 'overflow-x' property specifies

 		the handling of overflow in the horizontal direction

 		(i.e., overflow from the left and right sides of the box),

 		and the 'overflow-y' property specifies the handling

 		of overflow in the vertical direction

 		(i.e., overflow from the top and bottom sides of the box) 

 	</p>

 	<table class=propdef>

 		<tr>

 			<th>Name:

 			<td><dfn>overflow-x</dfn>, <dfn>overflow-y</dfn>

 		<tr>

 			<th>Value:

 			<td>visible | hidden | scroll | auto | paged-x | paged-y | paged-x-controls | paged-y-controls | fragments

 		<tr>

 			<th>Initial:

 			<td>visible

 		<tr>

 			<th>Applies to:

 			<td>block containers [[!CSS21]], flex containers [[!CSS3-FLEXBOX]], and grid containers [[!CSS3-GRID-LAYOUT]]

 		<tr>

 			<th>Inherited:

 			<td>no

 		<tr>

 			<th>Percentages:

 			<td>N/A

 		<tr>

 			<th>Media:

 			<td>visual

 		<tr>

 			<th>Computed&nbsp;value:

 			<td>see below

 		<tr>

 			<th>Animatable:

 			<td>no

 		<tr>

 			<th>Canonical order:

 			<td><abbr title="follows order of property value definition">per grammar</abbr>

 	</table>

 	<p>

 		The 'overflow' property is a shorthand property

 		that sets the specified values of both 'overflow-x' and 'overflow-y'

 		to the value specified for 'overflow'.

 	</p>

 	<table class=propdef>

 		<tr>

 			<th>Name:

 			<td><dfn>overflow</dfn>

 		<tr>

 			<th>Value:

 			<td>visible | hidden | scroll | auto | paged-x | paged-y | paged-x-controls | paged-y-controls | fragments

 		<tr>

 			<th>Initial:

 			<td>see individual properties

 		<tr>

 			<th>Applies to:

 			<td>block containers [[!CSS21]], flex containers [[!CSS3-FLEXBOX]], and grid containers [[!CSS3-GRID-LAYOUT]]

 		<tr>

 			<th>Inherited:

 			<td>no

 		<tr>

 			<th>Percentages:

 			<td>N/A

 		<tr>

 			<th>Media:

 			<td>visual

 		<tr>

 			<th>Computed&nbsp;value:

 			<td>see individual properties

 		<tr>

 			<th>Animatable:

 			<td>no

 		<tr>

 			<th>Canonical order:

 			<td><abbr title="follows order of property value definition">per grammar</abbr>

 	</table>

 	<p>The values of these properties are:</p>

 	<dl dfn-for="overflow" dfn-type="value">

 		<dt><dfn>visible</dfn>

 		<dd>

 			There is no special handling of overflow, that is, it

 			may be rendered outside the block container.

 		</dd>

 		<dt><dfn>hidden</dfn>

 		<dt><dfn>scroll</dfn>

 		<dt><dfn>auto</dfn>

 		<dd>

 			These values are collectively the <dfn dfn>scrolling values</dfn>;

 			they are defined in the section on

 			<a href="#scrolling-overflow">scrolling and hidden overflow</a>.

 		</dd>

 		<dt><dfn>paged-x</dfn>

 		<dt><dfn>paged-y</dfn>

 		<dt><dfn>paged-x-controls</dfn>

 		<dt><dfn>paged-y-controls</dfn>

 		<dt><dfn>fragments</dfn>

 		<dd>

 			These values are collectively the <dfn dfn>fragmenting values</dfn>;

 			they are defined in the sections on

 			<a href="#paginated-overflow">paginated overflow</a> and

 			<a href="#fragment-overflow">fragment overflow</a>.

 		</dd>

 	</dl>

 	<div id="overflow-computed-values">

 		<p>The computed values of 'overflow-x' and 'overflow-y'

 		are determined from the cascaded values [[!CSS3CASCADE]]

 		based on the following rules:</p>

 		<ol>

 			<li>

 				If one or both of the cascaded values are

 				<a>fragmenting values</a>, then:

 				<ol>

 					<li>

 						If one of the cascaded values is one of the

 						<a>fragmenting values</a>

 						and the other is not,

 						then the computed values are

 						the same as the cascaded values.

 					</li>

 					<li>

 						If both of the cascaded values are <a>fragmenting values</a>, then:

 						<ol>

 							<li>

 								for horizontal writing mode [[!CSS3-WRITING-MODES]],

 								the computed value for 'overflow-y' is the cascaded value

 								and the computed value for 'overflow-x' is ''overflow/hidden'', or

 							</li>

 							<li>

 								for vertical writing mode [[!CSS3-WRITING-MODES]],

 								the computed value for 'overflow-x' is the cascaded value

 								and the computed value for 'overflow-y' is ''overflow/hidden''.

 							</li>

 						</ol>

 					</li>

 				</ol>

 			</li>

 			<li>

 				Otherwise, if one cascaded values is

 				one of the <a>scrolling values</a>

 				and the other is ''overflow/visible'',

 				then computed values are the cascaded values

 				with ''overflow/visible'' changed to ''overflow/auto''.

 			</li>

 			<li>

 				Otherwise, the computed values are as specified.

 			</li>

 		</ol>

 	</div>

 	<p class="issue">

 		Are all 4 of the ''paged-*'' values really needed?

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		When the <a>fragmenting values</a> are used,

 		the overflow from the fragments themselves

 		treats the fragmenting value as ''overflow/hidden''.

 		<span class="issue">Is this the right behavior?</span>

 		<span class="issue">Give example.</span>

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		[[CSS3-MARQUEE]] describes an 'overflow-style' property,

 		but it has not picked up implementation experience

 		that the working group is aware of.

 		Should this document treat 'overflow-style' as a defunct proposal,

 		or should this document describe the 'overflow-style' property

 		and attempt to revive it,

 		despite that implementations have implemented

 		'overflow-x' and 'overflow-y' instead?

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		There are <a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2012May/1197.html">discussions</a>

 		about how overflow, overflow-style, overflow-x and overflow-y

 		should work and interact with each other.

 		Until consensus on this topic is reached,

 		it is not completely clear which of these

 		should be used for

 		paged-x | paged-y | paged-x-controls | paged-y-controls | fragments

 	</p>

 <h2 id="scrolling-overflow">Scrolling and hidden overflow</h2>

 	<p class="issue">

 		Move material from [[CSS21]] and [[CSS3BOX]] here.

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		Explain which directions allow scrolling and which don't,

 		as a function of 'direction'

 		(including propagation of 'direction' to the ICB).

 	</p>

 <h2 id="paginated-overflow">Paginated overflow</h2>

 <p class="issue">overflow:paginate or overflow:pages (or paged-x, paged-y, paged-x-controls, paged-y-controls as [[CSS3GCPM]] has?)</p>

 <p class="issue">Ability to display N pages at once

 rather than just one page at once?</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		The current implementation of paginated overflow uses

 		the 'overflow'/'overflow-x'/'overflow-y' properties

 		rather than the 'overflow-style' property as proposed

 		in the [[CSS3GCPM]] draft

 		(which also matches the [[CSS3-MARQUEE]] proposal).

 		We should probably switch away from 'overflow-style',

 		but that's not 100% clear.

 	</p>

 <h2 id="fragment-overflow">Fragment overflow</h2>

 	<p>

 		This section introduces and defines the meaning of

 		the new ''fragments'' value of the 'overflow' property.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		When the computed value of 'overflow' for an element is ''fragments'',

 		and implementations would otherwise have created a box for the element,

 		then implementations must create a sequence of <dfn>fragment box</dfn>es

 		for that element.

 		(It is possible for an element with ''overflow: fragments''

 		to generate only one <a>fragment box</a>.

 		However, if an element's computed 'overflow' is not ''fragments'',

 		then its box is not a <a>fragment box</a>.)

 		Every <a>fragment box</a> is a fragmentation container,

 		and any overflow

 		that would cause that fragmentation container to fragment

 		causes another <a>fragment box</a> created as a next sibling

 		of the previous one.

 		<span class="issue">Or is it as though it's a next sibling of

 		the element?  Need to figure out exactly how this interacts with

 		other box-level fixup.</span>

 		Additionally, if the <a>fragment box</a> is also

 		a multi-column box (as defined in [[!CSS3COL]]

 		<span class="issue">though it defines <i>multi-column element</i></span>)

 		any content that would lead to the creation of <a>overflow columns</a> [[!CSS3COL]]

 		instead is flown into an additional fragment box.

 		However, fragment boxes may themselves be broken

 		(due to fragmentation in a fragmentation context outside of them,

 		such as pages, columns, or other fragment boxes);

 		such breaking leads to fragments of the same fragment box

 		rather than multiple fragment boxes.

 		(This matters because fragment boxes may be styled by their index;

 		such breaking leads to multiple fragments of a fragment box

 		with a single index.

 		This design choice is so that

 		breaking a fragment box across pages does not break

 		the association of indices to particular pieces of content.)

 		<span class="issue">Should a forced break that breaks to

 		an outer fragmentation context cause a new fragment of a single

 		fragment box or a new fragment box?</span>

 		<span class="issue">Should we find a term other than

 		<a>fragment box</a> here to make this a little less confusing?</span>

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		What if we want to be able to style the pieces of an element

 		split within another type of fragmentation context?

 		These rules prevent ever using ''::nth-fragment()'' for that,

 		despite that the name seems the most logical name for such a feature.

 	</p>

 	<div class="example">

 		<table class="source-demo-pair"><tr><td><pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;

 <title>Breaking content into

   equal-sized cards</title>

 <style>

   .in-cards {

     overflow: fragments;

     width: 13em;

     height: 8em;

     padding: 4px;

     border: medium solid blue;

     margin: 6px;

     font: medium/1.3 Times New

       Roman, Times, serif;

   }

 </style>

 <div class="in-cards">

   In this example, the text in the div

   is broken into a series of cards.

   These cards all have the same style.

   The presence of enough content to

   overflow one of the cards causes

   another one to be created.  The second

   card is created just like it's the

   next sibling of the first.

 &lt;/div&gt;</pre></td><td>

 			<div class="in-cards-demo">In this example, the text in the<br>div is broken into a series of<br>cards.  These cards all have the<br>same style. The presence of<br>enough content to overflow<br>one of the cards causes another</div>

 			<div class="in-cards-demo">one to be created.  The second<br>card is created just like it's the<br>next sibling of the first.</div>

 		</td></tr></table>

 	</div>

 	<p class="issue">

 		We should specify that ''overflow: fragments'' does not apply

 		to at least some table parts,

 		and perhaps other elements as well.

 		We need to determine exactly which ones.

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		This specification needs to say which type of

 		fragmentation context is created

 		so that it's clear which values of the 'break-*' properties

 		cause breaks within this context.

 		We probably want ''break-*: region'' to apply.

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		This specification needs a processing model

 		that will apply in cases where the layout containing the

 		fragments has characteristics that use the intrinsic size of the fragments

 		to change the amount of space available for them,

 		such as [[CSS3-GRID-LAYOUT]].

 		There has already been some work on such a processing model

 		in [[CSS3-REGIONS]],

 		and the work done on a model there,

 		and the editors of that specification,

 		should inform what happens in this specification.

 	</p>

 <h3 id="fragment-styling">Fragment styling</h3>

 <h4 id="fragment-pseudo-element">The ::nth-fragment() pseudo-element</h4>

 	<p>

 		The ::nth-fragment() pseudo-element is a pseudo-element

 		that describes some of the <a>fragment box</a>es generated by an element.

 		The argument to the pseudo-element takes the same syntax

 		as the argument to the :nth-child() pseudo-class

 		defined in [[!SELECT]], and has the same meaning

 		except that the number is relative to

 		<a>fragment box</a>es generated by the element

 		instead of siblings of the element.

 	</p>

 	<p class="note">

 		Selectors that allow addressing fragments

 		by counting from the end rather than the start

 		are intentionally not provided.

 		Such selectors would interfere with determining

 		the number of fragments.

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		Depending on future discussions,

 		this ''::nth-fragment(<var>an+b</var>)'' syntax

 		may be replaced with

 		the new ''::fragment:nth(<var>an+b</var>)'' syntax.

 	</p>

 <h4 id="style-of-fragments">Styling of fragments</h4>

 	<p class="issue">

 		Should this apply to fragment overflow only,

 		or also to paginated overflow?

 		(If it applies,

 		then stricter property restrictions would be needed

 		for paginated overflow.)

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		In the absence of rules with ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-elements,

 		the computed style for each <a>fragment box</a>

 		is the computed style for the element

 		for which the <a>fragment box</a> was created.

 		However, the style for a <a>fragment box</a> is also influenced

 		by rules whose selector's <a>subject</a> [[!SELECT]]

 		has an ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element,

 		if the 1-based number of the <a>fragment box</a> matches

 		that ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element

 		and the selector (excluding the ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element)

 		matches the element generating the fragments.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		When determining the style of the <a>fragment box</a>,

 		these rules that match the fragment pseudo-element

 		cascade together with the rules that match the element,

 		with the fragment pseudo-element adding the specificity

 		of a pseudo-class to the specificity calculation.

 		<span class="issue">Does this need to be specified in

 		the cascading module as well?</span>

 	</p>

 	<div class="example">

 		<table class="source-demo-pair"><tr><td><pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;

 <style>

   .bouncy-columns {

     overflow: fragments;

     width: 6em;

     height: 10em;

     float: left;

     margin: 1em;

     font: medium/1.25 Times New

       Roman, Times, serif;

   }

   .bouncy-columns::nth-fragment(1) {

     background: aqua; color: black;

     transform: rotate(-3deg);

   }

   .bouncy-columns::nth-fragment(2) {

     background: yellow; color: black;

     transform: rotate(3deg);

   }

 </style>

 <div class="bouncy-columns">

   <i>...</i>

 &lt;/div&gt;</pre></td><td>

 			<div class="bouncy-columns-demo one">In this<br>example, the<br>text in the div<br>is broken into<br>a series of<br>columns.  The<br>author<br>probably</div>

 			<div class="bouncy-columns-demo two">intended the<br>text to fill two<br>columns.  But<br>if it happens to<br>fill three<br>columns, the<br>third column is<br>still created.  It</div>

 			<div class="bouncy-columns-demo">just doesn't<br>have any<br>fragment-specific<br>styling because<br>the author<br>didn't give it<br>any.</div>

 		</td></tr></table>

 	</div>

 	<p>

 		Styling an ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element with the 'overflow'

 		property does take effect;

 		if a <a>fragment box</a> has a

 		computed value of 'overflow' other than ''fragments''

 		then that fragment box is the last fragment.

 		However, overriding 'overflow' on the first fragment

 		does not cause the <a>fragment box</a> not to exist;

 		whether there are fragment boxes at all is determined by

 		the computed value of overflow for the element.

 		<span class="issue">Need to reword this to refer to the

 		appropriate choice of 'overflow-x' or 'overflow-y',

 		and then point to rule about the handling of the other one

 		of 'overflow-x' or 'overflow-y'.</span>

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		Styling an ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element with the 'content'

 		property has no effect;

 		the computed value of 'content' for the fragment box

 		remains the same as the computed value of content for the element.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		Specifying ''display: none'' for a <a>fragment box</a> causes

 		the fragment box with that index not to be generated.

 		However, in terms of the indices

 		used for matching ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-elements

 		of later fragment boxes,

 		it still counts as though it was generated.

 		However, since it is not generated, it does not contain any content.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		Specifying other values of 'display', 'position',

 		or 'float' is permitted, but is not allowed to change

 		the computed value of 'display-inside'.

 		(Since 'overflow', 'overflow-x', and 'overflow-y' only

 		apply to block containers, flex containers, and grid containers

 		the computed value of 'display-inside' is always

 		''display-inside/block'', ''display-inside/flex'', or

 		''display-inside/grid''.

 		<span class="issue">Need to specify exactly how this works,

 		but it depends on

 		having 'display-inside' and 'display-outside' specified.</span>

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		To match the model for other pseudo-elements

 		where the pseudo-elements live inside their corresponding element,

 		declarations in ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-elements override

 		declarations in rules without the pseudo-element.

 		The relative priority within such declarations is determined

 		by normal cascading order (see [[!CSS21]]).

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		Styles specified on ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-elements

 		do affect inheritance to content within the <a>fragment box</a>.

 		In other words, the content within the <a>fragment box</a> must

 		inherit from the fragment box's style (i.e., the pseudo-element style)

 		rather than directly from the element.

 		This means that elements split between fragment boxes may

 		have different styles for different parts of the element.

 	</p>

 	<p class="issue">

 		This inheritance rule allows specifying styles indirectly

 		(by using explicit ''inherit'' or using default inheritance

 		on properties that don't apply to ''::first-letter'')

 		that can't be specified directly

 		(based on the rules in the next section).

 		This is a problem.

 		The restrictions that apply to styling inside fragments

 		should also apply to inheritance from fragments.

 	</p>

 	<div class="example">

 		<table class="source-demo-pair"><tr><td><pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;

 <style>

   .article {

     overflow: fragments;

   }

   .article::nth-fragment(1) {

     font-size: 1.5em;

     margin-bottom: 1em;

     height: 4em;

   }

   .article::nth-fragment(2) {

     margin-left: 5em;

     margin-right: 2em;

   }

 </style>

 <div class="article">

   The &lt;code&gt;font-size&lt;/code&gt; property<i>...</i>

 &lt;/div&gt;</pre></td><td>

 			<div class="article-font-inherit-demo one">The <code>font-size</code> property<br>specified on the fragment<br>is inherited into the</div>

 			<div class="article-font-inherit-demo two">descendants of the fragment.<br>This means that inherited<br>properties can be used<br>reliably on a fragment, as in<br>this example.</div>

 		</td></tr></table>

 	</div>

 <h4 id="style-in-fragments">Styling inside fragments</h4>

 	<p class="issue">

 		Should this apply to fragment overflow only,

 		or also to paginated overflow,

 		or even to pagination across pages?

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		The ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element

 		can also be used to style

 		content inside of a <a>fragment box</a>.

 		Unlike the ''::first-line'' and ''::first-letter'' pseudo-elements,

 		the ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element can be applied

 		to parts of the selector other than the subject:

 		in particular, it can match ancestors of the subject.

 		However, the only CSS properties applied

 		by rules with such selectors

 		are those that apply

 		to the ''::first-letter'' pseudo-element.

 	</p>

 	<p>

 		To be more precise,

 		when a rule's selector has ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-elements

 		attached to parts of the selector other than the subject,

 		the declarations in that rule apply to

 		a fragment (or pseudo-element thereof) when:

 	</p>

 	<ol>

 		<li>

 			the declarations are for properties that apply to the

 			''::first-letter'' pseudo-element,

 		</li>

 		<li>

 			the declarations would apply to

 			that fragment (or pseudo-element thereof)

 			had those ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-elements been removed,

 			with a particular association between

 			each sequence of simple selectors and the element it matched,

 			and

 		</li>

 		<li>

 			for each removed ''::nth-fragment()'' pseudo-element,

 			the fragment lives within a <a>fragment box</a>

 			of the element associated in that association

 			with the selector that the pseudo-element was attached to,

 			and whose index matches the pseudo-element.

 		</li>

 	</ol>

 	<div class="example">

 		<table class="source-demo-pair"><tr><td><pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;

 <style>

   .dark-columns {

     overflow: fragments;

     width: 6em;

     height: 10em;

     float: left;

     margin-right: 1em;

     font: medium/1.25 Times New

       Roman, Times, serif;

   }

   .dark-columns::nth-fragment(1) {

     background: aqua; color: black;

   }

   .dark-columns::nth-fragment(1) :link {

     color: blue;

   }

   .dark-columns::nth-fragment(1) :visited {

     color: purple;

   }

   .dark-columns::nth-fragment(2) {

     background: navy; color: white;

   }

   .dark-columns::nth-fragment(2) :link {

     color: aqua;

   }

   .dark-columns::nth-fragment(2) :visited {

     color: fuchsia;

   }

 </style>

 <div class="dark-columns">

   <i>...</i>

 &lt;/div&gt;</pre></td><td>

 			<div class="dark-columns-demo one">In this<br><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/example">example</a>, the<br>text flows<br>from one<br>light-colored<br>fragment into<br>another<br>dark-colored</div>

 			<div class="dark-columns-demo two">fragment.  We<br>therefore want<br>different styles<br>for <a href="http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/IntoContext.html">hyperlinks</a><br>in the different<br>fragments.</div>

 		</td></tr></table>

 	</div>

 <h3 id="max-lines">The 'max-lines' property</h3>

 	<p>

 		Authors may wish to style the opening lines of an element

 		with different styles

 		by putting those opening lines in a separate fragment.

 		However, since it may be difficult to predict the exact height

 		occupied by those lines

 		in order to restrict the first fragment to that height,

 		this specification introduces a 'max-lines' property

 		that forces a fragment to break

 		after a specified number of lines.

 		This forces a break after the given number of lines

 		contained within the element or its descendants,

 		as long as those lines are in the same block formatting context.

 	</p>

 	<table class=propdef>

 		<tr>

 			<th>Name:

 			<td><dfn>max-lines</dfn>

 		<tr>

 			<th>Value:

 			<td>none | &lt;integer&gt;

 		<tr>

 			<th>Initial:

 			<td>none

 		<tr>

 			<th>Applies to:

 			<td>fragment boxes

 		<tr>

 			<th>Inherited:

 			<td>no

 		<tr>

 			<th>Animatable:

 			<td>as <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-transitions/#animatable-types">integer</a>

 		<tr>

 			<th>Percentages:

 			<td>N/A

 		<tr>

 			<th>Media:

 			<td>visual

 		<tr>

 			<th>Computed&nbsp;value:

 			<td>specified value

 		<tr>

 			<th>Canonical order:

 			<td><abbr title="follows order of property value definition">per grammar</abbr>

 	</table>

 	<dl dfn-for="max-lines" dfn-type="value">

 		<dt><dfn>none</dfn>

 		<dd>

 			<p>

 				Breaks occur only as specified elsewhere.

 			</p>

 		</dd>

 		<dt><dfn>&lt;integer&gt;</dfn>

 		<dd>

 			<p>

 				In addition to any breaks specified elsewhere,

 				a break is forced before any line that would exceed

 				the given number of lines

 				being placed inside the element

 				(excluding lines that are in

 				a different block formatting context from

 				the block formatting context to which

 				an unstyled child of the element would belong).

 			</p>

 			<p class="issue">

 				If there are multiple boundaries between this line

 				and the previous, where exactly (in terms of element

 				boundaries) is the break forced?

 			</p>

 			<p>

 				Only positive integers are accepted.

 				Zero or negative integers are a parse error.

 			</p>

 		</dd>

 	</dl>

 <p class="issue">Should this apply to fragment overflow only, or also

 to pagination?</p>

 	<div class="example">

 		<table class="source-demo-pair"><tr><td><pre>&lt;!DOCTYPE HTML&gt;

 <style>

   .article {

     overflow: fragments;

   }

   .article::first-letter {

     font-size: 2em;

     line-height: 0.9;

   }

   .article::nth-fragment(1) {

     font-size: 1.5em;

     max-lines: 3;

   }

   .article::nth-fragment(2) {

     column-count: 2;

   }

 </style>

 <div class="article">

   <i>...</i>

 &lt;/div&gt;</pre></td><td>

 			<div class="article-max-lines-demo one">The max-lines property allows<br>authors to use a larger font for the first<br>few lines of an article.  Without the</div>

 			<div class="article-max-lines-demo two">max-lines property, authors<br>might have to use the<br>'height' property instead, but<br>that would leave a slight gap<br>if the author miscalculated<br>how much height a given<br>number of lines would<br>occupy (which might be</div>

 			<div class="article-max-lines-demo three">particularly hard if the author<br>didn't know what text would<br>be filling the space, exactly<br>what font would be used, or<br>exactly which platform's font<br>rendering would be used to<br>display the font).</div>

 		</td></tr></table>

 	</div>

 <h2 id="static-media">Overflow in static media</h2>

 	<p class="issue">

 		This specification should define useful behavior

 		for all values of 'overflow'

 		in static media (such as print).

 		Current implementation behavior is quite poor and

 		produces unexpected results when authors have not considered

 		what will happen when

 		the content they produce for interactive media

 		is printed.

 	</p>

 <h2 class=no-num id="acknowledgments">

 Acknowledgments</h2>

 	<p>

 		Thanks especially to the feedback from

 		Rossen Atanassov,

 		Bert Bos,

 		Tantek Çelik,

 		John Daggett,

 		fantasai,

 		Daniel Glazman,

 		Vincent Hardy,

 		Håkon Wium Lie,

 		Peter Linss,

 		Robert O'Callahan,

 		Florian Rivoal,

 		Alan Stearns,

 		Steve Zilles,

 		and all the rest of the

 		<a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/">www-style</a> community.

 	</p>