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This module describes the page model that partitions a flow into pages. It builds on the Box model module and introduces and defines the page model and paged media. It adds functionality for pagination, page margins, page size and orientation, headers and footers, widows and orphans, and image orientation. Finally it extends generated content to enable page numbering and running headers / footers.
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.
Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.
The (archived) public mailing list [email protected] (see instructions) is preferred for discussion of this specification. When sending e-mail, please put the text âcss3-pageâ in the subject, preferably like this: â[css3-page] â¦summary of commentâ¦â
This document was produced by the CSS Working Group (part of the Style Activity).
This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.
Paged media (e.g., paper, transparencies, photo album pages, pages displayed on computer screens as printed output simulations) differ from continuous media in that the content of the document is split into one or more discrete static display surfaces. To handle pages, CSS3 Paged Media describes how:
This module defines a page model that specifies how a document is formatted within a rectangular area, called the page box, that has finite width and height.
Although CSS3 does not specify how user agents transfer page boxes to sheets, it does include certain mechanisms for telling user agents about the intended page sheet size and orientation. In the general case, CSS3 assumes that one page box will be transferred to one surface of similar size.
All properties defined in this specification also accept the inherit keyword as their value, but for readability it has not been listed explicitly.
All of the text in this specification is normative except sections explicitly marked as non-normative, examples, and notes. The keywords "MUST", "SHALL", "MUST NOT", "SHALL NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" when used in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119]. However, for readability, these words do not appear in all uppercase letters in this specification.
Examples in this specification are introduced with the words "for
example" or are set apart from the normative text with
class="example"
, like this:
This is an example of an informative example.
Informative notes begin with the word "Note" and are set apart from the
normative text with class="note"
, like this:
Note, this is an informative note.
The following terminology and accompanying diagrams help to describe the page model:
portrait
â and âlandscape
â.
:left
â page selector.
:right
â page selector.
In the paged media formatting model, the document is transferred into one or more page boxes. The page box is a specialized CSS box that maps to a rectangular print media surface, such as a page of paper. It is roughly analogous to the viewport.
As with other CSS boxes, a page box consists of margin, border, padding, and content areas. The content and margin areas of a page box have special functions:
The properties of a page box are
determined by properties declared
within the page context, which is the
declaration
block of the @page
rule. Similarly the properties of a
page-margin box are determined by properties declared within its
margin context. Declarations in the
page context can affect the page box and/or inherit to the page-margin
boxes, but they do not apply to or inherit into the document's root
element or other content.
The containing block of the
page box is specified using the âsize
â property in the page context. The width and horizontal
margins of the page box are then calculated exactly as for a non-replaced
block element in normal flow. [CSS21] The height and vertical
margins of the page box are calculated analogously (instead of using the
block height formulas). In both cases if the values are over-constrained,
instead of ignoring any margins, the containing block is resized to
coincide with the margin edges of the page box.
:root { font-size: 1vw; } @page { width: 50em; }
Because the page context inherits from the root,
and the vw
unit depends on the size of the page,
this creates a cycle. How do we break it?
The first rule is a common use case for e.g. slides. The second rule is common in Japanese, where the page is sized to fit the paragraph text.
When drawing a page of content, the page layers are painted in the following painting order (bottommost first):
In the page model, the page background behaves similar to the root
background: its background
painting area is the entire page box, including its margins
(regardless of âbackground-clip
â). Page
backgrounds are anchored within the page box's padding area by default
(and honor âbackground-origin
â if the UA
supports [CSS3BG]). However if âbackground-attachment
â is âfixed
â then the image is positioned relative to the
page box including its margins (i.e. the background
positioning area, like the background painting area, is
the page's margin box).
The document canvas background is drawn as the page box's background:
by default its background painting area covers the page box's
border box, and for UAs that support [CSS3BG], follows the âbackground-clip
â value specified on the root
element. It remains, however, positioned with respect to the root element
or page area as usual.
With respect to the page-margin boxes, the document canvas, page
borders, and all of the document contents are treated as a single element
with a z-index
value of â0
â that
establishes a stacking context
[CSS21]: the
page-margin boxes never interleave with parts of the document content or
between the content and the canvas. They may only paint in front of the
document content or behind the document canvas. The page background is
always painted underneath everything else.
The âz-index
â property applies to
page-margin boxes. Since the âposition
â
property does not apply to page-margin boxes, âz-index
â always affects page-margin boxes as if
they were positioned elements regardless of the âposition
â property's value. Each page-margin
boxes always establishes a stacking context.
The default painting order, or CSS2.1 Appendix E "tree order", of page-margin boxes with respect to each other is as follows:
@top-left-corner
â
@top-left
â
@top-center
â
@top-right
â
@top-right-corner
â
@right-top
â
@right-middle
â
@right-bottom
â
@bottom-right-corner
â
@bottom-right
â
@bottom-center
â
@bottom-left
â
@bottom-left-corner
â
@left-bottom
â
@left-middle
â
@left-top
â
Start with â@top-left-corner
â,
then go clockwise. This order is arbitrary but can be overridden with
âz-index
â. It only has a visible effect
when page-margin boxes overlap, which should not happen in most cases.
When formatting content in the page model, some content may end up
outside the page box. For example, an element whose âwhite-space
â property has the value âpre
â can generate a box that is wider than the
page box. As another example, when boxes are positioned absolutely or
relatively, they may end up in "inconvenient" locations. For example,
images may be placed on the edge of the page box or 100,000 meters below
the page box.
A specification for the exact formatting of such elements lies outside the scope of this document. However, it is recommended that authors and user agents observe the following general principles concerning content outside the page box:
Content should be allowed slightly beyond the page box to allow pages to "bleed".
User agents SHOULD avoid generating a large
number of content-empty pages to honor the positioning of elements
(e.g., printing 100 blank pages is probably neither the author's nor
the user's intent). A Content-empty page is
a page box whose page area contains no printable content other than
backgrounds and/or borders. A page box whose page area contains
generated content, or content whose visibility is âhidden
â, or invisible content such as a
zero-width space is not a content-empty page. On the other hand, a page
containing only a background and/or borders and/or page-margin box
content is a content-empty page.
Note, however, that generating a small number of empty
page boxes is sometimes necessary to honor the forced-break values for
âpage-break-before
â/âbreak-before
â and âpage-break-after
â/âbreak-after
â. [CSS21] [CSS3-BREAK]
Authors SHOULD NOT position elements in inconvenient locations just to avoid rendering them. Instead:
display
â
property to ânone
â.
visibility
â property.
This specification does not define how boxes positioned outside the page box are handled. Possibilities include discarding them or creating page boxes for them at the end of the document.
CSS distinguishes between left pages and right pages on all documents,
whether they are printed duplex or not. Each left page is followed by a
right page and vice versa. Left and right pages can be styled differently
with the :left
and
:right
pseudo-classes.
Whether the first page of a document is a left page or a right page depends on the page progression of the document. The page progression is the direction in which the printed pages of a document would be sequenced when laid out side-to-side. For example, English and horizontally-set Japanese typically progress from left to right, whereas Arabic and vertically-set Japanese pages typically progress from right to left. In documents with a left-to-right page progression the first page of the document is a right page, and vice versa.
The page progression direction is determined as follows:
If the UA supports the âdirection
â and
âwriting-mode
â properties from the CSS 3
Writing Modes Module [CSS3-WRITING-MODES], it
must determine
whether the first page is a left or right page from the values of those
properties on the root element.
To explicitly force a document to begin printing on a left or right
page, authors can specify a âbreak-before
â value that that propagates a
page break to the root. [CSS3-BREAK] The UA must
suppress the first (empty) page(s) in this case (and the :first
pseudo-class matches the first
printed page).
html { break-before: always }
For an HTML document with a left-to-right page progression, the above
style rule will cause the first page of the document to print on a â:left
â page
html { break-before: left }
For an HTML document, the above style rule will cause the first page
of the document to print on a â:left
â page, regardless of the page progression.
Authors can specify various aspects of a page box, such as its
dimensions, orientation, and margins, within an â@page
â rule. â@page
â rules
are allowed wherever rule-sets
are allowed. An â@page
â rule consists of the
keyword â@page
â, an OPTIONAL comma-separated list of page selectors and a block of declarations
(said to be in the page context). An â@page
â rule can also contain other at-rules,
interleaved between declarations. The current level of this specification
only allows margin at-rules inside
â@page
â.
â@page
â rules without a selector list apply
to every page. Other â@page
â rules apply to
pages that match at least one of their
selectors. Properties declared within the page context apply to the page
box.
If an error is encountered during the processing of a declaration block within a page or a margin context, the Rules for handling parsing errors apply; that is, valid declarations within the block are applied.
This rule is missing a CSSOM API. See discussion on www-style.
A page selector is made of either a page type selector or a page pseudo-class, followed by zero or more additional page pseudo-classes. No whitespace is allowed between components of a selector. The page selector grammar and examples can be found below.
A page selector is said to match a given page if and only if all of its components match the page.
A page type selector is a
case-sensitive CSS
identifier [CSS21]. It matches pages of the named page type generated by the âpage
â property. A page type name of âauto
â (ASCII
case-insensitive) does not make the rule invalid, but MUST never match.
A page pseudo-class is ASCII case-insensitive and has the same syntax as pseudo-classes in regular Selectors. [SELECT] The various page pseudo-classes are defined below.
:left
â, â:right
âWhen printing double-sided documents, left and right pages are often
formatted differently. This can be expressed by using the â:left
â and â:right
â page pseudo-classes.
All pages are automatically classified by user agents as either left
pages or right pages, based on page
progression. The â:left
â and â:right
â pseudo-classes only match left or right pages, respectively.
@page :left { margin-left: 3cm; margin-right: 4cm; } @page :right { margin-left: 4cm; margin-right: 3cm; }
If different declarations have been given for left and right pages, the user agent MUST honor these declarations even if the user agent does not transfer the page boxes to left and right sheets (i.e., a printer that only prints on one side of the medium must nevertheless produce correctly formatted output).
Note. Adding declarations to the â:left
â or â:right
â pseudo-class does not
necessarily influence whether the document comes out of the printer
double- or single-sided (which is outside the scope of this
specification).
:first
âThe â:first
â
pseudo-class matches the first
printed page of a document.
@page { margin: 2cm } /* All margins set to 2cm */ @page :first { margin-top: 10cm /* Top margin on first page 10cm */ }
:blank
âThe â:blank
â
pseudo-class matches content-empty
pages that appear as a result of forced page
breaks.
Only the âleft
â, âright
â, ârecto
â and âverso
â values
of the âbreak-before
â and âbreak-after
â properties can generate pages that
match â:blank
â.
In this example, forced page break may occur before h1
elements.
h1 { break-before: left } @page :blank { @top-center { content: "This page is intentionally left blank" } }
A page matched by â:blank
â can also be matched by other page
pseudo-classes.
If headers have been specified on all right pages, a blank right page
will be matched by both :blank
and :right
. Therefore, margin boxes set on
right pages will have to be removed unless they are wanted on blank
pages. Here is an example where the top center header is removed from
blank pages, while the page number remains:
h1 { break-before: left } @page :blank { @top-center { content: none } } @page :right { @top-center { content: "Preliminary edition" } @bottom-center { content: counter(page) } }
Due to the higher specificity of :blank
over :right
, the top center header is removed
even if content: none
comes before content:
"Preliminary edition"
.
Note. Future versions of CSS may include other page pseudo-classes.
The syntax for the @page rule is a specialization of the generic at-rule defined by CSS 2.1. This grammar extends the at-rule syntax to allow @page rules nested inside @media rules. User agents MUST adhere to the following grammar:
See [CSS21], Section 4.1.1 and Appendix G for the expansion of missing productions:
All new lexical tokens are specializations of the ATKEYWORD lexical token:
PAGE_SYM ::= "@page" TOPLEFTCORNER_SYM ::= "@top-left-corner" TOPLEFT_SYM ::= "@top-left" TOPCENTER_SYM ::= "@top-center" TOPRIGHT_SYM ::= "@top-right" TOPRIGHTCORNER_SYM ::= "@top-right-corner" BOTTOMLEFTCORNER_SYM ::= "@bottom-left-corner" BOTTOMLEFT_SYM ::= "@bottom-left" BOTTOMCENTER_SYM ::= "@bottom-center" BOTTOMRIGHT_SYM ::= "@bottom-right" BOTTOMRIGHTCORNER_SYM ::= "@bottom-right-corner" LEFTTOP_SYM ::= "@left-top" LEFTMIDDLE_SYM ::= "@left-middle" LEFTBOTTOM_SYM ::= "@left-bottom" RIGHTTOP_SYM ::= "@right-top" RIGHTMIDDLE_SYM ::= "@right-middle" RIGHTBOTTOM_SYM ::= "@right-bottom" media : MEDIA_SYM S* medium [ COMMA S* medium ]* LBRACE S* [ page_rule | ruleset ]* '}' S* ; page_rule : PAGE_SYM S* page_selector_list '{' S* page_body '}' S* ; page_selector_list : [ page_selector S* [ ',' page_selector S* ]* ]? ; page_selector : pseudo_page+ | IDENT pseudo_page* ; pseudo_page : ':' [ "left" | "right" | "first" | "blank" ] ; page_body : /* Can be empty */ declaration? [ ';' S* page_body ]? | page_margin_box page_body ; page_margin_box : margin_sym S* '{' S* declaration? [ ';' S* declaration? ]* '}' S* ; margin_sym : TOPLEFTCORNER_SYM | TOPLEFT_SYM | TOPCENTER_SYM | TOPRIGHT_SYM | TOPRIGHTCORNER_SYM | BOTTOMLEFTCORNER_SYM | BOTTOMLEFT_SYM | BOTTOMCENTER_SYM | BOTTOMRIGHT_SYM | BOTTOMRIGHTCORNER_SYM | LEFTTOP_SYM | LEFTMIDDLE_SYM | LEFTBOTTOM_SYM | RIGHTTOP_SYM | RIGHTMIDDLE_SYM | RIGHTBOTTOM_SYM ;
The following are examples of page selectors (declaration block intentionally left blank)
@page { ... } @page :left { ... } @page :right { ... } @page LandscapeTable { ... } @page CompanyLetterHead:first { ... } /* identifier and pseudo page. */ @page:first { ... } @page toc, index { ... } @page :blank:first { ... }
The following are examples of page-margin boxes where the declaration blocks are intentionally left blank.
@page { @top-left { ... /* document name */ } @bottom-center { ... /* page number */} } @page :left { @left-middle { ... /* page number in left margin */ }} @page :right{ @right-middle { ... /* page number in right margins of right pages */}} @page :left { @bottom-left-corner { ... /* left page numbers */ }} @page :right { @bottom-right-corner { ... /* right page numbers */ }} @page :first { @bottom-left-corner { ... /* empty footer on 1st page */ } @bottom-right-corner { ... /* empty footer */ } }
Declarations in page and margin contexts cascade just like declarations in rule sets.
The specificity of page a selector is computed in a manner analogous to the computations defined in the Selectors module:
Given the syntax of page seletors, f can only ever be 0 or 1.
:first
â or â:blank
â pseudo-classes (= g)
:left
â or â:right
â pseudo-classes (= h)
Note: Repeated occurrences of the same pseudo-classes are allowed and do increase specificity.
Due to storage limitations, implementations may have limitations on the size of f, g, or h. If so, values higher than the limit must be clamped to that limit, and not overflow.
Specificities are compared by comparing the three components in order (f, g, h): the specificity with a larger f value is more specific; if the two f values are tied, then the two g values are compared, etc. If all the values are tied, the two specificities are equal.
Some page specificity calculation examples follow:
@page { } /* specificity = (0,0,0) */ @page :left { } /* specificity = (0,0,1) */ @page :first { } /* specificity = (0,1,0) */ @page :blank:left { } /* specificity = (0,1,1) */ @page artsy { } /* specificity = (1,0,0) */ @page artsy:left { } /* specificity = (1,0,1) */ @page artsy:first { } /* specificity = (1,1,0) */
Consider the following usage example:
@page :left { margin-left: 4cm; } @page { margin-left: 3cm; }
Due to the higher specificity of the pseudo-class selector, the left margin on left pages will be 4cm and all other pages (the right-facing pages) will have a left margin of 3cm.
In this example, the higher specificity of the green rules wins over the red rule. Therefore the first page will have blue text in the top-left page-margin box and green text in the top-right page-margin box, while subsequent pages will have red text in the page-margin boxes.
@page :first { color: green; @top-left { content: "foo"; color: blue; } @top-right { content: "bar"; } } @page { color: red; @top-center { content: "Page " counter(page); } }
Page contexts cascade, so the following stylesheet would style pages with 25 millimeter margins and 14 point type in the page-margin boxes:
@page { margin: 25mm;} @page { font-size: 14pt;}
Page-margin boxes are boxes within the page margin that, like pseudo-elements, can contain generated content.
Page-margin boxes can be used to create page headers and footers, which are portions of the page set aside for supplementary information such as the page number or document title.
Typically, a page header is located at the
top of the page in documents with a predominately horizontal writing
direction and on the side opposite the binding
edge for documents with a predominately vertical writing direction.
One possible design of page headers for horizontally written documents
uses the â@top-left-corner
â, â@top-left
â, â@top-center
â,
â@top-right
â and â@top-right-corner
â page-margin boxes. Another design,
for vertically written documents, could use the â@right-top
â, â@right-middle
â, and â@right-bottom
â page-margin boxes for right facing pages and â@left-top
â, â@left-middle
â, and â@left-bottom
â for left facing
pages.
The page footer is typically at the opposite
end of the page from the page header. For example, the design of a
horizontally written document with a page header at the top of the page
could use the â@bottom-left-corner
â, â@bottom-left
â, â@bottom-center
â, â@bottom-right
â and â@bottom-right-corner
â page-margin boxes as the page
footer. The design of a vertically written document could use the
page-margin boxes of the binding edge of the page for the page footer.
Page-margin boxes are positioned with respect to the page area and are independent of page orientation, for example the top page-margin boxes are above the page area in both portrait and landscape orientation. The various page-margin boxes are defined and illustrated in the diagram below:
Box | Description | Placement |
---|---|---|
top-left-corner | a fixed-size box defined by the intersection of the top and left margins of the page box | |
top-left | a variable-width box filling the top page margin between the top-left-corner and top-center page-margin boxes | |
top-center | a variable-width box centered horizontally between the page's left and right border edges and filling the page top margin between the top-left and top-right page-margin boxes | |
top-right | a variable-width box filling the top page margin between the top-center and top-right-corner page-margin boxes | |
top-right-corner | a fixed-size box defined by the intersection of the top and right margins of the page box | |
left-top | a variable-height box filling the left page margin between the top-left-corner and left-middle page-margin boxes | |
left-middle | a variable-height box centered vertically between the page's top and bottom border edges and filling the left page margin between the left-top and left-bottom page-margin boxes | |
left-bottom | a variable-height box filling the left page margin between the left-middle and bottom-left-corner page-margin boxes | |
right-top | a variable-height box filling the right page margin between the top-right-corner and right-middle page-margin boxes | |
right-middle | a variable-height box centered vertically between the page's top and bottom border edges and filling the right page margin between the right-top and right-bottom page-margin boxes | |
right-bottom | a variable-height box filling the right page margin between the right-middle and bottom-right-corner page-margin boxes | |
bottom-left-corner | a fixed-size box defined by the intersection of the bottom and left margins of the page box | |
bottom-left | a variable-width box filling the bottom page margin between the bottom-left-corner and bottom-center page-margin boxes | |
bottom-center | a variable-width box centered horizontally between the page's left and right border edges and filling the bottom page margin between the bottom-left and bottom-right page-margin boxes | |
bottom-right | a variable-width box filling the bottom page margin between the bottom-center and bottom-right-corner page-margin boxes | |
bottom-right-corner | a fixed-size box defined by the intersection of the bottom and right margins of the page box |
Page-margin boxes are created by margin at-rules inside the page context. Authors should put these rules after any declarations in the page context as legacy clients may not handle declarations after margin at-rules correctly.
A margin at-rule consists of an ATKEYWORD that identifies the
page-margin box (e.g. â@top-left
â) and a block of declarations (said
to be in the margin context).
The following style sheet establishes a page header containing the title ("Hamlet") on the left side and the page number, preceded by "Page ", on the right side:
@page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 10%; @top-left { content: "Hamlet"; } @top-right { content: "Page " counter(page); } }
As with the â:before
â and â:after
â pseudo-elements, a specified âcontent: normal
â on a page-margin box computes to
ânone
â. A page-margin box is generated if and only if the computed value of its
âcontent
â property is not ânone
â. Otherwise, no box is generated, as for
elements with âdisplay: none
â.
The âdisplay
â property does
not apply to page-margin boxes.
The following style sheet creates a green box in each corner of the page except the bottom-left corner.
@page { @top-left-corner { content: " "; border: solid green; } @top-right-corner { content: url(foo.png); border: solid green; } @bottom-right-corner { content: counter(page); border: solid green; } @bottom-left-corner { content: normal; border: solid green; } }
The width and height of each page-margin box is determined by the rules below. These rules define the equivalent of CSS2.1 Sections 10.3 and 10.6 for page-margin boxes.
The rules for applying âmin-height
â,
âmax-height
â, âmin-width
â, and âmax-width
â [CSS21] do apply to page-margin
boxes and may imply a recalculation of the width, height, and/or margins
if the dimensions resulting from the specified âwidth
â or âheight
â violate their constraints. If the UA does
not support the âmin-height
â or âmin-width
â properties then it must behave as if
âmin-height
â and âmin-width
â were always zero.
In addition to the box model definitions in CSS2.1 [CSS21], and the sizing terms in CSS Intrinsic Sizing [CSS3-SIZING], the following terms are defined for use in the subsequent page-margin box calculations:
min-content
â is used when the width is âauto
â.
max-content
â is used when âwidth
â is âauto
â.
The containing block for a corner page-margin box is the rectangle defined by the intersection of the two page margins meeting at that corner.
For all other page-margin boxes, the containing block is the rectangle formed by the encapsulating page margin minus the containing blocks of the adjacent corners' page-margin boxes. This means that the size of this containing block is given in one dimension by the used page margin and in the other dimension by the available width (for top and bottom page-margin boxes) or available height (for left and right page-margin boxes).
The following rules apply to âtop-left
â, âtop-center
â and âtop-right
â page-margin boxes, which are referred
to as A, B, and C, respectively, in this section.
If the âmargin-left
â or âmargin-right
â property of any of the three boxes
computes to âauto
â, the used value is zero.
auto
â widthsThe following algorithm determines the used width of each box. For this
purpose, boxes that are not generated are
assumed to have a âwidth
â and an outer width of zero.
Note: The high-level goals are (in order of priority) to center the middle box (B) if it is generated, to minimize overflow and overlap, and to distribute space proportionally to the amount of content.
If the middle box (B) is not generated, distribute the available width to A and C as follows:
width: auto
â, its
used width is resolved so that the sum of the outer widths equals available width.
width:
auto
â, distribute the space to each box as follows:
max-content width + flex space à flex
factor ÷ âflex factors
min-content width + flex space à flex
factor ÷ âflex factors
1
â if their sum is equal to zero.
If the middle box (B) is generated,
determine the âauto
â widths of A, B, and C as
follows:
auto
â width of the
middle box (B): Assume there are two boxes, B and AC, where each of AC's
dimensions is double the maximum of A and C. (This preserves B's
centering.) Distribute the space to these two boxes (B and the imaginary
AC) as described for A and C above.
auto
â widths of the
side boxes (A and C) by setting that box's outer width to
(available width â
used outer size of B) ÷ 2
min-width
â and âmax-width
â The âmin-width
â and âmax-width
â properties [CSS21] apply to page-margin boxes in
the variable dimension like on normal elements, except that the three
boxes on the same side are considered together.
More precisely:
min-width
â and âmax-width
â) following the rules under Resolving âauto
â
widths above.
max-width
â, the rules above are
applied again, but this time using the computed value of âmax-width
â as the computed value for âwidth
â.
min-width
â, the rules above are applied
again, but this time using the value of âmin-width
â as the computed value for âwidth
â.
Once the dimensions of the boxes are determined, they are positioned as follows:
The used values for âbottom-left
â,
âbottom-center
â and âbottom-right
â page-margin boxes are established
by the same rules as for âtop-left
â,
âtop-center
â, and âtop-right
â, respectively.
The used values for âleft-top
â,
âleft-middle
â and âleft-bottom
â boxes are established by the same
rules, with "width" replaced by "height", "left" by "top", "right" by
"bottom" and "center" by "middle".
The used values for âright-top
â,
âright-middle
â and âright-bottom
â page-margin boxes are established
by the same rules as for âleft-top
â,
âleft-middle
â and âleft-bottom
â, respectively.
The rules below are used to calculate the used values of each âtop-left-corner
â, âtop-left
â, âtop-center
â, âtop-right
â, and âtop-right-corner
â page-margin box's âheight
â, âmargin-top
â, and âmargin-bottom
â properties:
âmargin-top
â + âborder-top-width
â + âpadding-top
â + âheight
â + âpadding-bottom
â + âborder-bottom-width
â + âmargin-bottom
â = top page margin
border-top-width
â + âpadding-top
â + âheight
â (if it is not âauto
â) + âpadding-bottom
â + âborder-bottom-width
â, plus âmargin-top
â and/or âmargin-bottom
â if not âauto
â, is larger than the height of the top page
margin, then any âauto
â values for âmargin-top
â or âmargin-bottom
â are, for the following rules,
treated as zero.
height
â,
âmargin-top
â, and âmargin-bottom
â have a computed value other than
âauto
â, the values are said to be
"over-constrained". In this case, the specified value of âmargin-top
â is treated as âauto
â.
auto
â, its used value follows from the equality.
height
â is set to âauto
â, any other âauto
â values become â0
â and âheight
â
follows from the resulting equality
margin-top
â and âmargin-bottom
â are âauto
â, their used values are equal. This
vertically centers the page-margin box content within the top page
margin.
The same rules apply to the bottom page-margin boxes
(bottom-left-corner, bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right, and
bottom-right-corner), except that in the overconstrained case, the
âmargin-bottom
â is ignored rather than
the âmargin-top
â.
Analogous rules govern the properties for the left and right
page-margin boxes with respect to âwidth
â
(top-left-corner, left-top, left-middle, left-bottom, and
bottom-left-corner; top-right-corner, right-top, right-middle,
right-bottom, bottom-right-corner), with âtop
â replaced by âleft
â, âbottom
â replaced by âright
â, and âheight
â replaced by âwidth
â. In the overconstrained case for left
(right) page-margin boxes, the specified value of âmargin-left
â (âmargin-right
â) is ignored.
The following is a collection of examples of page-margin box usage.
Here is an example of a page with only a top-left header:
@page { @top-left { content: "Header in Left Cell (top-left)" } }
Because there are no contents defined for the top-center or the top-right page-margin boxes, the extent of the top-left page-margin box is allowed to cross the center of the page box.
The following is an example of a page with a centered header:
@page { @top-center { content: "Header in Center Cell (top-center)" } }
The following is an example of a page with a single header in the top-right page-margin box:
@page { @top-right { content: "Header in Right Cell (top-right)" } }
Because the content of the center cell is empty, the extent of the top-right page-margin box is allowed to cross the center of the page box.
The following is an example of a page with a top-center and a top-left header:
@page { @top-left { content: "Left Cell (top-left)" } @top-center { content: "Header in Center Cell (top-center)" } }
The following is an example of a page with a top-center and a top-right header:
@page { @top-center { content: "Header in Center Cell (top-center)" } @top-right { content: "Right Cell (top-right)" } }
The following is an example of a page with top-left and top-right headers:
@page { @top-left { content: "Header in top-left with approx. " "twice as many words as right cell." } @top-right { content: "Right cell (top-right)" } }
Because there are no center cell contents, the extent of the top-left is allowed to cross the center of the page box.
Appendix A defines the normative list
of CSS 2.1 [CSS21]
properties that apply to page boxes.
If a conforming user agent supports any of these properties on block
boxes, then it MUST also support that property in
the page context. This specification
additionally defines the âsize
â property that only applies in the page
context.
Properties that apply to the page-margin boxes can also be set within
the page context: if inheritable or explicitly inherited (with the
âinherit
â keyword in the margin context),
they will inherit to the page-margin boxes.
The same appendix defines the normative list of CSS 2.1 [CSS21] properties that apply to page-margin boxes. If a conforming user agent supports any of these properties on block boxes, then it MUST also support that property in the margin context.
Other properties defined by [CSS21] do not apply in these contexts. Behavior for properties not included in CSS 2.1 is undefined.
Note: The intent of leaving other properties undefined is to allow the gradual addition of appropriate CSS3 properties as they emerge, without having to update this specification with each addition.
As with elements in the document, both the page context and the margin context have a computed value for every property, even if that property does not apply to the page or page-margin box.
The normal rules for CSS properties apply with the following exceptions:
em
â and âex
â are interpreted relative to the font associated
with their context. When used on the âfont-size
â property in the margin context, they
are relative to the font of the page context. When used on the âfont-size
â property in the page context, they
are relative to the âfont-size
â of the
root element. However, since a previous revision of CSS Paged Media
Level 3 was ambiguous on this point, an implementation that treats
âem
â and âex
â on
âfont-size
â as relative to the initial
value is also conformant to CSS Paged Media Level 3. Note that this
exception will be removed in Level 4.
width
â and
âheight
â have special computation rules
for page boxes and page-margin boxes; see Page
Size and Computing Page-Margin Box
Dimensions.
::before
â and â::after
â pseudo-elements, the ânormal
â value of the âcontent
â property computes to ânone
â on page-margin boxes.
vertical-align
â property behaves as
specified for table cells. It always performs alignment in
the vertical dimension, regardless of writing mode.
It is recommended that user agents establish a default page margin via the user agent stylesheet that includes any non-printable area. It is further recommended that authors assume that the default page area will not include unprintable regions.
Counters can be defined and controlled within an â@page
â rule, and used as
content in page-margin boxes. This is useful for maintaining a page
count.
A âcounter-increment
â within either a
page or margin context causes the counter to increment with the
generation of each page box.
If a counter is reset or incremented within the page context, it is in scope for all page-margin boxes and obscures all counters of the same name within the document.
If a counter is reset or incremented within a margin context, it is in scope for that page-margin box and obscures any counters of the same name in both the page context and the document.
If a counter that has not been reset or incremented within the margin context or the page context is used by counter() or counters() in the margin context, then the resultant value is exactly as if the page-margin box were an element within the document at the start of the page, inside the deepest element in the normal flow that spans the page break. Use of the counter in this way does not affect the calculation of the counter's value.
A counter named âpage
â
is automatically created and incremented by 1 on every page of the
document, unless the âcounter-increment
â
property in the page context
explicitly specifies a different increment for the âpage
â counter. The implied
âpage
â counter is a real
counter, and can be directly affected using the âcounter-increment
â and âcounter-reset
â properties when named explicitly
in those properties. It can also be used in the âcounter()
â and âcounters()
â function forms.
The following rules result in the placement of the current page number in the middle of the outside margin of each page.
@page { margin: 10%; @top-center { font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 2em; content: counter(page); } }
Adding the following rule will make all pages even-numbered.
@page { counter-increment: page 2; }
Additionally, a counter named âpages
â is automatically created by the UA. Its
value is always the total number of pages in the document. (In
continuous media this is always 1.) The value of âpages
â cannot be manipulated:
while âcounter-reset
â and âcounter-increment
â statements that set it are
valid, they have no effect.
In all other respects, page-associated counters behave as described in [CSS21], Nested Counters and Scope and Counters.
Properties used within page or margin contexts take their initial values from their respective property definitions; however, user agents must behave as though the values in the following table were established by rules in the UA default style sheet.
Page-margin box | âtext-align â
| âvertical-align â
|
---|---|---|
top-left-corner | right | middle |
top-left | left | middle |
top-center | center | middle |
top-right | right | middle |
top-right-corner | left | middle |
left-top | center | top |
left-middle | center | middle |
left-bottom | center | bottom |
right-top | center | top |
right-middle | center | middle |
right-bottom | center | bottom |
bottom-left-corner | right | middle |
bottom-left | left | middle |
bottom-center | center | middle |
bottom-right | right | middle |
bottom-right-corner | left | middle |
This example style sheet could be used to create a centered header with the current chapter name:
body {counter-reset: chapter;} div.chapter {counter-increment: chapter;} @page { margin: 10%; @top-center { content: "Chapter" counter(chapter) } }
People around the world use many different paper sizes. It is a goal of this specification that web content should be adaptable to a range of different sizes without having to write a specific style sheet for each paper size.
However, in some situations it is important that a certain page size
achieves a certain style. One way to achieve this goal is to utilize the
âsize
â property,
which indicates that the document should preferentially be displayed on
a surface of a certain size; another method is to use Media Queries [MEDIAQ] which allow
different style sheets to be applied to different page sizes.
size
â propertyName: | size |
---|---|
Value: | <length>{1,2} | auto | [ <page-size> || [ portrait | landscape] ] |
Initial: | auto |
Applies to: | page context |
Inherited: | N/A |
Percentages: | N/A |
Media: | paged |
Computed value: | specified value |
This property specifies the target size and orientation of the page boxâs containing block. In the general case,
where one page box is rendered onto one page
sheet, the âsize
â property also indicates the size of
the destination page sheet.
The size of a page box can either be "absolute" (fixed size) or "scalable" (i.e., fitting available sheet sizes). The first three values in the table below can be used to create scalable page boxes. Other values define a fixed-size page box, and thereby indicate the preferred output media size. When possible, output should be rendered on the media size indicated. If the specified size is not available, the rules for transposing a page box to a different size apply.
If a size
property declaration is
qualified by a âwidth
â, âheight
â, âdevice-width
â,
âdevice-height
â, âaspect-ratio
â, âdevice-aspect-ratio
â or âorientation
â media query [MEDIAQ] (or other conditional on
the size of the paper), then the declaration must be ignored. Media
queries do not honor âsize
â: they assume the paper size that would
be chosen if no @page rules were specified.
It would be useful if media queries could respond at least to sizes specified on an unqualified @page.
Another option could be to do like â@viewport
â rules [CSS-DEVICE-ADAPT]:
First apply â@page
â rules (matching which
selectors?), using the UAâs default page size for Media Queries and
viewport-percentage
lengths [CSS3VAL]. The resulting page
size is the "base page size". The entire set of stylesheets is applied
again, this time using the "base page size" for Media Queries and
viewport-percentage lengths.
In the following example
@page { size: 4in 6in; } @media (max-width: 6in) { @page { size: letter; } }
The second size
declaration is
ignored, i.e. the specified value of the size
property is 4in 6in
.
Value | Description |
---|---|
auto | The page box will be set to a size and orientation chosen by the UA. In the usual case, the page box size and orientation is chosen to match the target media sheet. |
landscape | Specifies that the page's content be printed in landscape
orientation. The longer sides of the page box are horizontal. If a
â<page-size> â
is not specified, the size of the page sheet is chosen by the UA.
|
portrait | Specifies that the page's content be printed in portrait
orientation. The shorter sides of the page box are horizontal. If a
â<page-size> â
is not specified, the size of the page sheet is chosen by the UA.
|
<length> | The page box will be set to the given absolute dimension(s). If
only one length value is specified, it sets both the width and height
of the page box (i.e., the box is a square). If two length values are
specified, the first establishes the page box width, and the second
the page box height. Values in units of âem â and âex â refer to the page context's font.
Negative lengths are illegal.
|
<page-size> | A page size can be specified using one of the following media
names. This is the equivalent of specifying the â<page-size> â using
length values. The definition of the the media names comes from
Media Standardized Names [PWGMSN].
|
The â<page-size>
â names can be used
in conjunction with âlandscape
â or
âportrait
â to indicate both size and
orientation.
@page { size: A4 landscape; }
The above example sets the width of the page box to be 297mm and the height to be 210mm. The page box in this example should be rendered on a page sheet size of 210 mm by 297 mm.
In the following example, the outer edges of the page box will align
with the page. The percentage value on the âmargin
â property
is relative to the page size so if the page sheet dimensions are 210mm
x 297mm (i.e., A4), the margins are 21mm and 29.7mm. Assuming there are
no page borders or padding set in the UA default style sheet, the
resulting page area is 189mm by 367.3mm (210mm-21mm by 297mm-29.7mm).
@page { size: auto;/* auto is the initial value */ margin: 10%; }
@page { size: 8.5in 11in;/* width height */ }
The above example sets the width of the page box to be 8.5 inches and
the height to be 11 inches. This indicates that the page sheet size
should be 8.5"x11" and the orientation âportrait
â.
This section is informative.
By using Media Queries [MEDIAQ], one style sheet can express different stylistic preferences for different page sizes. Consider this example:
/* style sheet for "A4" printing */ @media print and (width: 21cm) and (height: 29.7cm) { @page { margin: 3cm; } } /* style sheet for "letter" printing */ @media print and (width: 8.5in) and (height: 11in) { @page { margin: 1in; } }
In the example above, "A4" sheets are given a "3cm" page margin, and "letter" sheets are given a "1in" page margin.
If a page box does not match the target page sheet dimensions, the user agent should do one of the following (in order of preference):
The user agent MAY wish to consult the user before performing these operations.
When the page box is smaller than the page sheet, the user agent SHOULD either:
direction
â and âwriting-mode
â properties of the page box) as
this may minimize media consumption.
The user agent MAY wish to consult the user in this regard.
The CSS Fragmentation Module [CSS3-BREAK] module defines how and where CSS boxes can be fragmented, including across page breaks. It defines a few properties that indicate where the user agent MAY or MUST break pages, and on what page (left or right) the subsequent content resumes. Each page break ends layout in the current page box and causes remaining pieces of the document tree to be laid out in a new page box.
page
âName: | page |
---|---|
Value: | auto | <identifier> |
Initial: | auto |
Applies to: | boxes that create class 1 break points |
Inherited: | no (but see prose) |
Percentages: | N/A |
Media: | paged |
Computed value: | specified value |
The âpage
â
property is used to specify a particular type of page (called a named page) on which an element MUST be displayed. If necessary, a forced page
break is introduced and a new page generated of the specified type.
This page can be styled by using the same type name in a page selector.
Page type names are case-sensitive identifiers. However the âauto
â value, being a CSS keyword, is ASCII
case-insensitive.
The âpage
â
property does not inherit. However, if the âpage
â value on an element is âauto
â, then its used value is the value specified on
its nearest ancestor with a non-auto value. When specified on the root
element, the used value for âauto
â is the
empty string.
Because a previous version of this specification indicated that the
âpage
â property is
inherited, an implementation that inherits the âpage
â property and treats âauto
â as always naming the empty string remains
conformant to CSS Paged Media Level 3. Note that this exception will be
removed in Level 4. Therefore authors should not explicitly specify the
âauto
â value on a descendant of an element
with a non-âauto
â value, as the resulting
behavior will be unpredictable.
The âpage
â
property works as follows:
auto
â values are resolved
against non-âauto
â ancestors (as specified
above).
page
â value and end âpage
â
value is determined for each box as the value (if any) propagated
from its first or last child box (respectively), else the used value on
the box itself. A child propagates its own start or
end âpage
â
value if and only if the âpage
â property applies to it.
Note: A first or last child box is not always
generated by a first or last child element. For example, an
element could only have a previous sibling with âdisplay: none
â which does not generate any box.
page
â value of the root.
page
â value of the box preceding the
break and start âpage
â value of the box succeeding the
break do not match, then a page break is forced between the two boxes,
and content after the break resumes on a page box of the named type.
Essentially, the two âpage
â values compared are those from the
deepest boxes meeting at the class 1 break point, ignoring any subtrees
rooted by boxes to which the âpage
â property does not apply.
See [CSS3-BREAK] for additional details on page breaks.
In this example, the two tables are rendered on landscape pages (indeed, on the same page, if they fit). The page type "narrow" is used for the <p> after the second table, as the page properties for the table element are no longer in effect:
@page narrow { size: 9cm 18cm } @page rotated { size: landscape } div { page: narrow } table { page: rotated }with this document:
<div> <table>...</table> <table>...</table> <p>This text is rendered on a 'narrow' page</p> </div>
In Japanese documents, sometimes different parts of a single document
will have different kihon hanmen. [JLREQ] The âpage
â property, together
with â@page
â rules specifying different page
widths, can accomodate this type of layout:
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="ja"> <style> html { writing-mode: vertical-rl; line-height: 1.6; } .main { page: main; columns: 2; column-gap: 1rem; } .index { page: index; columns: 3; column-gap: 1rem; } @page { margin: auto; /* center kihon hanmen on page */ width: 40rem; } /* 1.6 Ã 25 lines */ @page main { height: 61rem; } /* 2 Ã 30 chars + 1 Ã gap */ @page index { height: 62rem; } /* 3 Ã 20 chars + 2 Ã gap */ </style> <section class="main"> ... </section> <section class="index"> ... </section> </html>
This section has been moved to [CSS3-IMAGES].
This list is described in the Page Properties section.
bidi properties | direction |
background properties | background-color |
background-image | |
background-repeat | |
background-attachment | |
background-position | |
background | |
border properties | border-top-width |
border-right-width | |
border-bottom-width | |
border-left-width | |
border-width | |
border-top-color | |
border-right-color | |
border-bottom-color | |
border-left-color | |
border-color | |
border-top-style | |
border-right-style | |
border-bottom-style | |
border-left-style | |
border-short-style | |
border-top | |
border-right | |
border-bottom | |
border-left | |
border | |
counter properties | counter-reset |
counter-increment | |
color | |
font properties | font-family |
font-size | |
font-style | |
font-variant | |
font-weight | |
font | |
height properties | height |
min-height | |
max-height | |
line-height | |
margin properties | margin-top |
margin-right | |
margin-bottom | |
margin-left | |
margin | |
outline properties | outline-width |
outline-style | |
outline-color | |
outline | |
padding properties | padding-top |
padding-right | |
padding-bottom | |
padding-left | |
padding | |
quotes | |
text properties | letter-spacing |
text-align | |
text-decoration | |
text-indent | |
text-transform | |
white-space | |
word-spacing | |
visibility | |
width properties | width |
min-width | |
max-width |
This list is described in the Page Properties section.
bidi properties | direction |
unicode-bidi | |
background properties | background-color |
background-image | |
background-repeat | |
background-attachment | |
background-position | |
background | |
border properties | border-top-width |
border-right-width | |
border-bottom-width | |
border-left-width | |
border-width | |
border-top-color | |
border-right-color | |
border-bottom-color | |
border-left-color | |
border-color | |
border-top-style | |
border-right-style | |
border-bottom-style | |
border-left-style | |
border-short-style | |
border-top | |
border-right | |
border-bottom | |
border-left | |
border | |
counter properties | counter-reset |
counter-increment | |
content | |
color | |
font properties | font-family |
font-size | |
font-style | |
font-variant | |
font-weight | |
font | |
height properties | height |
min-height | |
max-height | |
line-height | |
margin properties | margin-top |
margin-right | |
margin-bottom | |
margin-left | |
margin | |
outline properties | outline-width |
outline-style | |
outline-color | |
outline | |
overflow | |
padding properties | padding-top |
padding-right | |
padding-bottom | |
padding-left | |
padding | |
quotes | |
text properties | letter-spacing |
text-align | |
text-decoration | |
text-indent | |
text-transform | |
white-space | |
word-spacing | |
vertical-align | |
visibility | |
width properties | width |
min-width | |
max-width | |
z-index |
Often, but not always, the page box has a one-to-one correspondence to the physical surface onto which the document is ultimately rendered. The CSS3 page model specifies formatting within the page box, but it is the user agent's responsibility to transfer the page box to the sheet. Some user agent transfer possibilities that are not addressed by CSS3 include:
Changes since the 10 October 2006 Working Draft are:
:blank
â pseudo-class was imported from the Generated Content for Paged
Media module.
@page
â rules can now take multiple comma
separated selectors, each selector can have multiple pseudo-classes.
@page :first, :blank { @bottom-center { content: none } }
@page :first:left { @bottom-left { content: none } }
page
â property) have been moved to the CSS
Fragmentation Module. [CSS3-BREAK]
fit
â and âfit-position
â properties are renamed to
âobject-fit
â and âobject-position
â, redefined to enable
additional use cases, and moved to the CSS3 Image Values and Replaced
Content module. [CSS3-IMAGES]
z-index
â property
on page-margin boxes is not optional anymore.