pagination control

>> Rather than ask for a new tag, take a page out of the C compiler's
>> book and do something like this:
>
>You know, I have no idea what C compiler uses comments for pagination
>control.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I was referring to pragmas, which are constructs that
have nothing to do with actual C syntax and are not bounded by any standard.

>things outside the language - the "#pragma" directive. SGML has a

Um, right.

>similar feature - the PI construct. It would turn:
>
>>   <!--PAGE-->
>>   <!--NOPAGE-->
>>   <!--/NOPAGE-->
>
>into:
>
> <?PAGE>
> <?NOPAGE>
> <?/NOPAGE>
>
>SGML parsers should pass it through as a PI, where the application can
>decide what to do with it. Even the most broken HTML parser should
>ignore it as an unrecognized tag.

Exactly the sort of thing I was trying to suggest.

>However, style sheets provide a much cleaner mechanism:
>
> <HR CLASS=PAGE>
> <DIV CLASS=NOPAGE>
> </DIV>
>
>with an appropriate style sheet that causes the HR to output a page
>break instead of ink when printed, and DIV to float to the top of the
>next page if it doesn't fit on the current page.

Yeah, that would work too. I'm not sold on the idea that style sheets should
be used to control pagination in hard-copy output though. I'm also not sure
that's "cleaner" since you not only have to mark up the HTML but then you
have to make sure there is an appropriate style sheet available to the printing
program.

Is page control really a "style" issue or is it at a lower level than that?
My impression of "style" is that it affects how individual elements are
rendered. Page control strikes me as a document structure issue. On the other
hand, there's something to be said for using a subclass of HR as a page break
for printing, but rendering it as a horizontal rule for online viewing.

Michael Johnson
Relay Technology, Inc.

Received on Monday, 5 June 1995 08:38:39 UTC