Re: [paginated-masters] Element master templates (was: planA/planB)

On 2/23/12 8:03 AM, "Håkon Wium Lie" <howcome@opera.com> wrote:

> Alan Stearns wrote:
> 
>> There's been a bunch of discussion about extending @page rules to provide
>> master templates for paginated layout. That's where my thinking started as
>> well, but currently I'm considering using master templates at an element
>> level instead of for the entire document.
> 
> Indeed, element-level vs. document-level is an important axis. But in
> your examples (below) you describe document-level templates, no?

No (see below). Another reason to avoid re-using the @page rule for master
templates is the confusion about what role each @page rule would adopt. Is a
particular @page rule intended for how to print the document or a particular
element, or is it defining how an on-screen paged view should be
constructed? I think these are two separate features that should have
separate mechanisms.

>> I like the ideas in GCPM for paged presentations, and there you can set
>> overflow-style on a single element. I think it would be interesting to use
>> that switch for turning on a paginated display and provide a means to
>> associate such a paginated element with a master template.
> 
> Ok, so the "master templates" are defined globally, but can be
> associated with single elements. Like named pages are associated with
> elements through the 'page' property, right?

Yes. Master templates are defined globally, in part to share templates
between paginated elements. An element would need a property like the page
property, but instead of a single named page a set of named master templates
would be associated with a given paginated element. A paginated element
without that property could make use of all of the master templates defined
in the document, but an appropriate set could be narrowed for a particular
paginated element.

>> A master template can define boxes (or slots) that can contain content - the
>> content can come from the element, a named flow, or be generated content.
>> Since these master templates apply to paginated elements, if the content
>> associated with any slot overflows, a new paged view is created with
>> additional boxes until all of the content is displayed.
> 
> Good, I like the auto-generation part. What master page is selected
> for the overflow content? What if the content of two slots on a page
> overflow, do they overflow onto the same page?

That depends on the master template selection process which will need to be
defined. In most interesting cases of master templates there is more than
one master template that can be used to generate the next page. Which master
template is selected determines what content lands on the next page, but all
overflow slot content should eventually find a page to be displayed.

In a 'continued on' example, the first page could have slots for two
different articles, then have a number of pages containing content just from
the first article, and end with a number of pages containing content from
the second article. How many pages separate the second article's first page
slot and its continuing pages is determined by the length of the first
article. We'll need a master template selection mechanism that allows for
this example (among others).

Thanks,

Alan

Received on Thursday, 23 February 2012 20:49:04 UTC