Re: [css-page] Forcing the first printed page to be a verso page

On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 10:55:03PM +1000, Peter Moulder wrote:

> If UAs are to prevent an initial blank page, then what is the expected usual
> practice for printing this document in a way that binding works?  How practical
> is this, how common is it that software provides for this?
> [...]
> [Implementation choice was to:]
>   - Omit the blank page like the spec says; duplexing is the user's
>     responsibility.
>     
>     (However, my preliminary findings above as to practicality of printing
>     the resulting document make me question this behaviour.)

Perhaps I should instead ask what the use case(s) are for this?
(One use case I thought of is included in the suggested text below.)

Anyway, the remainder of this message contains a few paragraphs that
might be of use for working into css-page if the "unless" interpretation
(supported by the wording of one of the examples) is the intended one.


Terminology (or other introductory section suitable for non-normative text):

  (This text introduces these terms as they are commonly used
  when describing physical printed sheets.
  See [ADD HYPERLINK] for the normative definitions of these terms,
  which are independent of how the document is printed or bound.)

  A recto page is the first (front-most) side of a sheet of paper,
  and a verso page is the second (back-facing) side.

  Thus, the first page of a spread is a verso page
  (the back of the previous sheet),
  and the second page of the spread is a recto page
  (the front of the next sheet).

  A recto page is significant to authors because
  it is common to force a chapter to begin on a recto page
  [perhaps because it is something like the front of a book,
  and because the alternative is something like the back of a book].

  A verso page is significant to authors because it is the first page of a spread.

(I see that css-page doesn't currently define "spread", so consider either
adding a paragraph "A pair of facing pages is called a <dfn>spread</dfn>.",
or adapting the above to use "facing pages" wording.)


Normative definitions for recto/verso/left/right:

  <dfn lt="recto page">Recto</dfn> and <dfn lt="verso page">verso pages</dfn> are defined as follows:

  <ul>
    <li>
    If the resolved value of 'break-before' for the root box is either 'verso',
    or whichever of 'left' and 'right' corresponds to 'verso',
    then the first page of the document is a verso page; otherwise it is a recto page.

    (If the document <a>page progression</a> is ltr then it is 'left' that corresponds to 'verso';
    if rtl then 'right'.)

    <li>
    Recto and verso pages alternate: the next page after each recto page is a verso page, and vice versa.
  </ul>

  <div class="note">
    <p>One use case for forcing a document to begin on a verso page is that
    sometimes, a publication is to contain short articles
    that are prepared in isolation from each other (by different authors),
    so that a CSS document might represent just one article of the publication.
    Some of these articles might be scheduled to start on a verso page (the start of a spread).

    <p>(Authors considering using this facility should note, however, that
    it is less convenient to print a document beginning on the second (verso)
    side of a sheet.)</p>
  </div>

  A <dfn>left page</dfn> is equivalent to a <a>verso page</a> if the page progression is ltr,
  or to a <a>recto page</a> if rtl.

  A <dfn>right page</dfn> is a page that is not a <a>left page</a>.

(If using the above, then I was intending to remove left & right page
definitions from the Terminology section.)


Below is some text that I was considering might be used for explanatory text,
in case the above is too terse.  It takes a longer approach aimed more at
the intuition; but might be over-doing things, erring towards being too
slow.

  The intent of the page-side definitions is that
  in a stack of printed pages of the document (printed double-sided, 
  with the top sheet of paper containing the first page),
  the front (top-facing) side of each sheet contains a recto page,
  and the underside contains a verso page.

  If bound on the side such that each subsequent sheet
  is on the side matching the page progression
  (i.e. if the page progression is ltr then bound on the left,
  so that an open spread has the earlier of the two pages to the left of the other;
  or if rtl then on the right in each case),
  then the left of the two pages will indeed be what CSS considers a left page.


Writing isn't my strong point, but I thought I should make an effort
so that I'm not just complaining about text without suggesting text
to replace it [for others to complain about!].

pjrm.

Received on Tuesday, 22 September 2015 11:40:12 UTC