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B. XSL formatting semantics introduction
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B.0 Formatting objectives
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The Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)
A catalogue of formatting objects and flow objects (each with properties controlling behavior) for rendering information to multiple media.
[[1] - addresses basic word-processing-level pagination
 [1] - semantic model for formatting
[[2] - expressed in terms of which XSL concepts can be described
 [2] - described as a vocabulary that can be serialized as XML markup
]]
Sophisticated pagination and support for layout-driven documents
[[1] - DSSSL
[[2] - Document Style Semantics and Specification Language ISO-10179
][1] - W3C Common Formatting Model
[[2] - effort initially based on CSS
][1] - vocabulary accommodates both heritages
[[2] - some constructs can be specified different ways with different names
 [2] - writing-direction-independent (absolute) and writing-direction-dependent (writing mode relative) properties
]]
Well-defined constructs
[[1] - express formatting intent
[[2] - according to the XSL formatting model
][1] - available to the stylesheet writer
[[2] - for specification of a layout using the XSL formatting vocabulary
][1] - managed and interpreted by the formatter
[[2] - that process responsible for rendering
 [2] - in response to a description of the layout
]]
Effecting the formatting of XML with XSL formatting semantics
[[1] - transformation stylesheet
[[2] - it is the stylesheet writer's responsibility to write an XSLT transformation of the XML source file into a result node tree composed entirely of formatting and flow objects using the XSL vocabulary
 [2] - same architecture as when producing HTML from XML
 [2] - an XSL-FO engine interprets an XSL-FO instance just as a browser interprets HTML
][1] - semantics interpretation
[[2] - an XSL processor implementing XSL formatting semantics recognizes the vocabulary and renders the result
][1] - unlike CSS
[[2] - the user's vocabulary is not supplemented with formatting properties
]]
Intermediate result of rendering
[[1] - the XSL processor may, but need not, emit the result node tree as XML markup
[[2] - formatting and flow objects are XML elements
 [2] - properties are attribute/value pairs specified in the XML elements
][1] - very useful for debugging stylesheets
 [1] - recall the XSL-FO engine incorporating XSLT ([Transforming and rendering XML information using XSLT and XSL-FO - Section 1.2.3 Transforming and rendering XML information using XSLT and XSL-FO])
]
This chapter briefly introduces concepts and basic constructs used in the XSL-FO 1.0 Recommendation, without going into the details of the vocabulary or markup required to support these concepts. The topic of formatting objects and their semantics and markup warrants an entire tutorial on its own and is thus separate from this tutorial.

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+//ISBN 978-1-894049::CSL::Courses::PTUX//DOCUMENT Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath 2011-02-11 21:00UTC//EN
Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath
Fourteenth Edition - 2011-02-11
ISBN 978-1-894049-24-5
Copyright © Crane Softwrights Ltd.