Laying Out the Master Pages

XSL-FO 1.0 only defines one kind of master page, the fo:simple-page-master. This represents a standard rectangular page with margins on all four sides. This page master also has a unique name given by a master-name attribute. For example, this element describes a page master named first that represents an 8.5 11-inch page with 1-inch margins on all four sides:

<fo:simple-page-master margin-right="1in"  margin-left="1in"
                       margin-bottom="1in" margin-top="1in"
                       page-width="8.5in"  page-height="11in"
                       master-name="first">
  <!-- Separate parts of the page go here -->
</fo:simple-page-master>

The part of the page inside the margins is divided into five regions: the start region, the end region, the before region, the after region, and the body region. Where these fall on a page depends on the writing direction. In left-to-right, top-to-bottom languages like English, start is on the lefthand side, end is on the righthand side, before is on top, and after is on bottom, as diagramed in Figure 14-2. However, if the text were Hebrew, then the start region would be on the right-hand side of the page, and the end region would be on the lefthand side of the page. If the text were traditional Chinese, then the start would be on top, the end on bottom, the before on the righthand side, and the after on the lefthand side. Other combinations are possible.

The five regions in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom writing system
Figure 14-2. The five ...

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