Well deployed technologies

Pagination and any other aspect of layout, is governed by the various CSS specifications. A few specification are especially relevant for User Agents that wish to provide high quality support for publishing:

  • Section in 13 in CSS2 defines the fundamentals of pagination in CSS.
  • The CSS Page 3 modules specifies how pages are generated and laid out to hold fragmented content in a paged presentation. It adds functionality for controlling page margins, page size and orientation, and headers and footers, bleed and printer marks, and extends generated content to enable page numbering and running headers/footers. It may become necessary, however, to extend the @page feature to express initial preference over scrolling vs. pagination.
  • The CSS Device Adaptation module provides a way for an author to specify, in CSS, the size, zoom factor, and orientation of the viewport that is used as the base for the initial containing block. It may be necessary to extend the @viewport or of the viewport meta tag to express initial preference over scrolling vs. pagination.
  • The CSS Fragmentation module describes the fragmentation model that partitions a flow into pages, columns, or regions. It builds on the Page model module and introduces and defines the fragmentation model. It adds functionality for pagination, breaking variable fragment size and orientation, and controling (forcing or forbidding) where breaks happen, including widows and orphans.
  • Media Queries, Media Queries 4, Media Queries 5 provide authors with features to detect various aspect of the media the document is being rendered in, including whether (and how) it is paginated, or more nuanced questions to tell apart environments like a ebook reader from a print rendition.
  • The CSS Generated Content for Paged Media module defines a few features that are useful in paged media, such as footnotes, running headers and footers, and page selectors.
  • The CSS Generated Content Module Level 3 module contains a few features that while not exclusive to paged media, are particularly useful in paged media, such as leaders or cross references.
  • CSS Page Floats 3 extend the ability of floats to not only go to the beginning or end of the line, but also to float to the top or bottom of pages, columns.
  • The CSS Grid 1 module is not specific to paginated media, but is nonetheless noteworthy as it enables advanced layouts often found in print publications.
  • The CSS Rhythmic Sizing module contains CSS features for aligning content size to multiple of unit size.
  • The CSS Line Grid module contains CSS features for aligning content to a baseline grid.
  • The CSS Font 4 module introduces a number of features like font-stretch, font-synthesis (oblique, which a lot of publishers do in their DTP tools when an italic is not available), OTF, color fonts, variable fonts.
FeatureSpecification / GroupMaturityCurrent implementations
Select browsers…
CSS2Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification
CSS Working Group
Recommendation
CSS Page 3CSS Paged Media Module Level 3
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS Device AdaptationCSS Device Adaptation Module Level 1
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS FragmentationCSS Fragmentation Module Level 3
CSS Working Group
Candidate Recommendation

Shipped:
Shipped in Firefox (desktop, mobile). Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.

Experimental:
Experimental in Chrome (desktop, mobile). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.Experimental in Microsoft Edge (desktop). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.Experimental in Safari (desktop, mobile). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.Experimental in Baidu Browser (mobile). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.Experimental in Opera (desktop). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.Experimental in QQ Browser (mobile). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.Experimental in Samsung Internet (mobile). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.Experimental in UC Browser (mobile). Feature requires using a prefix. Support may be partial. Source: Can I use.

Media QueriesMedia Queries Level 3
CSS Working Group
Recommendation
Media Queries 4Media Queries Level 4
CSS Working Group
Candidate Recommendation
Media Queries 5Media Queries Level 5
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS Generated Content for Paged Media ModuleCSS Generated Content for Paged Media Module
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS Generated Content Module Level 3CSS Generated Content Module Level 3
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS Page FloatsCSS Page Floats
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS Grid 1CSS Grid Layout Module Level 1
CSS Working Group
Candidate Recommendation
CSS RhythmsCSS Rhythmic Sizing
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS Line GridCSS Line Grid Module Level 1
CSS Working Group
Working Draft
CSS FontsCSS Fonts Module Level 4
CSS Working Group
Working Draft