 | Level: Intermediate Contributors: W3C 06 Feb 2007
Updated 25 Apr 2007 With Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting
Objects (XSL-FO), an XML application for presentation, any user agent
can render content to the exact specifications given by the developer.
Discover the relationships between XSL-FO, XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS), and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT).
Extensible
Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO)
[W3C Recommendation] is a presentation language
defined in XML. (Note: The title of the linked specification is
"Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)," but the content is actually just
the formatting objects aspects of XSL.) XSL-FO is an XML format that can
be used by any user agent to render content to the precise
specifications given by the developer. Its role is similar to that of
XHTML in Web user interfaces, but it is more complex and allows for the
expression of formatting details suitable for print publication. These
details are not unlike those specified in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), but in XSL-FO, the
details make up the substance of the markup language itself rather than
instructions for rendering separate markup.
XSL-FO is sometimes used as an output format from
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations
(XSLT)
. In fact, originally XSLT and XSL-FO were to be a
single system called XSL, but the working group wisely split the two
parts into two separate specifications. The naming is a bit confusing,
so just remember that almost everyone uses the short name "XSL-FO" for
"Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)," and on the other hand, XSLT has
nothing to do with style. A variety of open source and commercial tools
can translate XSL-FO to TeX, Adobe's PDF, and other (non-XML) output formats suitable for print and typesetting. XSL-FO has
become popular because of this usage pattern, but it has always aimed to
work as a native rendering format for WYSIWYG tools and the like, and it
is beginning to gain traction in such usage.
XSL-FO 1.1
[W3C Recommendation] is an update to the language
that adds features such as change annotations, indexes, bookmarks, and
enhancements to the handling of graphics.
Resources
- Doug Tidwell's tutorial XSL
Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) basics is a friendly starting point
(developerWorks, February 2003). His follow-up, XSL-FO advanced techniques, shows you how to work with XSL-FO to perform
more complex tasks such as formatting data, creating complex documents,
and converting HTML elements to formatting objects and then to PDF
documents (developerWorks, February 2003). Finally, his HTML
to Formatting Objects (FO) conversion guide demonstrates how to use
XSLT templates to convert commonly used HTML elements to formatting
objects for easy transformation to PDF (developerWorks, February 2003).
-
Using XSL-FO to create printable documents by Rodolfo M. Raya focuses on the
use of XSL-FO for printable database reports (developerWorks, November
2001).
-
Using XSL Formatting Objects by J. David Eisenberg is
a brief introduction that highlights the strong internationalization of
XSL-FO (O'Reilly xml.com, January 2001).
- ZVON offers an XSL FO
reference that maps out some relationships of elements but does not
go into much depth on each element's semantics.
- Dave Pawson's XSL FAQ covers XSL-FO as well
as XSLT and XPath.
- Read about other XML standards:
Index of XML
standards.
- Participate in any of several XML-centered forums:
XML
zone discussion forums.
- Get involved in the developerWorks community: developerWorks blogs
- Find out how you can become an IBM-Certified
Developer in XML and related technologies at IBM XML
certification.
- See the developerWorks XML Zone for a wide range of
technical articles and tips, tutorials, standards, and IBM Redbooks at
XML
technical library.
- Stay current with technology in these sessions: developerWorks technical events and webcasts.
- Build your next development project with trial
software available for download directly from developerWorks: IBM trial software
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