9.1 Breaks

One often needs to arbitrarily continue flowing information at the start of the next line, column, or page.

• If there is no change to static content, you need not use a new page sequence to begin on a new page.

• You may need to continue at the top of an even page number or odd page number.

  • You may need to introduce a blank page that can be accommodated in the page sequence master.

Breaking at the line level can be done with an empty block object.

• Adding a block of zero lines to the flow interrupts the block-progression direction.

• <block/> behaves somewhat like the HTML br element.

• Multiple breaks in a row do not create multiple lines, unlike HTML;

  • the areas created by the blocks do not have any dimensions;

• they can be nested inside of a block of lines without being considered an error.

• This is not appropriate for typical program listings or other monospace presentations.

  • See discussion of preservation of white space in .

Breaking at the column or page level can be done with the break-before and break-after properties on a block.

• The block may be empty;

• it can specify a break to the next column;

• it can specify a break to the next page

  • regardless of page parity,

  • to the next even or odd page.

Specifying a break does not mean forcing a break.

• The property specifies a condition to be met, not an action to be performed.

• If the information already satisfies the break requirement, nothing is added to the rendering of the flow.

Forcing a break requires two uses of break-before .

• One is with an empty block to put an empty block at the top of the blank page.

  • An empty block on a page is not a blank page even though the block cannot be seen.

• The other is with the first block of the subsequent page to move off the page with the empty block.