Inside Xslt

XSL Formatting Objects: XSL-FO

The most popular part of XSL is the XSLT transformation part that youve already seen in this chapter. The other, and far larger, part is the XSL Formatting Objects part, XSL-FO.

Using XSL-FO, you can specify down to the millimeter how an XML document should be formatted and displayed. You specify everything for your documents: the text font, position, alignment, color , flow, indexing, margin size , and more. Its sort of like writing a word processor by hand, and the complexity of XSL-FO makes some people reluctant to use it. Youll learn more about what XSL-FO has to offer and how to use it in Chapters 11 and 12.