Re: [xsl] Balancing Columns

["G. Ken Holman" <gkholman at CraneSoftwrights dot com>]

At 2002-01-25 00:26 +0900, MURAKAMI Shinyu wrote:
>At Thu, 24 Jan 2002 08:59:39 -0600, W. Eliot Kimber wrote:
> >
> >      xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx     xxxxxxxxxx
> >      xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Not:
> >
> >      xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx
> >      xxxxxxxxxxx
> >      xxxxxxxxxxx
> >      xxxxxxxxxxx
>
>try the following code:
>
>     <fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
>       <fo:block>xxxxxxxxxxx</fo:block>
>       <fo:block>xxxxxxxxxxx</fo:block>
>       <fo:block>xxxxxxxxxxx</fo:block>
>       <fo:block>xxxxxxxxxxx</fo:block>
>       <fo:block>xxxxxxxxxxx</fo:block>
>       <fo:block span="all"></fo:block>
>     </fo:flow>
>
>HTH,

This is neat!

I note that the balancing favours the end-side columns in XSL Formatter, 
for example formatting 7 blocks of equal height creates:

       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx     xxxxxxxxxx
       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx     xxxxxxxxxx
                                       xxxxxxxxxx

Formatting 5 blocks of equal height creates:

       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx     xxxxxxxxxx
       xxxxxxxxxxx                     xxxxxxxxxx

Is there any way to bias the balancing to the columns on the start-side of 
the page than on the end-side of the page?  Or, expressed another way, to 
fill start-side columns before the end-side columns?  As in:

       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx     xxxxxxxxxx
       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx
       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx

or Eliot's initial request for:

       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx     xxxxxxxxxx
       xxxxxxxxxxx      xxxxxxxxxx

Thanks for the tip!

................ Ken


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