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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>Ř<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>This seems to be a fundamental usability flaw in the spec.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>No, this is a problem in the way DITA XSLs are writing FO content. It really has nothing to do with the specification.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>Ř<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Most authors are unlikely to even know that a default @width="100% value is being written to the FO.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Correct. This *<b>is</b>* the problem. The DITA XSLs should likely be corrected so that the behavior is as it should be. No width at all should be set.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>Ř<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>So, in short, by honoring the specification, XEP is forcing tables to span the page body, regardless of an author's column width specifications.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>This is wrong. XEP is not forcing anything. XEP is only doing what you ask it to do … with regards to what you have written in your XSL FO document you are giving to it. If you do not want page-wide tables, do not add width=”100%”. Please ask yourself this question … if we ignored width=”100%”, how would anyone get a page-wide table? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>We are not forcing anything. Please keep in mind that DITA is a markup standard and the XSLs are there for you to add/modify/change to how you wish. If you remove whatever is putting width=”100%” on your tables, you would have two columns in a table of the exact sizes you specified. XEP doesn’t put that on, nor does DITA in general … the XSLs that are written for and processing DITA content do. This is where the problem lies.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>Ř<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>I understand that in this respect, XEP is staying true to the specification, which is usually a very desirable thing. But I hope you can understand why the result of this honoring is not desirable and might be worth a revisit.</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>No this is not correct. The Spec is the law, and the behavior is known, documented and consistent (except some formatters do not format it correctly). The issue in reality is not with FO, but with how the FO is being created. If the DITA XSLs are adding width=”100%” always, they should be changed and the issue lies solely with DITA. Again, what would happen if tomorrow you *<b>want</b>* a table that is 100% wide. How would you get it then? You just asked us to ignore it, then would you want us to honor it?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>I have already posted this also to the dita community, but again there is a reason for standards. They are *<b>standards</b>*, if other products do not adopt those standards correctly, RenderX does not change their product to match what is wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Kevin Brown<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>RenderX<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> xep-support-bounces@renderx.com [mailto:xep-support-bounces@renderx.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>LW White<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, June 15, 2011 2:21 PM<br><b>To:</b> XEP Support<br><b>Subject:</b> [xep-support] Re: table column widths correct in FOP but not in XEP<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Eric, Ken, Kevin--<br><br>Okay, I have a better understanding of the issue now, I think. While the spec could hardly have explained the default behavior in a more confusing matter, my interpretation is that if the @width value is greater than the sum of the column widths, use that and enlarge the columns accordingly. I can only assume that the reverse is also true...if the sum of the column widths is greater than the @width value, use that. In other words, let tables run over into the margin.<br><br>This seems to be a fundamental usability flaw in the spec. In DITA, the table width cannot explicitly be set by an author (i.e. there is no @width attribute for table). Most authors are unlikely to even know that a default @width="100% value is being written to the FO. Instead, an author will size individual columns as desired, with the expectation that those widths comprise the total table width and will be honored by the FO renderer. (Apparently @pgwide=0 is supposed to force the OT to honor column widths but it does not appear to be working.) So, in short, by honoring the specification, XEP is forcing tables to span the page body, regardless of an author's column width specifications.<br><br>I understand that in this respect, XEP is staying true to the specification, which is usually a very desirable thing. But I hope you can understand why the result of this honoring is not desirable and might be worth a revisit. While FOP's failure to consistently conform to the spec is often frustrating, in this case, it produces the desired and expected result...whether by accident or design, who can say!<br><br>Best,<br>Leigh<br>!DSPAM:87,4df9226063731558172862! <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>