Notes on typesetting HTML.
How Palatine works, how it compares, and what it takes to print books from the web platform.
Performance
Measured rendering time, startup and memory across Node.js, Bun, browsers and WASI runtimes, with a ten-document corpus and downloadable samples.
ReadPalatine vs PrinceXML
Two HTML-to-PDF engines built for paged media. Where they agree on the same documents, where they differ, and which one to pick.
ReadKnuth–Plass: line breaking for books
Why browsers break lines one at a time, why TeX optimizes the whole paragraph, and how Palatine brings that to HTML.
ReadEvery page has its place
How to decide on a page size, margins, running headers and page numbers for a printed template, and how to check them with real content.
ReadWords, beautifully composed
What makes long-form body text look calm on the page, and how to proof a book-style PDF before you print it.
ReadFootnotes that stay with the story
How to handle sources and references in a long document, and how to keep numbering and cross-references from going stale.
ReadChoosing the right CSS layout
A practical guide to picking the right CSS layout tool for printed and image output, using a product catalogue as the example.
ReadTypesetting across languages
What to prepare when a document mixes scripts: fonts, shaping, text direction, CJK and vertical writing, and how to test each.
ReadOne source, four output formats
What each output format is good for, how vector and raster differ, and what to check when one template feeds several formats.
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