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Recipe number 6

Cookbook · Chapter 5 · Book structure

Front matter in roman folios, then page 1

The cover and prelims are unnumbered headings counted in lower-case roman; :::numbering restarts the count at 1 on the recto where the novel opens.

On this page
Output
Canvas · PDF
Postext
Tested with Postext 1.4.1
Needs ≥ 1.4.1 · postext-pdf ≥ 1.4.1
Licence
Updated 26 Sept 2026
Code MIT · Text CC BY 4.0

p. i · 1 of 14

  • Trim 129 × 198 mm
  • 1 column
  • Fanwood Text 10.5/14
  • Cinzel
  • Playfair Display SC
  • 14 pages
  • Level
  • Postext 1.4.1
  • Laid out in 91 ms
  • 250 lines of code

What you'll build

The first leaves of Frankenstein as a pocket classic, 129 × 198 mm: a cover with lightning on Mont Blanc, its back left blank, a half title, a frontispiece of Walton’s ship beset in the ice facing the title page, the imprint low on its verso, the dedication to Godwin over Milton’s epigraph, a contents page and the Preface of 1818. Those ten pages are numbered i to x, but only the contents and the Preface print their numbers. Letter I starts the novel on a right-hand page, under the northern lights, and its folio reads 1 in the same place as the x on the facing page. The letter runs on to Walton’s signature. The ix beside the Preface in the contents and the 1 beside the letter come from the finished pages, and a PDF viewer labels the pages the same way.

This recipe answers

  • How do I number the front matter in roman numerals and restart at 1 with chapter 1?
  • How do I make a cover, a half title, a title page and a colophon?
  • How do I add a table of contents that updates itself (leaders, page numbers, authors, part rows)?
  • How do I insert deliberate blank pages, or start a section on a fresh spread?
  • How do I set an epigraph, a dedication, a signature, or a pull quote with a big quote mark?

The short answer

script.js · lines 61–83in full code
// The page counter starts in lower-case roman: the cover is page i. After the Preface, two
// directives in the Markdown count again from 1 on the next recto:
//   :::pagebreak{parity="odd"}
//   :::numbering{format="decimal" startAt=1}
// :::numbering takes effect on the next page that starts (gotcha: numbering-next-page). Level 1
// breaks to 'odd', so here the pagebreak changes nothing; it finds the recto when a level breaks
// with parity 'any' or not at all. Never with 'always-odd': the blank pages would stack up.
const pageNumbering = { format: 'lower-roman', startAt: 1 }; // startAt spelled out: cover = i
// One folio design, centred under the text block. {pageNumber} prints the page's own label,
// so the same design sets "x" in the front matter and "1" on the first page of the novel.
const folio = (pages) => text(`folio-${pages}`, '{pageNumber}', 'Playfair Display SC', 8.5,
  at('top', 0, 9), { letterSpacing: pt(0.8), pages }); // lower case sets as small capitals
// The front matter is a heading style, unnumbered and left out of the contents (a heading
// can opt back in with {toc="true"}). It prints no running heads and puts a folio on every
// page of the section. Parity 'any', because the contents fall on a verso.
const front = {
  id: 'front', numbered: false, toc: false, breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'any' },
  header: { elements: [] }, footer: { elements: [folio('all')] }, ...frontLook,
};
// The novel keeps the document's furniture: heads on its body pages, the folio on openers.
const footer = { elements: [folio('opener')] };
// Hook-up in config(): page: { pageNumbering }, headingStyles: [front] and footer at the top
// level. frontLook, set above, is the look of the prelims' openers.

Roman folios for the front matter and arabic from Letter I, in one design

Ingredients

Type
Fanwood Text, Playfair Display SC, Cinzel (SIL OFL 1.1)
Assets
None: every picture is drawn in code

Method

#1 · Each leaf is a heading with a design

script.js · lines 87–154in full code
// Each leaf is a heading, so it opens its page, gets a PDF bookmark and takes a design. The
// leaves are unnumbered, left out of the contents and print no heads or folio (blind folios).
// Parity 'any', or each would inherit level 1's odd break (gotcha: style-inherits-break).
const blind = { numbered: false, toc: false, breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'any' },
  header: { elements: [] }, footer: { elements: [] } };
const PLATE_H = 126; // mm: the frontispiece, as wide as the text block; its caption hangs below
// mm from the trim: the imprint's eleven lines end on the text block's last baseline.
const IMPRINT_TOP = 116.5; // re-tune it whenever the imprint changes
const leaves = [
  // i: bled to the trim. Type below the text block's foot would drop the heading's reserve.
  { id: 'cover', ...blind, advancedDesign: design([
    image('cover', at('top-left', 0, 0, { width: 'fill', to: 'bleed' })),
    label('author', '{author}', 9, onPage(22), 'bone', 2.6),
    text('title', '{title}', 'Fanwood Text', 56, onPage(31), { color: col('bone'), lineHeight: 1 }),
    text('subtitle', '{subtitle}', 'Fanwood Text', 13, onPage(53), { ...on('ice'), italic: true }),
    label('series', '{attr.publisher}', 7, onPage(168), 'ice', 2),
  ]) },
  // iii: the half title waits for a recto, so the back of the cover, ii, is left blank.
  { id: 'half', ...blind, breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'odd' }, advancedDesign: design([
    text('title', '{title}', 'Playfair Display SC', 17, at('top', 0, 34), { letterSpacing: pt(3) }),
    image('crystal', at('top', 0, 45, { width: 6 })),
  ]) },
  { id: 'plate', ...blind, advancedDesign: design([ // iv: faces the title page
    image('plate', at('top-left', 0, 0, { width: 'fill' })),
    text('caption', '{attr.caption}', 'Fanwood Text', 8.8,
      at('top', 0, PLATE_H + 5, { width: 80 }), { italic: true, lineHeight: 1.3 }),
    label('source', '{attr.source}', 7.5, at('top', 0, PLATE_H + 16), 'muted', 1.3),
  ]) },
  { id: 'title', ...blind, advancedDesign: design([ // v: four frontmatter fields, one attribute
    // {publishDate} prints because the year is quoted (gotcha: quote-frontmatter).
    label('edition', 'The text of {publishDate}', 7.5, at('top', 0, 22), 'accent', 1.8),
    text('title', '{title}', 'Playfair Display SC', 33, at('top', 0, 30),
      { fontWeight: 700, letterSpacing: pt(0.4), lineHeight: 1 }),
    text('subtitle', '{subtitle}', 'Fanwood Text', 14, at('top', 0, 44), { italic: true }),
    { kind: 'rule', id: 'rule', direction: 'horizontal', thickness: pt(0.8), color: col('accent'),
      placement: at('top', 0, 60, { width: 14 }) },
    label('author', '{author}', 10, at('top', 0, 66), 'ink', 2.4),
    image('mark', at('top', 0, 126, { width: 11 })),
    label('publisher', '{attr.publisher}', 7.5, at('top', 0, 140), 'muted', 1.5),
  ]) },
  // vi: the section's margins set the small print low, in a 70 mm measure against the outer
  // margin. With no element the design would print the title (gotcha: invisible-heading).
  { id: 'imprint', ...blind, margins: { top: mm(IMPRINT_TOP), left: mm(TRIM_W - OUTER - 70) },
    advancedDesign: design([{ kind: 'box', id: 'none', style: { backgroundColor: col('paper') },
      placement: { ...at('top-left', 0, 0), size: { width: pt(0.1), height: pt(0.1) } } }]) },
  // vii: dedication and epigraph, under a heading whose only element is an ornament, which
  // also keeps its title from printing (gotcha: invisible-heading).
  { id: 'quiet', ...blind,
    advancedDesign: design([image('crystal', at('top', 0, 24, { width: 6 }))], 34) },
];
// :::paragraphs blocks set the small print, the dedication, the epigraph and Walton's close;
// the dedication and the verse take one paragraph per line, so no line of them can reflow.
const VERSE_IN = 22; // mm: the indent that centres the verse as a block
const SOURCE_IN = 55; // mm: 'Paradise Lost' ends under the end of the longest line of verse
const prelimStyles = [
  // In ink, not muted: a paragraph style has no italic colour, so its italic title would take
  // bodyText.italicColor and print darker than its words (gotcha: style-italic-colour).
  { id: 'small-print', fontSize: pt(7.6), lineHeight: pt(10.4), textAlign: 'left',
    firstLineIndent: pt(0), spaceBetween: pt(5.2) },
  // Small capitals, with the italic lines of the 1818 page, leaded as one inscription.
  { id: 'dedication', fontFamily: 'Playfair Display SC', fontSize: pt(10), lineHeight: pt(15),
    textAlign: 'center', firstLineIndent: pt(0) },
  { id: 'verse', fontSize: pt(10), textAlign: 'left', firstLineIndent: mm(VERSE_IN),
    marginTop: pt(LEAD * 4) }, // on the body's 14 pt leading, which a style inherits
  { id: 'source', fontFamily: 'Cinzel', fontSize: pt(7.5), textAlign: 'left',
    firstLineIndent: mm(SOURCE_IN), marginTop: pt(4), color: col('muted') },
  { id: 'signature', textAlign: 'right', firstLineIndent: pt(0) }, // the letter's close
];

A heading opens a page of its own and becomes a PDF bookmark; the design in its style places the leaf’s type and drawings. With numbered: false and toc: false the leaves stay out of the chapter count and the contents. An empty header and footer give them what printers call blind folios: the title page prints no number but is still page v, which is why the Preface can be ix. Only the half title keeps an odd break, and that leaves the back of the cover blank. The imprint, the dedication, the epigraph and Walton’s close are :::paragraphs blocks set in the styles at the end of the excerpt.

#2 · The contents take their numbers from the layout

script.js · lines 158–167in full code
// Entries take the body's face and ink, and start on the Preface's first baseline, facing it.
const contents = {
  levels: [{ level: 1, fontSize: pt(12), lineHeight: pt(PREFACE.lead) }],
  // The folio's face: "ix" in small capitals, then a plain 1. The leader takes it too.
  pageNumber: { fontFamily: 'Playfair Display SC', fontSize: pt(10), color: col('accent'),
    width: mm(8) },
  leader: { char: '. ', gap: mm(2.5) },
  // A second line from the heading's to="…" attribute: whom each letter is written to.
  subtitle: { enabled: true, attr: 'to', fontSize: pt(9.5), color: col('muted') },
};

:::toc lists every heading its style lets in, with the label of the page it lands on (table of contents). The Contents and the Preface share the front style, which sets toc: false, and the Preface overrides it with {toc="true"}. Neither the Preface nor Letter I is numbered, so their entries print no chapter number. The second line of the letter’s entry is its to="…" attribute. The page numbers are set in the folio face. The entries start on the same baseline as the Preface’s first line, so the two facing pages line up.

#3 · The novel opens on a recto, under the northern lights

script.js · lines 171–186in full code
const BAND = 104; // mm from the trim to the foot of the drawing, which fades into the paper
// minHeight ends AIR mm below it and the first line takes the next grid line. to: 'bleed' is the
// trim until page.cutLines adds a bleed; 3 mm drop the foot 1.8 mm, still above that line.
const AIR = 2;
const opener = design([
  image('band', at('top-left', 0, 0, { width: 'fill', to: 'bleed' })),
  label('to', '{attr.to}', 7.5, onPage(19), 'ice', 2),
  text('title', '{titleText}', 'Playfair Display SC', 46, onPage(25),
    { color: col('bone'), lineHeight: 1 }),
  text('dateline', '{attr.dateline}', 'Fanwood Text', 10.5, onPage(44),
    { italic: true, color: col('bone') }),
  // minHeight counts from the text block, TOP below the trim. The texts reserve their height,
  // the drawing nothing (gotcha: opener-image-no-reserve), so minHeight sets the first line.
], BAND - TOP + AIR);
// Walton's letters come before Chapter I: they take the novel's opener but no number.
const letter = { id: 'letter', numbered: false };

The drawing bleeds off the head of the page and fades into the paper at its foot, where the letter begins. In Postext 1.4.1 an image never counts towards the room an opener reserves (its texts, rules and boxes do, even anchored to the page), so minHeight alone puts the first line below the drawing (span and advanced design). The kicker and the dateline come from the heading’s to and dateline attributes. Letter I also carries {style="letter"}, a style whose only setting is numbered: false, because Walton’s letters come before Chapter I and have no chapter number.

#4 · The running heads come back with the novel

script.js · lines 190–202in full code
const HEAD_Y = 12.5; // mm from the trim to the heads' line
const HEAD_GAP = 8; // mm from the outer margin, where the folio hangs, to the words beside it
const head = (id, content, parity, edge, x, extra = {}) => ({ ...label(id, content, 7.5,
  at(edge, x, HEAD_Y, { to: 'page' }), 'muted', 1.4), align: 'left', parity, pages: 'body',
  ...extra }); // pages: 'body' keeps them off the opener
const numeral = { fontFamily: 'Playfair Display SC', fontSize: pt(8.5), fontWeight: 400,
  letterSpacing: pt(0.6), color: col('ink') }; // folios in the folio face, as on the openers
const header = { elements: [
  head('verso-folio', '{pageNumber}', 'even', 'top-left', OUTER, numeral),
  head('verso-title', '{title}', 'even', 'top-left', OUTER + HEAD_GAP),
  head('recto-title', '{chapterTitle}', 'odd', 'top-right', -(OUTER + HEAD_GAP)),
  head('recto-folio', '{pageNumber}', 'odd', 'top-right', -OUTER, numeral),
] };

A section keeps the document’s header and footer unless its style replaces them. The front matter replaces both and the letter style does not, so from page 1 the novel prints these heads on its body pages and, on its opener, the drop folio defined in the short answer. {pageNumber} prints the label of the page it sits on, so the folio() helper sets x on one side of the spine and 1 on the other with the same design.

#5 · The PDF carries the same page numbers

script.js · lines 622–629in full code
await loadFonts(FONTS, markdown);
// :::toc lists each heading with the label of the page it lands on; buildDocument lays the
// document out again until those labels stop moving (ix for the Preface, 1 for Letter I).
const doc = await buildWithFonts(() => buildDocument({ markdown, resources }, config()), markdown);
showPages(doc, { title: 'Frankenstein · the opening leaves' });
// The PDF gets /PageLabels from the same labels: a viewer numbers its pages i–x, then 1, 2.
offerPdf(() => renderToPdf(doc, { fontProvider: fontsourceProvider, resourceBytes: imageBytes }),
  `${RECIPE}.pdf`);

buildDocument repeats the layout until the page labels in the contents stop changing, so one call is enough. renderToPdf writes those labels into the PDF: in a viewer that reads page labels, the page-number field runs from i to x and then from 1, and “go to page 1” opens Letter I. Each heading becomes a bookmark named after its text, which is why the leaves have plain titles: Cover, Half title, Frontispiece, Title page, Imprint, Dedication.

The whole recipe

// ═══ Postext Cookbook · Nº 006 · Front matter: roman folios, then page 1 ═══════════
// https://postext.dev/en/cookbook/front-matter-roman-to-arabic
// Code: MIT · Text: M. & P. B. Shelley, 1818 (PD) · Drawings: generated in code (CC BY 4.0)
// Fonts: Fanwood Text, Playfair Display SC, Cinzel (SIL OFL 1.1) · Needs postext ≥ 1.4.1
import {
  buildDocument, renderPageToCanvas, clearMeasurementCache, registerResourceImage,
} from 'https://esm.sh/postext';
import { renderToPdf, decompressWoff2 } from 'https://esm.sh/postext-pdf';

const LANG = 'en'; // @lang: the language of the sample document ('en' | 'es')
const RECIPE = 'front-matter-roman-to-arabic';

// ─── 1 · Design ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
const palette = { // every colour in the config links to one of these
  ink: '#1c1d21', // text: a cold near-black
  accent: '#3d5a70', // steel blue, the one accent on paper: contents folios, the rule, the marks
  muted: '#6a665f', // running heads, sources, the second lines of the contents
  paper: '#fbf8f2', // the page
  night: '#131a24', ice: '#a9c6d6', bone: '#efe9dc', // the drawings' inks, and the type on them
};
const col = (id) => ({ hex: palette[id], model: 'hex', paletteId: id });
const colorPalette = [
  ...Object.entries(palette).map(([id, hex]) => ({ id, name: id, value: { hex, model: 'hex' } })),
  // The engine's defaults link to 'main-color': point it at the accent, so nothing prints blue.
  { id: 'main-color', name: 'accent (defaults)', value: { hex: palette.accent, model: 'hex' } },
];
const TRIM_W = 129, TRIM_H = 198; // mm: a pocket classic
const TOP = 21, BOTTOM = 23, INNER = 17, OUTER = 15; // margins, mm; heads align to OUTER
const MEASURE = TRIM_W - INNER - OUTER; // 97 mm: the text block, and the frontispiece's width
const LEAD = 14; // body leading in pt: 31 lines fill the text block
const PREFACE = { size: 9.8, lead: 13.3 }; // pt: the preface, a size under the novel's 10.5/14

// Design-slot shorthands. at(): a placement from an anchor's edge; edge 'top' centres it.
const wide = (width) => (width === 'fill' ? 'fill' : mm(width));
const at = (edge, x, y, { width, to = 'container' } = {}) => ({ anchor: { to, edge },
  offset: { x: mm(x), y: mm(y) }, ...(width !== undefined && { size: { width: wide(width) } }) });
const onPage = (y) => at('top', 0, y, { to: 'page' }); // centred on the page, y mm from the trim
const on = (id) => ({ color: col(id) }); // a design text's ink
// overflow 'wrap', or a text too wide ends in '…' (gotcha: overflow-ellipsis-default). A number
// lineHeight multiplies the size; never pt() (gotcha: design-lineheight-multiple).
const text = (id, content, font, size, placement, extra = {}) => ({ kind: 'text', id, content,
  fontFamily: font, fontSize: pt(size), color: col('ink'), align: 'center', overflow: 'wrap',
  placement, ...extra });
const label = (id, content, size, placement, ink, tracking) => text(id, content, 'Cinzel', size,
  placement, { fontWeight: 600, letterSpacing: pt(tracking), textTransform: 'uppercase',
    ...on(ink) }); // the label voice: Cinzel capitals, tracked
const image = (id, placement) => ({ kind: 'image', id, resourceId: id, placement });
// A heading's design. minHeight (mm) where the text must start lower than the elements reach.
const design = (elements, minHeight) => ({ enabled: true, slot: { elements },
  ...(minHeight !== undefined && { minHeight: mm(minHeight) }) });
// The prelims' openers: a centred title in small capitals on white space, and the preface's
// text a size smaller than the novel's, on its own leading.
const FRONT_DROP = 46; // mm from the text block's top to the first line of text
const frontLook = {
  advancedDesign: design([text('title', '{titleText}', 'Playfair Display SC', 19,
    at('top', 0, 14), { letterSpacing: pt(1.6) })], FRONT_DROP),
  bodyStyle: { fontSize: pt(PREFACE.size), lineHeight: pt(PREFACE.lead) },
};

// #region answer: roman folios for the front matter and arabic from Letter I, in one design
// The page counter starts in lower-case roman: the cover is page i. After the Preface, two
// directives in the Markdown count again from 1 on the next recto:
//   :::pagebreak{parity="odd"}
//   :::numbering{format="decimal" startAt=1}
// :::numbering takes effect on the next page that starts (gotcha: numbering-next-page). Level 1
// breaks to 'odd', so here the pagebreak changes nothing; it finds the recto when a level breaks
// with parity 'any' or not at all. Never with 'always-odd': the blank pages would stack up.
const pageNumbering = { format: 'lower-roman', startAt: 1 }; // startAt spelled out: cover = i
// One folio design, centred under the text block. {pageNumber} prints the page's own label,
// so the same design sets "x" in the front matter and "1" on the first page of the novel.
const folio = (pages) => text(`folio-${pages}`, '{pageNumber}', 'Playfair Display SC', 8.5,
  at('top', 0, 9), { letterSpacing: pt(0.8), pages }); // lower case sets as small capitals
// The front matter is a heading style, unnumbered and left out of the contents (a heading
// can opt back in with {toc="true"}). It prints no running heads and puts a folio on every
// page of the section. Parity 'any', because the contents fall on a verso.
const front = {
  id: 'front', numbered: false, toc: false, breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'any' },
  header: { elements: [] }, footer: { elements: [folio('all')] }, ...frontLook,
};
// The novel keeps the document's furniture: heads on its body pages, the folio on openers.
const footer = { elements: [folio('opener')] };
// Hook-up in config(): page: { pageNumbering }, headingStyles: [front] and footer at the top
// level. frontLook, set above, is the look of the prelims' openers.
// #endregion

// #region leaves: the cover and the preliminary leaves, headings that print a design only
// Each leaf is a heading, so it opens its page, gets a PDF bookmark and takes a design. The
// leaves are unnumbered, left out of the contents and print no heads or folio (blind folios).
// Parity 'any', or each would inherit level 1's odd break (gotcha: style-inherits-break).
const blind = { numbered: false, toc: false, breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'any' },
  header: { elements: [] }, footer: { elements: [] } };
const PLATE_H = 126; // mm: the frontispiece, as wide as the text block; its caption hangs below
// mm from the trim: the imprint's eleven lines end on the text block's last baseline.
const IMPRINT_TOP = 116.5; // re-tune it whenever the imprint changes
const leaves = [
  // i: bled to the trim. Type below the text block's foot would drop the heading's reserve.
  { id: 'cover', ...blind, advancedDesign: design([
    image('cover', at('top-left', 0, 0, { width: 'fill', to: 'bleed' })),
    label('author', '{author}', 9, onPage(22), 'bone', 2.6),
    text('title', '{title}', 'Fanwood Text', 56, onPage(31), { color: col('bone'), lineHeight: 1 }),
    text('subtitle', '{subtitle}', 'Fanwood Text', 13, onPage(53), { ...on('ice'), italic: true }),
    label('series', '{attr.publisher}', 7, onPage(168), 'ice', 2),
  ]) },
  // iii: the half title waits for a recto, so the back of the cover, ii, is left blank.
  { id: 'half', ...blind, breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'odd' }, advancedDesign: design([
    text('title', '{title}', 'Playfair Display SC', 17, at('top', 0, 34), { letterSpacing: pt(3) }),
    image('crystal', at('top', 0, 45, { width: 6 })),
  ]) },
  { id: 'plate', ...blind, advancedDesign: design([ // iv: faces the title page
    image('plate', at('top-left', 0, 0, { width: 'fill' })),
    text('caption', '{attr.caption}', 'Fanwood Text', 8.8,
      at('top', 0, PLATE_H + 5, { width: 80 }), { italic: true, lineHeight: 1.3 }),
    label('source', '{attr.source}', 7.5, at('top', 0, PLATE_H + 16), 'muted', 1.3),
  ]) },
  { id: 'title', ...blind, advancedDesign: design([ // v: four frontmatter fields, one attribute
    // {publishDate} prints because the year is quoted (gotcha: quote-frontmatter).
    label('edition', 'The text of {publishDate}', 7.5, at('top', 0, 22), 'accent', 1.8),
    text('title', '{title}', 'Playfair Display SC', 33, at('top', 0, 30),
      { fontWeight: 700, letterSpacing: pt(0.4), lineHeight: 1 }),
    text('subtitle', '{subtitle}', 'Fanwood Text', 14, at('top', 0, 44), { italic: true }),
    { kind: 'rule', id: 'rule', direction: 'horizontal', thickness: pt(0.8), color: col('accent'),
      placement: at('top', 0, 60, { width: 14 }) },
    label('author', '{author}', 10, at('top', 0, 66), 'ink', 2.4),
    image('mark', at('top', 0, 126, { width: 11 })),
    label('publisher', '{attr.publisher}', 7.5, at('top', 0, 140), 'muted', 1.5),
  ]) },
  // vi: the section's margins set the small print low, in a 70 mm measure against the outer
  // margin. With no element the design would print the title (gotcha: invisible-heading).
  { id: 'imprint', ...blind, margins: { top: mm(IMPRINT_TOP), left: mm(TRIM_W - OUTER - 70) },
    advancedDesign: design([{ kind: 'box', id: 'none', style: { backgroundColor: col('paper') },
      placement: { ...at('top-left', 0, 0), size: { width: pt(0.1), height: pt(0.1) } } }]) },
  // vii: dedication and epigraph, under a heading whose only element is an ornament, which
  // also keeps its title from printing (gotcha: invisible-heading).
  { id: 'quiet', ...blind,
    advancedDesign: design([image('crystal', at('top', 0, 24, { width: 6 }))], 34) },
];
// :::paragraphs blocks set the small print, the dedication, the epigraph and Walton's close;
// the dedication and the verse take one paragraph per line, so no line of them can reflow.
const VERSE_IN = 22; // mm: the indent that centres the verse as a block
const SOURCE_IN = 55; // mm: 'Paradise Lost' ends under the end of the longest line of verse
const prelimStyles = [
  // In ink, not muted: a paragraph style has no italic colour, so its italic title would take
  // bodyText.italicColor and print darker than its words (gotcha: style-italic-colour).
  { id: 'small-print', fontSize: pt(7.6), lineHeight: pt(10.4), textAlign: 'left',
    firstLineIndent: pt(0), spaceBetween: pt(5.2) },
  // Small capitals, with the italic lines of the 1818 page, leaded as one inscription.
  { id: 'dedication', fontFamily: 'Playfair Display SC', fontSize: pt(10), lineHeight: pt(15),
    textAlign: 'center', firstLineIndent: pt(0) },
  { id: 'verse', fontSize: pt(10), textAlign: 'left', firstLineIndent: mm(VERSE_IN),
    marginTop: pt(LEAD * 4) }, // on the body's 14 pt leading, which a style inherits
  { id: 'source', fontFamily: 'Cinzel', fontSize: pt(7.5), textAlign: 'left',
    firstLineIndent: mm(SOURCE_IN), marginTop: pt(4), color: col('muted') },
  { id: 'signature', textAlign: 'right', firstLineIndent: pt(0) }, // the letter's close
];
// #endregion

// #region contents: what :::toc prints: titles, dotted leaders, the labels each page prints
// Entries take the body's face and ink, and start on the Preface's first baseline, facing it.
const contents = {
  levels: [{ level: 1, fontSize: pt(12), lineHeight: pt(PREFACE.lead) }],
  // The folio's face: "ix" in small capitals, then a plain 1. The leader takes it too.
  pageNumber: { fontFamily: 'Playfair Display SC', fontSize: pt(10), color: col('accent'),
    width: mm(8) },
  leader: { char: '. ', gap: mm(2.5) },
  // A second line from the heading's to="…" attribute: whom each letter is written to.
  subtitle: { enabled: true, attr: 'to', fontSize: pt(9.5), color: col('muted') },
};
// #endregion

// #region letter: the novel's opener: the northern lights, bled off the head of the recto
const BAND = 104; // mm from the trim to the foot of the drawing, which fades into the paper
// minHeight ends AIR mm below it and the first line takes the next grid line. to: 'bleed' is the
// trim until page.cutLines adds a bleed; 3 mm drop the foot 1.8 mm, still above that line.
const AIR = 2;
const opener = design([
  image('band', at('top-left', 0, 0, { width: 'fill', to: 'bleed' })),
  label('to', '{attr.to}', 7.5, onPage(19), 'ice', 2),
  text('title', '{titleText}', 'Playfair Display SC', 46, onPage(25),
    { color: col('bone'), lineHeight: 1 }),
  text('dateline', '{attr.dateline}', 'Fanwood Text', 10.5, onPage(44),
    { italic: true, color: col('bone') }),
  // minHeight counts from the text block, TOP below the trim. The texts reserve their height,
  // the drawing nothing (gotcha: opener-image-no-reserve), so minHeight sets the first line.
], BAND - TOP + AIR);
// Walton's letters come before Chapter I: they take the novel's opener but no number.
const letter = { id: 'letter', numbered: false };
// #endregion

// #region heads: running heads on the novel's body pages; the book on versos, letter on rectos
const HEAD_Y = 12.5; // mm from the trim to the heads' line
const HEAD_GAP = 8; // mm from the outer margin, where the folio hangs, to the words beside it
const head = (id, content, parity, edge, x, extra = {}) => ({ ...label(id, content, 7.5,
  at(edge, x, HEAD_Y, { to: 'page' }), 'muted', 1.4), align: 'left', parity, pages: 'body',
  ...extra }); // pages: 'body' keeps them off the opener
const numeral = { fontFamily: 'Playfair Display SC', fontSize: pt(8.5), fontWeight: 400,
  letterSpacing: pt(0.6), color: col('ink') }; // folios in the folio face, as on the openers
const header = { elements: [
  head('verso-folio', '{pageNumber}', 'even', 'top-left', OUTER, numeral),
  head('verso-title', '{title}', 'even', 'top-left', OUTER + HEAD_GAP),
  head('recto-title', '{chapterTitle}', 'odd', 'top-right', -(OUTER + HEAD_GAP)),
  head('recto-folio', '{pageNumber}', 'odd', 'top-right', -OUTER, numeral),
] };
// #endregion

const config = () => ({ // a factory: the engine caches resolved configs per object
  locale: 'en-us', // hyphenation patterns, by exact code (gotcha: hyphenation-locales)
  colorPalette, layout: { layoutType: 'single' },
  page: { // mirror: left is the inner margin; 150 dpi is for the screen
    sizePreset: 'custom', width: mm(TRIM_W), height: mm(TRIM_H), dpi: 150,
    backgroundColor: col('paper'), pageNumbering,
    margins: { top: mm(TOP), bottom: mm(BOTTOM), left: mm(INNER), right: mm(OUTER), mirror: true },
  },
  bodyText: { // justified, hyphenated, optimal line breaking, widow control: the defaults
    fontFamily: 'Fanwood Text', fontSize: pt(10.5), lineHeight: pt(LEAD), color: col('ink'),
    boldColor: col('ink'), italicColor: col('ink'), referenceColor: col('ink'),
    firstLineIndent: mm(4), indentAfterHeading: false,
    // An even grey: spaces 0.75–1.75 of their width; a last line under 36 spaces' width (about
    // 18 letters: a lone 'occurrence.') is a runt, and costs three times the default.
    minWordSpacing: 0.75, maxWordSpacing: 1.75, runtMinCharacters: 36, runtPenalty: 3000,
  },
  headings: {
    fontFamily: 'Playfair Display SC', fontWeight: 400, color: col('ink'),
    // Break restated (gotcha: headings-drop-h1-break). span 'page' paints the opener unclipped,
    // so the drawing reaches the trim; an in-column design is clipped to the text block.
    levels: [{ level: 1, span: 'page', breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'odd' },
      marginTop: pt(0), marginBottom: pt(0), advancedDesign: opener }],
  },
  headingStyles: [...leaves, front, letter],
  toc: contents,
  paragraphStyles: prelimStyles,
  header, footer,
});

// ─── 2 · Content ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
const markdown = String.raw`---
Markdown sample · 105 lines · content.en.mdtitle: "Frankenstein" subtitle: "or, The Modern Prometheus" author: "Mary Shelley" publishDate: "1818" --- # Cover {style="cover" publisher="Postext Classics"} # Half title {style="half"} # Frontispiece {style="plate" caption="We perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile." source="Letter IV"} # Title page {style="title" publisher="Postext Classics · MMXXVI"} # Imprint {style="imprint"} :::paragraphs{style="small-print"} *Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus* was first published anonymously, in three volumes, by Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones of Finsbury Square, London, on 1 January 1818. This edition follows that first text, transcribed by Project Gutenberg from a photographic reprint (eBook 41445), and keeps its spelling: phænomena, their’s, St. Petersburgh. Set in Fanwood Text, Playfair Display SC and Cinzel, all under the SIL Open Font License. Cover, frontispiece and publisher’s mark drawn in code; pages laid out in the browser by Postext. Text: public domain. Design and editorial matter: CC BY 4.0. Postext Cookbook · No. 6 ::: # Dedication {style="quiet"} :::paragraphs{style="dedication"} *To* William Godwin, *Author of Political Justice,* *Caleb Williams, &c.* These volumes *Are respectfully inscribed* By The Author. ::: :::paragraphs{style="verse"} *Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay* *To mould me man? Did I solicit thee* *From darkness to promote me?——* ::: :::paragraphs{style="source"} Paradise Lost ::: # Contents {style="front"} :::toc # Preface {style="front" toc="true"} The event on which this fiction is founded has been supposed, by Dr. Darwin, and some of the physiological writers of Germany, as not of impossible occurrence. I shall not be supposed as according the remotest degree of serious faith to such an imagination; yet, in assuming it as the basis of a work of fancy, I have not considered myself as merely weaving a series of supernatural terrors. The event on which the interest of the story depends is exempt from the disadvantages of a mere tale of spectres or enchantment. It was recommended by the novelty of the situations which it developes; and, however impossible as a physical fact, affords a point of view to the imagination for the delineating of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield. I have thus endeavoured to preserve the truth of the elementary principles of human nature, while I have not scrupled to innovate upon their combinations. The *Iliad*, the tragic poetry of Greece,—Shakespeare, in the *Tempest* and *Midsummer Night’s Dream*,—and most especially Milton, in *Paradise Lost*, conform to this rule; and the most humble novelist, who seeks to confer or receive amusement from his labours, may, without presumption, apply to prose fiction a licence, or rather a rule, from the adoption of which so many exquisite combinations of human feeling have resulted in the highest specimens of poetry. The circumstance on which my story rests was suggested in casual conversation. It was commenced, partly as a source of amusement, and partly as an expedient for exercising any untried resources of mind. Other motives were mingled with these, as the work proceeded. I am by no means indifferent to the manner in which whatever moral tendencies exist in the sentiments or characters it contains shall affect the reader; yet my chief concern in this respect has been limited to the avoiding of the enervating effects of the novels of the present day, and to the exhibitions of the amiableness of domestic affection, and the excellence of universal virtue. The opinions which naturally spring from the character and situation of the hero are by no means to be conceived as existing always in my own conviction; nor is any inference justly to be drawn from the following pages as prejudicing any philosophical doctrine of whatever kind. It is a subject also of additional interest to the author, that this story was begun in the majestic region where the scene is principally laid, and in society which cannot cease to be regretted. I passed the summer of 1816 in the environs of Geneva. The season was cold and rainy, and in the evenings we crowded around a blazing wood fire, and occasionally amused ourselves with some German stories of ghosts, which happened to fall into our hands. These tales excited in us a playful desire of imitation. Two other friends (a tale from the pen of one of whom would be far more acceptable to the public than any thing I can ever hope to produce) and myself agreed to write each a story, founded on some supernatural occurrence. The weather, however, suddenly became serene; and my two friends left me on a journey among the Alps, and lost, in the magnificent scenes which they present, all memory of their ghostly visions. The following tale is the only one which has been completed. :::pagebreak{parity="odd"} :::numbering{format="decimal" startAt=1} # Letter I {style="letter" to="To Mrs. Saville, England" dateline="St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17—"} You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday; and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare, and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking. I am already far north of London; and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves, and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my day dreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is for ever visible; its broad disk just skirting the horizon, and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the phænomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle; and may regulate a thousand celestial observations, that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent for ever. I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death, and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river. But, supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine. These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven; for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose,—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember, that a history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the whole of our good uncle Thomas’s library. My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father’s dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a sea-faring life. These visions faded when I perused, for the first time, those poets whose effusions entranced my soul, and lifted it to heaven. I also became a poet, and for one year lived in a Paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated. You are well acquainted with my failure, and how heavily I bore the disappointment. But just at that time I inherited the fortune of my cousin, and my thoughts were turned into the channel of their earlier bent. Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I can, even now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this great enterprise. I commenced by inuring my body to hardship. I accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea; I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep; I often worked harder than the common sailors during the day, and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive the greatest practical advantage. Twice I actually hired myself as an under-mate in a Greenland whaler, and acquitted myself to admiration. I must own I felt a little proud, when my captain offered me the second dignity in the vessel, and entreated me to remain with the greatest earnestness; so valuable did he consider my services. And now, dear Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose. My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed. I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage; the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, when their’s are failing. This is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia. They fly quickly over the snow in their sledges; the motion is pleasant, and, in my opinion, far more agreeable than that of an English stage-coach. The cold is not excessive, if you are wrapt in furs, a dress which I have already adopted; for there is a great difference between walking the deck and remaining seated motionless for hours, when no exercise prevents the blood from actually freezing in your veins. I have no ambition to lose my life on the post-road between St. Petersburgh and Archangel. I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three weeks; and my intention is to hire a ship there, which can easily be done by paying the insurance for the owner, and to engage as many sailors as I think necessary among those who are accustomed to the whale-fishing. I do not intend to sail until the month of June: and when shall I return? Ah, dear sister, how can I answer this question? If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, will pass before you and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never. Farewell, my dear, excellent, Margaret. Heaven shower down blessings on you, and save me, that I may again and again testify my gratitude for all your love and kindness. :::paragraphs{style="signature"} *Your affectionate brother,* R. Walton. :::
`; // content.<lang>.md, inlined by the Cookbook // #region art: a storm over the Alps, the brig in the ice, an aurora, a mark and a crystal let seed = 1818; // Mulberry32, a tiny seeded PRNG: never Math.random() in a recipe const rand = () => { let r = Math.imul((seed = (seed + 0x6d2b79f5) | 0) ^ (seed >>> 15), 1 | seed); r = (r + Math.imul(r ^ (r >>> 7), 61 | r)) ^ r; return ((r ^ (r >>> 14)) >>> 0) / 4294967296; }; const mix = (a, b, k) => `#${[1, 3, 5].map((i) => Math.round(parseInt(palette[a].slice(i, i + 2), 16) * (1 - k) + parseInt(palette[b].slice(i, i + 2), 16) * k).toString(16).padStart(2, '0')) .join('')}`; const f = (n) => n.toFixed(2); const poly = (pts, fill, a = 1) => `<path d="M${pts.map(([x, y]) => `${f(x)} ${f(y)}`).join('L')}Z"` + ` fill="${fill}" fill-opacity="${a}"/>`; const disk = (x, y, r, fill, a = 1) => `<circle cx="${f(x)}" cy="${f(y)}" r="${f(r)}" ` + `fill="${fill}" fill-opacity="${a}"/>`; const rect = (x, y, w, h, fill, a = 1) => poly([[x, y], [x + w, y], [x + w, y + h], [x, y + h]], fill, a); const floe = (cx, cy, rx, ry, fill) => poly(Array.from({ length: 9 }, (_, i) => { // broken ice const a = (i / 9) * Math.PI * 2 + rand() * 0.5; const r = 0.72 + rand() * 0.34; return [cx + Math.cos(a) * rx * r, cy + Math.sin(a) * ry * r]; }), fill); const PX = 10; // each drawing is w × h mm in its viewBox and declares w·PX × h·PX pixels const svgOf = (w, h, body) => `<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="${w * PX}" ` + `height="${h * PX}" viewBox="0 0 ${w} ${h}">${body}</svg>`; // [cx, cy, rx, ry]: an ellipse in mm; `clear` keeps the stars out of it. const inside = (e, x, y) => !!e && ((x - e[0]) / e[2]) ** 2 + ((y - e[1]) / e[3]) ** 2 < 1; function sky(w, horizon, glow = 1) { // night at the top, a steel glow at the horizon const out = []; for (let i = 0; i < 96; i++) { const [y0, y1] = [horizon * i / 96, horizon * (i + 1) / 96 + 0.2]; out.push(rect(0, y0, w, y1 - y0, mix('night', 'accent', glow * (i / 95) ** 2.4))); } return out; } function stars(out, w, depth, n, clear) { // thinning towards the glow, none behind the type for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) { const y = rand() ** 1.7 * depth; const [x, r, a] = [rand() * w, 0.12 + rand() ** 3 * 0.38, 0.3 + rand() * 0.6]; if (!inside(clear, x, y)) out.push(disk(x, y, r, palette.bone, a)); } } function fadeOut(out, w, h, depth) { // the foot of a drawing dissolves into the page for (let y = h - depth; y < h; y += 0.8) out.push(rect(0, y, w, h - y, palette.paper, 0.15)); } // "The sun is for ever visible; its broad disk just skirting the horizon" (Letter I). function arctic(w, h, { horizon, sun }) { const out = sky(w, horizon); stars(out, w, horizon * 0.72, 110, null); const r = w * 0.14; out.push(disk(sun * w, horizon, r * 2.3, palette.bone, 0.05), disk(sun * w, horizon, r * 1.5, palette.bone, 0.08), disk(sun * w, horizon, r, palette.bone)); const ridge = [[0, horizon + 0.4]]; // a far ridge of pressure ice along the horizon for (let x = 0; x <= w; x += 1 + rand() * 3) ridge.push([x, horizon - rand() ** 2 * 2.2]); out.push(poly([...ridge, [w, horizon + 0.4]], mix('accent', 'ice', 0.35))); out.push(rect(0, horizon, w, h - horizon, mix('night', 'accent', 0.55))); const rows = 22; // floes: slivers at the horizon, broad plates near the reader for (let k = 0; k < rows; k++) { const t = (k + 0.5) / rows; const y = horizon + 0.6 + (h - horizon) * t ** 1.9; const ry = (h - horizon) * 1.9 * t ** 0.9 / rows * (0.55 + rand() * 0.3); for (let x = -rand() * 8; x < w + 6;) { const rx = ry * (2.2 + rand() * 4.5); const glint = Math.max(0, 1 - Math.abs(x - sun * w) / (w * 0.2)) * 0.3; out.push(floe(x, y + (rand() - 0.5) * ry, rx, ry, mix('accent', 'paper', Math.min(1, 0.4 + t * 0.55 + glint + (rand() - 0.5) * 0.14)))); x += rx * (1.6 + rand() * 0.9) + 0.3 + t * 1.6; } } const [sx, sy] = [w * 0.18, horizon + 1.2]; // half a mile off: dogs, the sledge, its driver for (let i = 0; i < 6; i++) out.push(disk(sx + i * 0.8, sy, 0.3, palette.night)); out.push(poly([[sx - 2.6, sy - 0.3], [sx - 0.6, sy - 0.3], [sx - 0.5, sy + 0.4], [sx - 2.7, sy + 0.4]], palette.night), poly([[sx - 2.2, sy - 0.3], [sx - 2.05, sy - 2.1], [sx - 1.5, sy - 2.2], [sx - 1.35, sy - 0.3]], palette.night)); out.push(brig(w * 0.5, h - 16, 0.95)); // beset in the ice, heeled over return svgOf(w, h, out.join('')); } function brig(x, y, s) { // a two-masted brig in silhouette, sails furled on the yards const ink = palette.night; const spar = (x1, y1, x2, y2, wd) => { // a straight spar or stay as a thin quadrilateral const [dx, dy] = [x2 - x1, y2 - y1]; const [nx, ny] = [(-dy / Math.hypot(dx, dy)) * wd / 2, (dx / Math.hypot(dx, dy)) * wd / 2]; return poly([[x1 + nx, y1 + ny], [x2 + nx, y2 + ny], [x2 - nx, y2 - ny], [x1 - nx, y1 - ny]], ink); }; const parts = [poly([[-1, -2.5], [3, -1.2], [41, -1.6], [44, -3.2], [39.5, 5], [5, 5.6]], ink), spar(41, -2, 55, -8.5, 0.7), spar(55, -8.5, 28.3, -44, 0.25), spar(0, -2, 13.4, -41, 0.25), spar(14.2, -30, 27.6, -34, 0.25)]; // hull, bowsprit and the stays for (const [mx, tall] of [[13.4, 41], [27.8, 44]]) { parts.push(spar(mx, 0, mx, -tall, 0.9), poly([[mx, -tall - 3.6], [mx + 4, -tall - 2.6], [mx, -tall - 1.6]], ink)); // mast and pennant [17, 14, 11, 7].forEach((yard, i) => parts.push(spar(mx - yard / 2, -9 - i * 8.6, mx + yard / 2, -9 - i * 8.6, 1.3 - i * 0.2))); } const floes = [[-8, 5], [2, 3.5], [16, 6.5], [29, 4], [42, 6.5]].map(([fx, fh]) => poly([[fx, 6.5], [fx + 4, 6.5 - fh], [fx + 9, 5.5], [fx + 13, 7.5]], palette.paper)); return `<g transform="translate(${f(x)} ${f(y)}) scale(${s}) rotate(-4)">${parts.join('')}` + `${floes.join('')}</g>`; } // "I saw the lightnings playing on the summit of Mont Blânc in the most beautiful figures" // (vol. I, chapter VI): the cover, a storm over the Alps and the lake of Geneva. function storm(w, h) { const shore = 150; // mm: the lake's far shore const out = sky(w, shore, 0.75); stars(out, w, 58, 46, [w / 2, 38, 58, 28]); const [bx, peak] = [w * 0.57, 121]; // the bolt strikes the dome of Mont Blanc const glow = (x, y, r, a, n = 10) => { // a soft light: many faint discs, no gradient for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) out.push(disk(x, y, r * (1 - i / n), palette.bone, a)); }; const clouds = (top, depth, tone) => { // a bank with a scalloped crown and a ragged belly const edge = []; for (let x = -6; x < w + 6;) { const r = 3 + rand() * 6; for (let k = 0; k <= 6; k++) { const t = (k / 6) * Math.PI; edge.push([x + r * (1 - Math.cos(t)), top - r * 0.55 * Math.sin(t) + rand() * 0.4]); } x += 2 * r * (0.7 + rand() * 0.2); } const belly = []; for (let x = w + 6; x > -6; x -= 3 + rand() * 4) belly.push([x, top + depth + rand() * 3]); out.push(poly([...edge, ...belly], tone)); }; clouds(64, 12, mix('night', 'accent', 0.42)); clouds(72, 12, mix('night', 'accent', 0.28)); glow(bx + 2, 100, 46, 0.011, 24); // the flash, lighting the air and the clouds' bellies clouds(80, 13, mix('night', 'accent', 0.16)); glow(bx + 4, 94, 18, 0.015, 16); const bolt = [[bx + 11, 88]]; // from the cloud's belly down to the summit, in zigzags for (let i = 1; i < 11; i++) { const t = i / 11; const kink = (i % 2 ? 1 : -1) * (1.5 + rand() * 2.5); bolt.push([bx + 11 * (1 - t) + kink, 88 + (peak - 88) * t]); } bolt.push([bx, peak]); const zig = (pts, wd, fill, a) => poly([...pts.map(([x, y], i) => [x - wd * (1 - i / pts.length), y]), ...pts.slice().reverse().map(([x, y], i) => [x + wd * (i / pts.length) + 0.05, y])], fill, a); const fork = [bolt[4], ...[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].map((k) => [bolt[4][0] - k * 2.6 + (k % 2 ? 1 : -1) * rand() * 1.4, bolt[4][1] + k * 2.3])]; out.push(zig(bolt, 2.6, palette.bone, 0.18), zig(fork, 1.2, palette.bone, 0.14), zig(bolt, 0.8, palette.bone, 1), zig(fork, 0.35, palette.bone, 0.9)); const dome = (x) => peak + (Math.abs(x - bx) / (x < bx ? 30 : 24)) ** 1.6 * 17; // the summit const far = []; for (let x = -2; x <= w + 2; x += 1.5 + rand() * 2.5) { // needles on the shoulders far.push([x, Math.min(140 - rand() ** 1.5 * 9, dome(x) + rand() * 1.2)]); } out.push(poly([[-2, shore + 2], ...far, [w + 2, shore + 2]], mix('night', 'accent', 0.32))); const cap = far.filter(([x]) => Math.abs(x - bx) < 24); // the snowfield, tapering to nothing const foot = cap.slice().reverse().map(([x, y], i) => [x, y + 11 * (1 - ((x - bx) / 24) ** 2) * (i % 2 ? 1 : 0.7) + rand()]); const lit = [...cap.filter(([x]) => x <= bx), [bx + 3, peak + 9], ...foot.filter(([x]) => x < bx)]; out.push(poly([...cap, ...foot], mix('accent', 'ice', 0.5)), // in shade, then the lit face poly(lit, mix('ice', 'bone', 0.45))); const near = [[-2, shore + 2]]; for (let x = -2; x <= w + 2; x += 3 + rand() * 4) near.push([x, 146 - 2 * rand()]); out.push(poly([...near, [w + 2, shore + 2]], mix('night', 'accent', 0.16))); out.push(rect(0, shore, w, h - shore, mix('night', 'accent', 0.34))); // the lake for (let k = 0; k < 30; k++) { // the flash on the water, and the ripples const y = shore + 1 + (h - shore - 3) * (k / 30) ** 1.4; const spread = 2 + k * 0.9; const row = [rect(bx - spread / 2 + (rand() - 0.5) * 3, y, spread * (0.5 + rand() * 0.5), 0.35, palette.bone, 0.5 - k * 0.014)]; for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) { row.push(rect(rand() * w, y, 2 + rand() * 8, 0.25, palette.ice, 0.1)); } // Calm water under the series line (168–171 mm): the row is drawn, and its random numbers // spent, everywhere else, so the other drawings keep their seeded shapes. if (y < 164 || y > 173) out.push(...row); } return svgOf(w, h, out.join('')); } // "I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks" (Letter I): the northern lights over the // Neva, St Petersburgh's spire on the far shore, and no ice yet. function aurora(w, h, { horizon, clear, fade }) { const out = sky(w, horizon, 0.8); stars(out, w, horizon * 0.8, 120, clear); const floor = (x) => (Math.abs(x - clear[0]) < clear[2] // the light stops under the type ? clear[1] + clear[3] * Math.sqrt(1 - ((x - clear[0]) / clear[2]) ** 2) : 0); [[60, 4, 19, 0.075], [68, 2.5, 12, 0.1]].forEach(([base, amp, len, a], c) => { const phase = 1 + c * 2.4; const hem = (x) => base + amp * Math.sin(x / w * 6 + phase) + 1.2 * Math.sin(x / w * 17 + c); const top = (x) => Math.max(hem(x) - len * (0.55 + 0.45 * Math.sin(x / w * 9 + phase * 2)), floor(x)); const xs = Array.from({ length: 131 }, (_, i) => -1 + (w + 2) * i / 130); for (let s = 0; s < 12; s++) { // a curtain: twelve veils, fainter towards its top const at = (x, k) => hem(x) - (hem(x) - top(x)) * Math.min(1, k); out.push(poly([...xs.map((x) => [x, at(x, (s + 1) / 12)]), ...xs.slice().reverse().map((x) => [x, at(x, 0)])], palette.ice, a * (1 - s / 12))); } out.push(poly([...xs.map((x) => [x, hem(x) - 0.6]), ...xs.slice().reverse() .map((x) => [x, hem(x) + 0.3])], palette.bone, 0.2)); // the bright lower hem for (let x = rand() * 2; x < w; x += 0.6 + rand() * 2.2) { // fine rays const y1 = hem(x); const y0 = y1 - (y1 - top(x)) * (0.3 + rand() * 0.7); if (y0 < y1) out.push(rect(x, y0, 0.18, y1 - y0, palette.bone, 0.06 + rand() * 0.1)); } }); out.push(rect(0, horizon, w, h - horizon, mix('night', 'accent', 0.4))); // the Neva const city = [[0, horizon + 0.3]]; // the far shore, low, with a spire and two domes for (let x = 0; x < w * 0.42; x += 1 + rand() * 2.5) { const y = horizon - 0.6 - rand() * 1.8; city.push([x, y], [x + 1.2, y]); } city.push([w * 0.42 + 4, horizon + 0.3]); const spire = w * 0.23; const dome = (x, r) => rect(x - r, horizon - 3.4 - r, 2 * r, 3.4 + r, palette.night) + disk(x, horizon - 3.4 - r, r, palette.night) + rect(x - 0.1, horizon - 5.6 - 2 * r, 0.2, 2.4, palette.night); out.push(poly(city, palette.night), poly([[spire - 1, horizon - 2], [spire, horizon - 15], [spire + 1, horizon - 2]], palette.night), dome(w * 0.31, 1.5), dome(w * 0.12, 1.1)); for (let i = 0; i < 14; i++) { out.push(disk(rand() * w * 0.4, horizon - 0.8 - rand(), 0.16, palette.bone, 0.8)); } for (let k = 0; k < 22; k++) { // the lights' long reflections on the water const y = horizon + 1 + (h - horizon) * (k / 22) ** 1.4; for (let x = rand() * 6; x < w; x += 4 + rand() * 10) { out.push(rect(x, y, 1.5 + rand() * 6, 0.3, palette.ice, 0.08 + rand() * 0.16)); } } fadeOut(out, w, h, fade); return svgOf(w, h, out.join('')); } // The publisher's mark: a polar star in a double ring. The ornament: an ice crystal. const EMBLEM = 40; // mm: both are drawn on a 40 × 40 viewBox function mark() { const star = []; for (let i = 0; i < 16; i++) { const a = (i * Math.PI) / 8; const rr = i % 4 === 0 ? 13 : i % 2 === 0 ? 7 : 2.6; star.push([20 + rr * Math.sin(a), 20 - rr * Math.cos(a)]); } const rings = [[19, 'accent'], [18, 'paper'], [16.2, 'accent'], [15.6, 'paper']]; return svgOf(EMBLEM, EMBLEM, rings.map(([rr, c]) => disk(20, 20, rr, palette[c])).join('') + poly(star, palette.ink)); } function crystal() { const arm = poly([[19.5, 20], [19.5, 3], [20, 1.5], [20.5, 3], [20.5, 20]], palette.accent) + poly([[20, 9], [15, 5], [15.5, 4.4], [20, 7.8], [24.5, 4.4], [25, 5]], palette.accent); return svgOf(EMBLEM, EMBLEM, [0, 60, 120, 180, 240, 300].map((a) => `<g transform="rotate(${a} 20 20)">${arm}</g>`).join('') + disk(20, 20, 2.4, palette.accent)); } const art = { cover: storm(TRIM_W, TRIM_H), plate: arctic(MEASURE, PLATE_H, { horizon: 58, sun: 0.66 }), // No stars or rays behind the kicker, title and dateline (19–48 mm down): an ellipse. band: aurora(TRIM_W, BAND, { horizon: 76, clear: [TRIM_W / 2, 33, 50, 16], fade: 19 }), mark: mark(), crystal: crystal(), }; for (const [id, svg] of Object.entries(art)) await loadSvg(`${id}.svg`, svg); // #endregion // Resources only the designs use, nothing cites them; each declares svgOf's pixel size. const svgResource = (id, w, h, altText) => ({ id, typeId: 'figure', kind: 'svg', altText, createdAt: 0, updatedAt: 0, svg: { fileId: `${id}.svg`, width: w * PX, height: h * PX } }); const resources = [ svgResource('cover', TRIM_W, TRIM_H, 'Lightning strikes Mont Blanc over the lake of Geneva.'), svgResource('plate', MEASURE, PLATE_H, 'A brig beset in pack ice, a sledge far off.'), svgResource('band', TRIM_W, BAND, 'Northern lights over the Neva and St Petersburgh.'), svgResource('mark', EMBLEM, EMBLEM, 'Publisher’s mark: a polar star in a double ring.'), svgResource('crystal', EMBLEM, EMBLEM, 'Ornament: an ice crystal.'), ]; // ─── 3 · Fonts ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── // Loaded before the first build (gotcha: fonts-first). The PDF asks for a bold Fanwood and an // italic Cinzel too; the kit's provider snaps to shipped faces (gotcha: pdf-provider-all-styles). const FONTS = { 'Fanwood Text': ['400', '400i'], Cinzel: ['400', '600'], 'Playfair Display SC': ['400', '400i', '700'] }; // ─── 4 · Build & show ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── // #region build: lay out once (buildDocument settles the contents), show, offer a PDF await loadFonts(FONTS, markdown); // :::toc lists each heading with the label of the page it lands on; buildDocument lays the // document out again until those labels stop moving (ix for the Preface, 1 for Letter I). const doc = await buildWithFonts(() => buildDocument({ markdown, resources }, config()), markdown); showPages(doc, { title: 'Frankenstein · the opening leaves' }); // The PDF gets /PageLabels from the same labels: a viewer numbers its pages i–x, then 1, 2. offerPdf(() => renderToPdf(doc, { fontProvider: fontsourceProvider, resourceBytes: imageBytes }), `${RECIPE}.pdf`); // #endregion
Kit · core, fonts, viewer, pdf, images: the same in every recipe · 310 lines// ─── Kit ── helpers shared by every Cookbook recipe · postext.dev/cookbook ───── // ─── Kit · core v1 ── the same in every recipe · postext.dev/cookbook ───────── function mm(value) { return { value, unit: 'mm' }; } function pt(value) { return { value, unit: 'pt' }; } function em(value) { return { value, unit: 'em' }; } /** The sample language's string: t({ en: 'Figure', es: 'Figura' }). */ function t(strings) { return strings[LANG] ?? Object.values(strings)[0]; } /** A file in this recipe's assets folder, served from the Postext repo by jsDelivr. */ function asset(file) { return `https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/drnachio/postext@main/cookbook/${RECIPE}/assets/${file}`; } // ─── Kit · fonts v1 ── the same in every recipe · postext.dev/cookbook ──────── // Postext measures text with the faces the browser has loaded, and caches the // widths, so every face must be ready before the first build. Faces come from // Fontsource: the same static files the PDF embeds, so screen and PDF agree. /** faces = { 'Family Name': ['400', '400i', '700'] }. `text` is the sample: * letters beyond Latin-1 (č, ł, ő…) also load the latin-ext files. With * `optional`, a face Fontsource does not ship is skipped instead of failing. * Resolves to the number of faces added. */ async function loadFonts(faces, text = '', { optional = false } = {}) { kitStatus('Loading fonts…'); const ranges = { latin: 'U+0000-00FF,U+0131,U+0152-0153,U+02BB-02BC,U+02C6,U+02DA,U+02DC,U+0304,U+0308,U+0329,' + 'U+2000-206F,U+20AC,U+2122,U+2191,U+2193,U+2212,U+2215,U+FEFF,U+FFFD', 'latin-ext': 'U+0100-02BA,U+02BD-02C5,U+02C7-02CC,U+02CE-02D7,U+02DD-02FF,U+0304,U+0308,U+0329,' + 'U+1D00-1DBF,U+1E00-1E9F,U+1EF2-1EFF,U+2020,U+20A0-20AB,U+20AD-20C0,U+2113,U+2C60-2C7F,U+A720-A7FF', }; const subsets = /[Ā-˿Ḁ-ỿ]/.test(text) ? ['latin', 'latin-ext'] : ['latin']; const jobs = []; let added = 0; for (const [family, specs] of Object.entries(faces)) { const id = fontsourceId(family); const meta = optional ? await fontsourceMeta(family) : null; for (const spec of new Set(specs)) { const weight = parseInt(spec, 10); const style = spec.endsWith('i') ? 'italic' : 'normal'; if (hasFace(family, weight, style)) continue; if (optional && !(meta?.weights.includes(weight) && meta.styles.includes(style))) continue; for (const subset of subsets) { const url = `https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@fontsource/${id}@5/files/${id}-${subset}-${weight}-${style}.woff2`; const face = new FontFace(family, `url(${url}) format('woff2')`, { weight: String(weight), style, unicodeRange: ranges[subset] }); jobs.push(face.load().then((ready) => { document.fonts.add(ready); added++; }, () => { if (subset === 'latin' && !optional) throw new Error(`Fontsource has no ${family} ${weight} ${style}`); })); } } } await Promise.all(jobs).catch((error) => { kitFail(error); throw error; }); return added; } /** Runs `build` (a buildDocument or buildBundle call) and checks the faces * the pages use. A regular face missing from FONTS is loaded with a warning; * bold and italic variants are loaded when the family ships them. Then the * measurement caches are cleared and the build runs again. */ async function buildWithFonts(build, text = '') { const tried = new Set(); for (let round = 0; round < 3; round++) { kitStatus('Laying out…'); await new Promise(requestAnimationFrame); // let the status paint first const result = await Promise.resolve().then(build).catch((error) => { kitFail(error); throw error; }); const wanted = { base: {}, variants: {} }; for (const { font, base } of [result].flat().flatMap(fontStringsOf)) { const { family, weight, style } = parseFont(font); const key = `${family}|${weight}|${style}`; if (tried.has(key) || hasFace(family, weight, style)) continue; tried.add(key); (wanted[base ? 'base' : 'variants'][family] ??= []).push(`${weight}${style === 'italic' ? 'i' : ''}`); } if (Object.keys(wanted.base).length) { console.warn(`[cookbook] FONTS does not list ${JSON.stringify(wanted.base)}: loading them.`); } const added = await loadFonts(wanted.base, text) + await loadFonts(wanted.variants, text, { optional: true }); if (added === 0) return result; clearMeasurementCache(); } throw new Error('The fonts did not settle after three builds.'); } /** Every font string of the layout. `base` marks a block's own face; its * bold, italic and bold-italic variants are listed whether or not used. */ function fontStringsOf(doc) { const found = new Map(); const walk = (node) => { if (!node || typeof node !== 'object') return; if (Array.isArray(node)) { node.forEach(walk); return; } for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(node)) { if (typeof value === 'string' && /fontString$/i.test(key)) { found.set(value, found.get(value) || key === 'fontString'); } else if (value && typeof value === 'object') walk(value); } }; walk(doc.pages); walk(doc.blocks); return [...found].map(([font, base]) => ({ font, base })); } /** '700 37.5px Open Sans' / 'italic 400 13px "Source Serif 4"' → { family, weight, style }. * A string with no weight ('95.8px Young Serif', from a design text) is 400. */ function parseFont(font) { const m = /^(?:(italic|oblique)\s+)?(?:small-caps\s+)?(?:(\d+|bold|normal)\s+)?[\d.]+px\s+(.+)$/.exec(font.trim()); if (!m) throw new Error(`Unexpected font string: ${font}`); const weight = m[2] === 'bold' ? 700 : !m[2] || m[2] === 'normal' ? 400 : Number(m[2]); return { family: m[3].replace(/^["']|["']$/g, ''), weight, style: m[1] ? 'italic' : 'normal' }; } /** True when a loaded FontFace covers exactly this family, weight and style * (document.fonts.check() is also true for families nobody declared). */ function hasFace(family, weight, style) { for (const face of document.fonts) { if (face.status !== 'loaded' || face.style !== style) continue; if (face.family.replace(/^["']|["']$/g, '') !== family) continue; const [low, high = low] = face.weight.split(' ').map(Number); if (weight >= low && weight <= high) return true; } return false; } /** Fontsource's id for a family: 'Source Serif 4' → 'source-serif-4'. */ function fontsourceId(family) { return family.toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, '-'); } /** The weights and styles a family ships ({ weights: [400, 700], styles: ['normal', 'italic'] }), or null. */ function fontsourceMeta(family) { fontsourceMeta.cache ??= new Map(); const id = fontsourceId(family); if (!fontsourceMeta.cache.has(id)) { fontsourceMeta.cache.set(id, fetch(`https://api.fontsource.org/v1/fonts/${id}`) .then((res) => (res.ok ? res.json() : null), () => null)); } return fontsourceMeta.cache.get(id); } // ─── Kit · viewer v1 ── the same in every recipe · postext.dev/cookbook ─────── /** Shows the pages as facing spreads on a dark desk: the first page is a * recto on its own, then verso | recto pairs, as in a bound book. Pages * are painted when they scroll near the screen. */ function showPages(docs, { title, width = 460 } = {}) { const root = viewer(title); const pages = [docs].flat().flatMap((doc) => doc.pages.map((page) => ({ doc, page, n: (doc.pageIndexOffset ?? 0) + page.index }))); const spreads = []; let verso = null; for (const p of pages) { if (p.n % 2 === 1) { if (verso) spreads.push([verso, null]); verso = p; } else { spreads.push([verso, p]); verso = null; } } if (verso) spreads.push([verso, null]); const density = Math.min(window.devicePixelRatio || 1, 2); showPages.painter?.disconnect(); const painter = new IntersectionObserver((entries) => { for (const { isIntersecting, target } of entries) { if (!isIntersecting) continue; painter.unobserve(target); const { doc, page } = target.postext; renderPageToCanvas(page, doc, target, { scale: (width * density) / page.width }); } }, { rootMargin: '800px' }); showPages.painter = painter; root.replaceChildren(...spreads.map((pair) => { const spread = document.createElement('div'); spread.className = 'pt-spread'; for (const p of pair) { const figure = document.createElement('figure'); if (p) { const label = p.page.pageLabel || String(p.n + 1); const canvas = document.createElement('canvas'); canvas.postext = p; canvas.style.aspectRatio = `${p.page.width} / ${p.page.height}`; canvas.setAttribute('role', 'img'); canvas.setAttribute('aria-label', `Page ${label}`); const folio = document.createElement('figcaption'); folio.textContent = label; figure.append(canvas, folio); painter.observe(canvas); } else figure.className = 'pt-blank'; spread.append(figure); } return spread; })); kitStatus(`${pages.length} ${pages.length === 1 ? 'page' : 'pages'}`); document.documentElement.dataset.postext = 'ready'; return pages.length; } /** The desk, the bar and the error reporting, created once. */ function viewer(title) { if (!document.getElementById('pt-kit')) { document.head.insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', `<style id="pt-kit"> :root { color-scheme: dark; } body { margin: 0; background: #0e1014; color: #b9bcc4; font: 13px/1.45 system-ui, sans-serif; } #pt-bar { position: sticky; top: 0; z-index: 1; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: center; gap: 6px 16px; padding: 10px 16px; background: rgb(14 16 20 / .92); backdrop-filter: blur(6px); border-bottom: 1px solid #23262d; } #pt-bar strong { color: #f4f1ea; font-weight: 600; } #pt-actions { display: flex; gap: 12px; margin-left: auto; } #pt-actions a, #pt-actions button { color: #d8a21a; font: inherit; background: none; border: 0; padding: 0; cursor: pointer; } #pages { display: grid; justify-items: center; gap: 48px; padding: 32px 16px 72px; } .pt-spread { display: flex; } .pt-spread figure { margin: 0; width: min(460px, 44vw); } .pt-spread canvas { display: block; width: 100%; background: #fff; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgb(0 0 0 / .5), 0 22px 44px -16px rgb(0 0 0 / .8); } .pt-spread figure:first-child canvas { box-shadow: inset -14px 0 14px -14px rgb(0 0 0 / .18), 0 1px 2px rgb(0 0 0 / .5), 0 22px 44px -16px rgb(0 0 0 / .8); } .pt-spread figcaption { margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; font: 600 10px/1 system-ui, sans-serif; letter-spacing: .18em; text-transform: uppercase; color: #6c7079; } .pt-blank { visibility: hidden; } @media (max-width: 760px) { .pt-spread { flex-direction: column; gap: 32px; } .pt-spread figure { width: min(460px, 92vw); } .pt-blank { display: none; } } </style>`); document.body.insertAdjacentHTML('afterbegin', '<header id="pt-bar"><strong id="pt-title"></strong><span id="pt-status" role="status"></span><span id="pt-actions"></span></header>'); document.getElementById('pt-title').textContent = document.title || 'Postext'; addEventListener('error', (event) => kitFail(event.error ?? event.message)); addEventListener('unhandledrejection', (event) => kitFail(event.reason)); } if (title) document.getElementById('pt-title').textContent = title; return document.getElementById('pages') ?? document.body.appendChild(Object.assign(document.createElement('main'), { id: 'pages' })); } function kitStatus(text) { viewer(); document.getElementById('pt-status').textContent = text; } function kitFail(error) { document.documentElement.dataset.postext = 'error'; kitStatus(`Error: ${error?.message ?? error}`); } // ─── Kit · pdf v1 ── the same in every recipe that exports a PDF ────────────── /** postext-pdf embeds TrueType bytes. Fetch the Fontsource file the screen * used, snapping to a weight the family ships and falling back to upright * when it has no italic: the PDF asks for every face a block could use. */ async function fontsourceProvider(family, weight, style) { const id = fontsourceId(family); const meta = await fontsourceMeta(family); const weights = meta?.weights?.length ? meta.weights : [400, 700]; const w = weights.reduce((a, b) => (Math.abs(b - weight) < Math.abs(a - weight) ? b : a)); const s = style === 'italic' && meta && !meta.styles.includes('italic') ? 'normal' : style; const res = await fetch(`https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@fontsource/${id}@5/files/${id}-latin-${w}-${s}.woff2`); if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Fontsource has no ${family} ${w} ${s} (${res.status})`); return decompressWoff2(new Uint8Array(await res.arrayBuffer())); } /** A "Build the PDF" button in the bar. Once built: "Open the PDF" (a new * tab, since CodePen's preview frame cannot show PDFs) and a download link. */ function offerPdf(makePdf, filename) { viewer(); const button = Object.assign(document.createElement('button'), { type: 'button', textContent: 'Build the PDF' }); button.dataset.postextPdf = filename; button.addEventListener('click', async () => { button.disabled = true; button.textContent = 'Building the PDF…'; try { const bytes = await makePdf(); const url = URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([bytes], { type: 'application/pdf' })); const size = `${Math.max(1, Math.round(bytes.length / 1024))} KB`; button.replaceWith( Object.assign(document.createElement('a'), { href: url, target: '_blank', rel: 'noopener', textContent: 'Open the PDF ↗' }), Object.assign(document.createElement('a'), { href: url, download: filename, textContent: `Download ${filename} · ${size}` })); } catch (error) { button.disabled = false; button.textContent = 'Build the PDF'; kitFail(error); } }); document.getElementById('pt-actions').append(button); } // ─── Kit · images v1 ── recipes with pictures · postext.dev/cookbook ────────── /** Registers a photo or PNG for the canvas and keeps its bytes for the PDF. * fetch → ImageBitmap never taints the canvas (a plain cross-origin <img> would). */ async function loadImage(fileId, url) { const res = await fetch(url); if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Image not found (${res.status}): ${url}`); const bytes = new Uint8Array(await res.arrayBuffer()); registerResourceImage(fileId, await createImageBitmap(new Blob([bytes]))); (loadImage.bytes ??= new Map()).set(fileId, bytes); } /** Registers SVG markup (drawn in code, or fetched) as a vector image. */ async function loadSvg(fileId, svg) { const img = new Image(); img.src = `data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,${encodeURIComponent(svg)}`; await img.decode(); registerResourceImage(fileId, img); (loadImage.bytes ??= new Map()).set(fileId, new TextEncoder().encode(svg)); } /** renderToPdf({ resourceBytes: imageBytes }) */ function imageBytes(fileId) { return loadImage.bytes?.get(fileId); } /** renderToHtml({ resourceImageUrl: imageUrl }) */ function imageUrl(fileId) { const bytes = imageBytes(fileId); if (!bytes) return undefined; imageUrl.urls ??= new Map(); if (!imageUrl.urls.has(fileId)) { const type = /\.svg$/i.test(fileId) ? 'image/svg+xml' : /\.png$/i.test(fileId) ? 'image/png' : 'image/jpeg'; imageUrl.urls.set(fileId, URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([bytes], { type }))); } return imageUrl.urls.get(fileId); } // ─── /Kit ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

The composed script.js runs as it is: paste it into any page’s module script, or open the recipe on CodePen. Recipe folder on GitHub ↗

Variations

#Count the prelims in capitals

Upper-case numerals print as full capitals in the folio face, taller than the small capitals that lower-case numerals give.

-const pageNumbering = { format: 'lower-roman', startAt: 1 }; // startAt spelled out: cover = i
+const pageNumbering = { format: 'upper-roman', startAt: 1 }; // startAt spelled out: cover = I

#Number the book straight through

Leave out startAt and the count carries on in arabic figures, so Letter I becomes page 11, as in books that count their prelims with the text.

-:::numbering{format="decimal" startAt=1}
+:::numbering{format="decimal"}

#Leave out the frontispiece

Delete the # Frontispiece heading and send the title page to a recto: page iv stays blank, the Preface is still ix and Letter I is still 1.

-  { id: 'title', ...blind, advancedDesign: design([ // v: four frontmatter fields, one attribute
+  { id: 'title', ...blind, breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity: 'odd' },
+    advancedDesign: design([ // v: four frontmatter fields, one attribute

#Add a bleed and crop marks for press

With cutLines the cover and the opener, both anchored to the bleed, run 3 mm past the trim; the folios and the page count do not change (cut lines).

     backgroundColor: col('paper'), pageNumbering,
+    cutLines: { enabled: true }, // a 3 mm bleed and crop marks

Pitfalls

Pitfall

:::numbering takes effect at the next page

:::numbering changes the count from the next page that starts, not the current one. Put it right after a :::pagebreak (parity odd before chapter one) so the new numbering begins where you mean. Roman front matter →

Pitfall

A heading style inherits its level's page break

A headingStyles entry takes every field it leaves out from its heading level, breakBefore included. A contents page or a colophon styled on an H1 after a :::pagebreak inherits parity 'odd' and lands behind a blank page. Give such a style breakBefore: { enabled: false }. Heading styles →

Pitfall

A heading that prints nothing needs a design with one element

A heading meant only for structure (a colophon or dedication) still prints: a page-span heading gets a synthesised {titleText} opener and an in-column one its text. Give it an advanced design holding one invisible element, such as a 0.1 pt box. Designed openers →

Pitfall

Page 1 is a recto: plan pages with physical numbers

Page 1 is a right-hand page and page 2 the first verso, so plan spreads with physical page numbers: an opener on an even page faces the odd page after it. Page and column breaks →

Pitfall

Lists say 'arabic', resources 'roman-upper', pages 'upper-roman'

Each numbering setting spells its formats differently: lists take numberFormat 'arabic' ('decimal' prints "undefined"), resource types take counterFormat 'roman-upper', pages and :::numbering take 'upper-roman'. Numbered lists →

Pitfall

Quote every frontmatter value

YAML reads title: 1984 as a number and a date as a Date object, and non-string values print empty in placeholders and leave the PDF without a title. Quote every value: title: "1984". Document metadata →

Pitfall

Any headings object switches off the H1 page break

By default an H1 breaks to a recto (always-odd), but passing any headings object resets that default, so chapters run on and span: 'page' does nothing. Restate headings.levels[0].breakBefore: { enabled: true, parity } in every config. Chapters that open on a recto →

Pitfall

A paragraph style has no italic colour

In postext 1.4.1 a paragraph style sets color and boldColor but no italicColor: its italic runs take bodyText.italicColor. A muted style (small print, a source line) prints its italic titles darker than the words around them. Keep such styles in the body's ink, or avoid italics in them. Paragraph styles →

Pitfall

A no-break space still breaks the line

In postext 1.4.1 the line breaker treats U+00A0 as an ordinary space, so 0.08 %, 2.006 s or Section 2 can split across two lines. Close the pair up (0.08%) or reword the sentence. Escapes and literal characters →

Pitfall

The PDF asks for every weight and style of every family

renderToPdf asks the font provider for the bold, italic and bold-italic faces of every family a block could use, even ones never printed, and a single rejection stops the export. The provider must snap to the nearest weight the family ships and fall back to upright when there is no italic. Fonts embedded in the PDF →

Pitfall

An opener's images never count towards the height it reserves

In postext 1.4.1 an advanced-design heading measures the height it reserves without its images: its texts, rules and boxes count, even when anchored to the page, but an image, such as a picture bled across the head of the page, reserves nothing, so the text can start on top of it. Set minHeight to where the text should begin. Designed openers →

Pitfall

A page takes the header of the last section that starts on it

When two heading styles start on one page, the page takes the header, footer and palette of the last one. A separator blank belongs to the chapter before it, parity padding to the chapter after it. Running heads per section →

Sandbox check · parityCascade

Parity cascade

Why. Parity breaks stack up and produce more than two blank pages in a row.

Fix. Review always-odd breaks and breakBefore parities; for short chapters, parity any usually avoids the blanks. Docs →

Sandbox check · numberingInvalidFormat

Invalid numbering format

Why. A :::numbering format is not one of decimal, lower-roman, upper-roman, lower-alpha or upper-alpha.

Fix. Use one of the five page-number formats; lists and resources spell theirs differently. Docs →

  • The leaves inherit level 1’s 'odd' break. Left alone, each one waits for a right-hand page. The prelims then run to fourteen pages instead of ten, with four more blank versos, and the frontispiece faces a blank page instead of the title page. Restate the break with parity: 'any', as this recipe does, or switch it off with breakBefore: { enabled: false }; a page-span heading opens its own page either way.
  • Drop the :::pagebreak before :::numbering when level 1 breaks with 'always-odd', the engine’s own H1 default. If the text before it ends on a right-hand page, the pagebreak pads to the next recto, then the heading adds its separator page and pads again, which leaves three blank pages in a row instead of one. After an 'odd' break, as here, the pagebreak changes nothing; after 'any', it is what puts page 1 on a recto.
  • A Preface that grows by one page pushes Letter I two pages on, because the odd-page break adds a blank verso before it. Check the page count whenever you edit the prelims.
  • Keep an opener’s type above the foot of the text block. In Postext 1.4.1 a heading design that reaches below it loses its whole reserved height, minHeight included. On the cover nothing changes, since no text follows it; on a chapter opener the text would start right under the title.
  • The contents’ leader dots are set in the page numbers’ face and colour, and toc.leader has no colour of its own, so here they print in steel blue.

Credits

Text
  • Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818): the dedication, Letter I, a line of Letter IV (the frontispiece caption) and one of volume I, chapter VI (quoted in a code comment) · Mary Shelley · public domain
  • The unsigned Preface of the 1818 edition (by common attribution) · Percy Bysshe Shelley · public domain
  • Paradise Lost (1667), book X, lines 743–745: the epigraph of the 1818 title leaves · John Milton · public domain
Fonts
Fanwood Text (SIL OFL 1.1) · Playfair Display SC (SIL OFL 1.1) · Cinzel (SIL OFL 1.1)
PDF