Picking Your Style of XSL

• Table formatting objects create and control tables.

• List formatting objects create and control lists of all kinds.

• Links and Multi formatting objects handle — and style — links and multimedia components.

• Out-of-line formatting objects create and style floating areas and footnotes.

• Other formatting objects are catch-alls for the objects that don't fit in other categories.

Every formatting object has properties that can be applied to it. For example, the object that creates a table (fo:table) can take properties that specify how thick its borders are, what color they are, and so on. You can use properties to control just about every aspect of a particular object.

XSL-FO is intended to do more than just specify how XML documents should appear on-screen; it's also designed to make the content easier for computers to read aloud. The aural part of the XSL-FO specification focuses on how to make XML content accessible to everyone, including those who can't see the content.