When it comes to web design, it’s crucial to understand how to manage and control the page layout to ensure a seamless browsing experience for users. One of the techniques used to achieve this is by using page breaks. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the concept of page breaks and learn how to achieve them using HTML and CSS.
What is a Page Break?
A page break is a separator that defines the end of a page, allowing the content following it to begin on a new page. While page breaks are commonly used in word processors and PDF documents, they can also be helpful when printing webpages or converting them into PDF format.
Implementing Page Breaks in HTML
To implement page breaks in HTML, we’ll use CSS properties such as page-break-before, page-break-after, and break-inside. These properties allow us to control the page breaks before, after, or inside an element, respectively.
1. Page Break Before
The page-break-before property forces a page break before the specified element. For example, if you want to force a page break before a specific heading or paragraph, you can apply the following CSS rule:
h2 {
page-break-before: always;
}
This code will ensure that a page break occurs before every <h2> element.
2. Page Break After
Similarly, the page-break-after property forces a page break after the specified element. For instance, if you want to force a page break after a specific heading or paragraph, use the following CSS rule:
h2 {
page-break-after: always;
}
This will force a page break after every <h2> element.
3. Break Inside
The break-inside property is used to prevent page breaks inside an element, which can come in handy when dealing with content that needs to stay together, such as a table or a list. To prevent page breaks inside an element, use the following CSS rule:
table {
break-inside: avoid;
}
This code will prevent page breaks from occurring inside any <table> elements on the page.
Conclusion
Understanding and implementing page breaks in HTML can greatly improve the print and PDF conversion experience of your webpages. By using the page-break-before, page-break-after, and break-inside CSS properties, you can control where page breaks occur and enhance the overall presentation of your content.