My reading of the Javadocs for both 1.4.2 and 1.3.1 has turned up some interesting questions. Since 1.3.1 (at least), java.awt.Font has defined constants for CENTER_BASELINE, HANGING_BASELINE and ROMAN_BASELINE. These correspond to the Central, Hanging and Alphabetic baselines of the Rec at 7.8.1 Fonts and Font Data, which includes:
<quote>
XSL assumes that the font tables will provide at least three font characteristics: an ascent, a descent and a set of baseline-tables.
</quote>
The Rec actually aligns ideographic text on the Ideographic baseline, but this seems to have a fixed relationship to the Central.
Does the baseline discussion in the Rec have any echo in FOP? Are baseline tables implemented?
Mind you, I don't yet know whether the baseline constants from Java are actually used anywhere.
Peter -- Peter B. West <http://www.powerup.com.au/~pbwest/resume.html>
