I’m trying to build a feature that works like document editors where content gets automatically divided into separate pages when there’s too much data to fit on one screen.
When you have a large amount of text or content, these editors automatically create page breaks and split everything into multiple pages that would look good when printed. I want to recreate this same behavior in my web application.
In my case, the content won’t come from user input but will be pulled from a database. I need to figure out how to take this database content and automatically break it up into page-sized chunks that display nicely.
What’s the best approach to implement this kind of automatic page splitting functionality? Are there any specific CSS techniques or JavaScript libraries that can help with measuring content height and creating these page breaks?
The tricky part is measuring content height before it renders. I ran into this exact issue building an invoice report generator. Here’s what worked for me: use CSS @media print rules with JavaScript’s offsetHeight to calculate page dimensions. Start by setting your page height limits - usually 11 inches minus margins for letter size. Then build a function that measures content as you add it to a container. When the height hits your page limit, insert a break. The trick that saved me tons of time? Use CSS’s page-break-before and page-break-after with a hidden div that matches your actual content styling. Temporarily add content to the hidden container, measure it, then decide if you need a page break before adding it to the visible version. For database content, also consider pagination at the data level. Processing everything client-side gets sluggish with large datasets.
I’ve done something similar for database reports. Best approach I found was using a hidden DOM element with the same styling as your target container. Load your content bit by bit and measure each piece before adding it to the visible page. When it hits your page height limit (minus headers, footers, margins), break to a new page. For dynamic content like yours, chunk the data server-side first - saves you performance headaches. Then use getBoundingClientRect() for precise measurements. CSS break-inside: avoid helps keep related stuff together, but you’ll still need JavaScript for the actual splitting. One thing that bit me: font rendering differs between browsers and messes with measurements. Test on all your target platforms.
honestly, the easiest approach i’ve found is using css page-break-inside: avoid on your content blocks. set a max-height container and let it overflow to the next page naturally. there are js libraries like jspdf that handle this automatically, but they’re overkill for simple text splitting.