Document Rules
Which rules need more than the page in view?
📚 Document ruleNeeds other pages of the same document; decided once and applied on every page.Read §4.1 in the RFC ↗
In detail
Almost every rule in this protocol is a page rule: it can be applied with only the page in view. A handful are document rules: applying them needs other pages of the same document. Every rule carries a 📄 or 📚 badge saying which it is — see Rule Status and Scope (§1.3).
| 📄 Page rule | 📚 Document rule | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence | this page alone | this page and others in the document |
| When it is decided | on each page | once, at or before the first page that forces it |
| What a later page does | decides again from its own print | follows the earlier decision |
Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.
The point, in a small example
Both source pages belong to one document. Preserve the heading depth, classify repeated margin bands consistently, and keep each printed folio with its footer. Separate folio extraction is not requested in this example. These pages are made up to isolate the rule.
Document structure continues across pages
Two consecutive interior pages are shown in order. The document title is on an earlier cover; sections use level 2 and subsections level 3. The running header is plain text on both pages. The printed folios stay in their footer bands; they are not physical sheet indices.
Source page
Expected output
FIELD GUIDE
## 2 Maintenance
### 2.1 Inspection
Inspect daily.
Revision A · Page 4
---
FIELD GUIDE
### 2.2 Cleaning
Clean weekly.
Revision A · Page 5The document rules
- Document Type (§4.4) — slide deck or paged document, and which sheet is the cover
- Recurring Page Furniture (§4.6) — a band that is furniture anywhere is furniture everywhere
- Heading Depth Across Pages (§4.5) — a new page does not restart the hierarchy
- Choices Made Once Per Document (§4.2) — every ⚖️ rendering is held for the whole document
- Cross-Page Tables (§4.3) — fragments stay on their pages, with continuation flags set across each break
Precedence
The document decisions come first: the document type and the cover gate the Title class and the heading depth on every page, and the furniture decision gates which margin bands are headers and footers. Page rules are then applied within those decisions, and each ⚖️ choice, once made, holds for the rest of the document.
A single page
A document rule cannot be settled from a single page. Each document rule states the conforming behaviour for that case, and the pattern is always the same: the output applies what the page itself supports and never assumes what other pages print.