Paged.js example

[kbvernon]

Description

I don't know if this is helpful, but while people are waiting for Quarto support for Paged.js, I put together this example showing how to do it manually:

Site: kbvernon.github.io/quarto-pagedjs/
Repo: https://github.com/kbvernon/quarto-pagedjs

I'm probably doing something wrong, but it works for my needs. Have to generate a bunch of pre-filled forms soon, and, well, I hate LaTeX. I did some experiments with Typst, and I can confirm that it's way way way better than LaTeX (that's not saying much), but I already know HTML/CSS, so getting Paged.js working was way less effort.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling. As always, thanks for being awesome!

[jimjam-slam]

I'm 100% with you, @kbvernon! There's obviously still work to do to make Paged PDFs a first-class Quarto citizen, but you can get pretty far already with some basic styles.

If you want to compare notes, here's some of what I did to run off collections of Quarto docs as a PDF via Paged.js (or weasyprint, whch I tried first—but they both work pretty similarly): #2538 (reply in thread)

I'll be sure to check out the source on yours too!

[kbvernon]

Yeah, I'll have to experiment with it. First need to get pandoc to find pagedjs-cli.cmd...

But, anyway, thanks for your help!

[jimjam-slam]

Are you trying to run pandoc directly? Generally I found that if pagedjs-cli was on the path, quarto render worked fine!

Happy to help 😊

[kbvernon]

Yeah, I added pagedjs-cli.cmd to the path, but pandoc still can't find it. Trying to specify the full path in pdf-engine: ... doesn't work, either. Looks like there's an issue with pandoc + pagedjs on Windows machines: jgm/pandoc#8061.

[jimjam-slam]

Mmm, that's frustrating. I'm on a Mac, so I hadn't noticed. If you're feeling gusty, you could run a GitHub Actions workflow to render it on a Linux machine!

[kbvernon]

Hm... your approach using pdf-engine: pagedjs-cli appears to be working for me now. I think the fix might have been as simple as restarting my machine after adding to the path on Windows. I guess I was looking for a bug somewhere that wasn't just user error...

Scratch that. Still very buggy on Windows.

[Bosmeneer]

Hi @kbvernon
I'm trying to use your code, outputting HTML works. But PDF does not. What should I change in the qmd file to also output a PDF file when running it?

Many thanks

[mcanouil]

LaTeX does not support HTML/CSS and there is roughly zero chance it ever will.

[kbvernon]

Thanks, I understand that. I guess my question was just really unclear. I was basically asking if there is now support for paged.js or similar, but I realize now even that was kind of a stupid question in this context...

[mcanouil]

Did you try Typst? (Rather than pdf/LaTeX)
It offers many things such as support for CSS in the upcoming Quarto release or the one after.

In order to be clear, Paged.js does not produce PDF. It produces a paged HTML that a user can print to a PDF (or directly to paper) using the "print" feature of any browser.

(I might at some point make a Quarto extension for Paged.js)

[kbvernon]

Typst/CSS sounds awesome! Of course, HTML/CSS is still preferable since the population of people who speak HTML is orders of magnitude larger than Typst (a dangerous argument for someone who lives and breathes R), but anyway having that Typst option would still be great.

If you have plans to build a Paged.js extension, that would also be amazing. I would just like to have a format: paged or similar that allows you to render a qmd and then the process of compiling to HTML and printing to PDF is all done in one go (basically, {pagedown}). So, if there's any way I can help with that, just let me know!

[mcanouil]

having that Typst option would still be great.

Would? It is there since the release of Quarto 1.4

If you have plans to build a Paged.js extension, that would also be amazing. I would just like to have a format: paged or similar that allows you to render a qmd and then the process of compiling to HTML and printing to PDF is all done in one go (basically, {pagedown}). So, if there's any way I can help with that, just let me know!

Major constraint is time unfortunately.