Who the document is between / Attendee and witness list
A list of people present, with roles and space to sign
Names, roles and organisations of the people present at a meeting, inspection or signing, sometimes with a signature space each.
Why this block is harder than it looks
The list is variable in length, the names and roles are of wildly different lengths, and where a signature is needed each entry becomes a small signature block, which multiplies the signature block's page-break problem by the number of people. There is also an apologies problem specific to minutes: people who were invited and absent belong on the record, and putting them in the same list as attendees with a marker is misread by half of readers.
The decisions that make it work
Reasons rather than a description of the code. Each of these is a choice that has a wrong answer, and the wrong answer is usually the default.
- Use a table with fixed column widths rather than a list, so the roles line up and the list reads as a record rather than as prose.
- Separate attendees from apologies into two labelled blocks. A single list with a marker column will be misread by somebody, and on minutes that matters.
- Where signatures are needed, give each row a signing cell at least 30mm wide and 10mm tall, and let the table break between rows rather than keeping it whole.
- Print the organisation as a separate column, not appended to the role, so a list spanning several organisations can be grouped by eye.
- Order deliberately, by organisation or by role, and say which. Alphabetical order on a signing list is only correct if that is the order people will sign in.
- Repeat the header on continuation pages, since an attendee list on a long inspection can run to two pages.
The fragment
Markup and the CSS it needs, and nothing else. It expects a document that already has a page rule and a base stylesheet, so paste it into one rather than opening it on its own.
<table class="attendees">
<thead>
<tr><th>Name</th><th>Role</th><th>Organisation</th><th class="sig">Signature</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>E. Wynne</td><td>Site manager</td><td>Wynne and Hall Ltd</td><td class="sig"></td></tr>
<tr><td>R. Hall</td><td>Inspector</td><td>Wynne and Hall Ltd</td><td class="sig"></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="apologies"><strong>Apologies:</strong> M. Ferris (Fenwick Group plc).</p>
<style>
.attendees { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 9pt; table-layout: fixed; }
.attendees thead { display: table-header-group; }
.attendees tr { break-inside: avoid; }
.attendees th, .attendees td {
padding: 4pt;
text-align: left;
vertical-align: bottom;
border-bottom: 0.4pt solid #ddd;
}
.attendees .sig {
width: 32%;
height: 10mm; /* room to sign, per row */
border-bottom: 0.75pt solid currentColor;
}
.apologies { margin-top: 8pt; font-size: 9pt; }
</style>What breaks when it is built the obvious way
Listing apologies inside the attendee table with a marker in a column. The table's heading says who was present, and a row inside it says the opposite, so anyone skimming records the wrong thing. A separate line under the table is unambiguous and shorter.
How to prove it survived pagination
Print a list of twelve people and have three of them sign consecutive rows. If a signature crosses into the row above or below, the row height is too small. Then confirm the header repeated on the second page.
Where it sits in a finished document
This page is one block. The document it belongs to has a page rule, a base stylesheet, a header and everything else around it, and repeating all of that here would make thirty pages that say the same thing. The meeting minutes template is a complete file with this block already in it, so take that and change the fragment rather than assembling one from parts. The property doing most of the work here is covered on its own page, with the support caveats that belong there rather than here.
Frequently asked
Will this fragment work on its own?
Not as a whole document. It has no page rule, no margins and no base type, because those belong to the document rather than to the block, and duplicating them in every fragment would mean thirty copies to keep in step. Paste it into a template that already has them.
Why does it look right in a browser and wrong in the PDF?
Because a browser window is one continuous surface and a document is a stack of fixed rectangles. Nothing in a scrolling view exercises a page boundary, so every break rule in the fragment is inert until the content is paginated. Render the real thing with enough content to cross two or three boundaries, then look.
Do I need a special option on the render request for this?
No. Everything on this page is CSS and markup, which is your side of the boundary. What the render has to give you is a real page size with real margins, and after that the layout is decided by the stylesheet.
Other parts of a document
The blocks that sit next to this one, and one from the next group along so you are not sealed inside a single kind of problem.
A site block with an address, a reference and access notes
Where work is to happen, which is often not a postal address and usually needs a reference, a grid position and a note about getting in.
An address block with no blank lines where a field was empty
Name, street, locality, postcode and country, set as a block, where any of the middle lines may be absent for a given record and none of the gaps should show.
Bill-to and ship-to blocks side by side that stay level
Two address blocks presented as a pair, where one is who pays and the other is where it goes, and the pair has to stay legible when the two are the same and when they are wildly different lengths.
A payment history that shows what was paid against what
A list of payments received, each matched to the invoices it settled, printed so a customer can reconcile their own records against yours.
Meeting minutes, as a complete file
The whole document with this block already in place, ready to copy and change.
thead in paged output
The property carrying the weight here, with its real support status.
Every part of a document
The full list, grouped by the kind of problem the block poses.
Paste the fragment into the playground inside a page rule and see what it does at a real page size. That is the only way any of this gets confirmed.