A method for converting a semantic markup representation of a document into a physical markup representation of the document calculates a logical minimum width equal to the minimum width required to display all screen objects within the document at their normal size, creates a physical markup representation of the document, the physical markup representation having a width at least as wide as the logical minimum width, and conforms the physical markup representation to a target size, including a target width by scaling the width of the physical markup representation by a scaling factor derived from the ratio of an element of the target size to the logical minimum width.