Abstract: A page composition method for composing a page from elements in pixelized form for bit-mapping or half-toning prior to printing including; (a) determining the positions of the elements on a printed page; (b) dividing the page into bands; (c) serially transferring pixel data values for sections of bands corresponding to the portions of respective elements in a band, seriatim to a buffer memory, wherein the data from the portion of one element in a band is completely read prior to reading data corresponding to the portion of a second element in the band; (d) writing the data to a buffer memory as it is read; and (e) transferring the data from the buffer memory when all the data corresponding to all portions of all elements in the band is written in the buffer memory.