DocumentationDesigning the book
Heads and folios
What runs along the top and bottom of every page: running heads, page numbers, where the numbering restarts, and which pages carry neither.
Two bands: a running head along the top, and a folio — the page number — usually at the bottom.
Running head
The band along the top. It carries the book’s title, the chapter’s title, the author, or nothing, and it can differ between left and right pages.
The convention in a novel is the book’s title on the left-hand page and the chapter’s on the right, so a reader opening the book anywhere knows both.
Page numbers
| Control | Options |
|---|---|
| Page numbers | On / off |
| Position | Any of six: foot or head, centred, outside or inside |
| Numbering restarts | Never · at the body · at every part · at every chapter |
| Number on chapter openings | On / off |
Position is set on a diagram of a page rather than from a list, because six of the seven options
are a corner of a page and picking a corner is easier than reading footer-outside.
Number on chapter openings decides only whether the number is printed there. The count keeps running either way, so switching it off does not renumber the book.
What none of this affects
Running heads and page numbers are printed furniture. An EPUB has neither — a reading system draws its own progress indicator, and there are no pages to number. See what every format carries.