[texhax] page number on the first page of the index

John Culleton john at wexfordpress.com
Tue Sep 8 16:14:26 CEST 2009


On Tuesday 08 September 2009 08:24:38 Uwe Lück wrote:
> At 01:52 07.09.09, Pierre MacKay wrote:
> >On 09/06/2009 01:09 PM, Philip TAYLOR wrote:
> >>I know that this doesn't answer your question (so
> >>I apologise in advance), but why would you want to
> >>suppress the printing of the page number on the
> >>first page of the index ?  If you do so, how can
> >>the index meaningfully appear in the table of
> >>contents ?
> >
> >The outright omission of the page number on the first page of 
every
> >chapter of a book or of each article in a journal is very often 
requested
> >by the presses I work with.  It is more common in journals, 
often owing to
> >the depth of a first-page copyright notice.  The page number  
can still be
> >given in the table of contents, and it does not seem to bother 
readers
> >even when the first page iof an article is a recto and the 
preceding verso
> >is absolutely blank.  I don't see any reason for suggesting that 
the
> >practice can be carried on for indices and appendices, 
although I confess
> >that I can't find any specific instances on my bookshelf.
>
> Finding books on bookshelves with missing folio on starting 
pages of
> chapters is not so difficult. E.g., an old LaTeX Companion of this 
kind is
> lying near me. Hey, even its Index ...!
>
> After looking up the page number in the TOC, a reader needs 
page numbers to
> see whether to turn forwards or backwards. When the starting 
page of a
> chapter or index is found, the title serves for confirming that the 
reader
> found what she looked for. Some personality disorder may be 
needed for
> still looking for the folio, wondering "Is this really the same 
index I was
> looking for?"
>
> Cheers,
>
>      Uwe L.


I recently read a novel where the publisher only put running heads 
and page numbers on every other page. I think they were the 
rectos but not sure now.  

Possibly it was a mistake. Or as we used to say, it's not a bug---  
it's a feature.
-- 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html


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