in Design
Running heads and folios
Page numbers and running heads are the book’s navigation system. Where they go, what they say, and when to leave them off.
Folios are page numbers. Running heads are the short lines of text, usually at the top of the page, that repeat the title of the book, the author’s name or the current chapter. Together they help a reader find a place, and when they are well designed they are consulted without being noticed.
Numbering
In a book, odd page numbers fall on right-hand pages, called rectos, and even numbers on left-hand pages, called versos. Page one is always a recto.
Traditionally, the preliminary pages, or front matter, are numbered in lowercase roman numerals, and the main text begins again at arabic 1. This allows the preliminaries to be finished or changed late without renumbering the text, which was important when changes were expensive and still matters when an index refers to page numbers. Many novels now simply number the whole book in arabic numerals from the first page. Either approach is acceptable if it is consistent.
Every page counts in the numbering, including blank pages and pages where the number is not printed. Folios are omitted on blank pages, on pages carrying only an illustration or a part title, and on many front matter pages. On chapter openings they are either omitted or printed at the foot as a drop folio.
Where folios go
Folios can sit at the head or the foot, and at the outer corner or the centre. Outer placement is the easiest to find when thumbing through; centred placement is quieter and more symmetrical. When running heads are used, the folio is often placed on the same line as the running head, at the outer edge.
The folio should be set in the text face or a close relative of it, usually at or near text size. Old-style figures sit well with lowercase running heads; lining figures sit better with capitals or small caps. It needs enough space from the text block that it reads as separate from the text, but not so much that it drifts away from the page.
What running heads say
The common arrangement in fiction is the author’s name on the verso and the book title on the recto, or the book title on the verso and the chapter title on the recto. Many novels, particularly those without chapter titles, omit running heads altogether and carry only folios. That is a perfectly respectable choice, and it gives the page a cleaner look.
In non-fiction, running heads have more work to do. A reference book or a long history is used for finding things, and the running heads should help. Chapter titles on the verso and section titles on the recto is a typical pattern. In the notes at the back of a book, running heads can usefully indicate which pages of the text the notes refer to, so a reader can find the right note quickly.
Long titles need shortening for running heads. The short form should be agreed with the author and editor, not improvised by the typesetter.
Style and restraint
Running heads are usually set smaller than the text, often in small caps with a little extra letter spacing, or in italic. They should be clearly subordinate to the text and should sit at a fixed distance from it, aligned to the grid.
Running heads are omitted on chapter openings, on part titles, on blank pages and usually on the front matter. The logic is simple: they are there to orient the reader within a run of text, and where there is no run of text to orient within, they have nothing to do.
Good navigation is the kind a reader only notices when it is missing.