How does the plan decide which head lands on which side?

By convention the book title sits on the recto page and the chapter title on the verso, so the reader sees where the book is on the right and where they are in it on the left. The planner applies that automatically from the page number, since odd pages are recto and even pages are verso.

Why suppress the head on a chapter opening?

Because the chapter title already dominates that page. Repeating it in the head at the top of the same page is redundant, and the convention in trade books is to drop the head and let the opening page carry its own space. Reference works often keep the head instead, which is why it is a setting rather than a fixed rule.

What does the signature figure tell me?

How many sheets the planned pages occupy at the chosen signature size, calculated as the page count divided by the signature size and rounded up. It matters because printers impose in signatures, so a book that runs one page past a boundary adds a whole sheet. Adjusting the plan or the extent by a few pages can avoid that.

Can heads alternate differently on the same spread?

They do alternate, and the planner shows it page by page: the verso head names the chapter and the recto head names the book. What the planner does not model is a spread where a chapter opens on the recto page, which leaves the verso head of that spread belonging to the previous chapter. Check that case against the chapter list.

Does the CSS actually place the heads?

In a paged-media renderer, yes. The generated block names a running head string, positions it with the top-left and top-right page margin boxes for left and right pages, places the page counter on the opposite side, and clears both on blank pages. It is a portable way of expressing the plan rather than a substitute for it.

Running Head Planner

Plan

Book title (recto head)Chapter start pages

Chapter opening pages

Page numbers

First page number

Pages in plan

Signature sizepages

Signature of 16 pages → 1 sheet(s) for this plan. Printers impose in signatures; a plan that spills one page past a signature boundary adds a whole sheet.

Page-by-page heads

Page	Side	Head content	Page number
1	recto	The Shape of Type	1 · right
2	verso	Chapter starting p.1 — short title	left · 2
3	recto	The Shape of Type	3 · right
4	verso	Chapter starting p.1 — short title	left · 4
5	recto	The Shape of Type	5 · right
6	verso	Chapter starting p.1 — short title	left · 6
7	recto	The Shape of Type	7 · right
8	verso	Chapter starting p.1 — short title	left · 8

CSS Paged Media equivalent

.running-head {
  position: running(head);
}
@page :left  { @top-left  { content: string(head); } @top-right { content: counter(page); } }
@page :right { @top-right { content: string(head); } @top-left  { content: counter(page); } }
@page :blank { @top-left { content: none; } @top-right { content: none; } }

You Might Also Need

Running Head Previewer

Preview running heads

Book Interior Layout Preview

Preview book interiors

Chapter Header Designer

Design chapter headers

Print Type Specification Sheet

Spec sheet for print

The running head planner plans the head content of a whole run of pages rather than previewing one. It answers the questions a book designer has to settle before typesetting: which pages carry no head at all, which head goes on which side, and where the page number sits relative to the head text.

What is Running Head Planner?

The running head planner takes a book title, a list of chapter opening pages and four settings, then returns a page-by-page plan of head content and folio placement, plus the CSS Paged Media equivalent.

The recto head is the book title, typed once, and the verso head is derived from the chapter list as the chapter that most recently started.
Chapter opening pages are typed as a comma-separated list of page numbers, so the head suppression falls on exactly the pages a chapter begins.
Opening pages can either suppress the head or keep it, which is the difference between a conventional trade book and a reference work.
Page numbers can sit on the outer edge, the inner edge, centred, or be omitted entirely, and the plan states the placement per page rather than as a rule.
A signature size from 4 to 64 pages is used for one calculation: how many sheets the planned pages will occupy, since a plan that spills one page past a signature boundary adds a whole sheet.

Odd pages become recto and even pages verso, and the plan applies that automatically, so the alternation between the book title and the chapter head falls on the right sides without being set by hand. Chapter openings are detected by comparing each page in the plan against the list, and the verso head names the chapter that started at or before that page, which is what makes a reader who opens the book in the middle able to tell where they are. The folio placement follows the same recto and verso alternation: on the outer edge it sits left on a verso page and right on a recto page, so the number always falls under the reader's thumb. The generated CSS Paged Media block writes those decisions as page rules for left, right and blank pages, using a named running head string and the page counter, so the plan can be carried into a paged-media renderer rather than only being read.

The plan covers a window of pages, from 4 to 32, rather than a whole book, so a long extent has to be checked in several passes.
Verso heads name the chapter position with a placeholder short title rather than a real per-chapter title, which has to be substituted by hand.
Only three head variants exist: the book title on recto pages, the chapter head on verso pages and the front matter head before the first chapter.
The signature calculation is a ceiling of pages divided by signature size, so imposition details and any allowance for plates are outside it.
Folio suppression on blank pages is written into the CSS rather than being visible in the plan table.

Use it before a book is typeset, since the head and folio scheme is expensive to change once pages exist, and again when a designer wants to know where the chapter openings fall in a signature. The signature note is the useful part of the page count: it turns a head plan into a production consequence. Where a single page's head layout needs judging rather than the sequence, the running head previewer renders the pages themselves, the book interior layout preview reports the margins the head sits in, and the chapter header designer settles what the chapter opening page does instead.

How to use Running Head Planner

Type the book title that will serve as the recto head, and list the chapter opening pages as a comma-separated sequence.
Choose whether chapter openings suppress the head or keep it, and where the page numbers sit relative to the head text.
Set the first page number, the number of pages in the plan and the signature size, then read the page-by-page table.
Check the sheet count in the signature note, then copy the CSS Paged Media block for the renderer you are using.

When to use Running Head Planner vs related tools

Reach for it when a book's running head scheme is being decided, when an existing book keeps confusing readers who open it in the middle, or when a chapter list needs checking against signature boundaries before imposition. It plans the sequence, which is the part a single-page preview cannot show. For the rendering of one page, the running head previewer shows the head against the body copy, the book interior layout preview supplies the margins it sits in, and the chapter header designer covers the page where the head is suppressed.

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