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

[Uwe Lück]

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.