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PAGE HEADERS, FOOTERS, AND PAGINATION

Introduction

 Headers and footers, as defined in the section Mom's Document Processing Terms, are those parts of a document that contain information about the document itself which appear in the margins either above or below running text. They are, in all respects but two, identical. The differences are:

  1. headers appear in the margin above running text while footers appear in the margin beneath running text;
  2. the (optional) rule that separates headers from running text appears below the header while the (optional) rule that separates footers from running text appears above the footer.

Because headers and footers are virtually identical, this documentation addresses itself only to headers. In all cases, unless otherwise noted, descriptions of headers describe footers as well.

Furthermore, any control macro that begins with HEADER_ may be used to control footers, simply by replacing HEADER_ with FOOTER_.

Author's note: Left to their own devices (i.e. if you're happy with the way mom does things by default), headers are something you never have to worry about. You can skip reading this section entirely. But if you want to change them, be advised that headers have more macros to control their appearance than any other document element. The text of this documentation becomes correspondingly dense at this point.

NOTE: While the single page number that mom generates in either the top or bottom margin above or below running text is technically a kind of header/footer, mom and this documentation treat it as a separate page element.

General description of headers/footers

Headers comprise three distinct parts: a left part, a centre part, and a right part. Each part contains text (a "string") that identifies some aspect of the document as a whole.

The left part ("header left") lines up with the document's left margin. The centre part ("header centre") is centred on the document's line length. The right part ("header right") lines up with the document's right margin. Not all parts need contain a string, and if you don't want headers at all, you can turn them off completely.

A note to groff experts: Although mom's headers resemble the three-part titles generated by .tl, they're in no way related to it, nor based upon it. .tl is not used at all in mom.

Normally, mom fills headers with strings appropriate to the document type selected with DOCTYPE. You can, however, supply whatever strings you like -- including page numbers -- to go in any part of headers. What's more, you can set the family, font, size and capitalization style (caps or caps/lower-case) for each header part individually.

By default, mom prints a horizontal rule beneath headers to separate them visually from running text. In the case of footers, the rule is above running text. You can increase or decrease the space between the header and the rule if you like (with HEADER_RULE_GAP), or remove it completely.

Default specs for headers/footers

Mom makes small type adjustments to each part of the header (left, centre, right) to achieve an aesthetically pleasing result. The defaults are listed below. (The strings mom puts by default in each part are explained in DOCTYPE.)

NOTE: Except for capitalization (all caps or caps/lower-case), these defaults apply only to PRINTSTYLE TYPESET. 

TYPE SPEC    HEADER LEFT         HEADER CENTER       HEADER RIGHT
---------    -----------         -------------       ------------
Family       document default    document default    document default
Font         roman               italic              roman
Colour       (black)             (black)             (black)
All caps     no                  no                  yes
Size*        -.5 (points)        -.5 (points)        -2 (points)
            (-2 if all caps)    (-2 if all caps)    (-.5 if not all caps)

*Relative to the point size of type in paragraphs
You can, of course, change any of the defaults using the appropriate control macros. And should you wish to design headers from the ground up, mom has a special macro, HEADER_PLAIN, that removes all type adjustments to headers. The straightforward type specs for paragraphs are used instead, providing a simple reference point for any alterations you want to make to the family, font, size and capitalization style of any header part.

Vertical placement and spacing of headers/footers

As explained in the section on typesetting macros in document processing, the top and bottom margins of a mom document are the vertical start and end positions of running text, not the vertical positions of headers or footers, which, by definition, appear in the margins above (or below) running text.

The vertical placement of headers is controlled by the macro HEADER_MARGIN, which establishes the baseline position of headers relative to the top edge of the page. The header rule, whose position is relative to the header itself, is controlled by a separate macro. FOOTER_MARGIN establishes the baseline position of footers relative to the bottom edge of the page.

HEADER_GAP establishes the distance between headers and the start of running text (effectively making HEADER_MARGIN + HEADER_GAP the top margin of running text unless you give mom a literal top margin (with T_MARGIN), in which case she ignores HEADER_GAP and starts running text at whatever top margin you gave. FOOTER_GAP and B_MARGIN work similarly, except they determine where running text ends on the page. (See FOOTER MARGIN AND BOTTOM MARGIN -- VERY IMPORTANT! for a warning about possible conflicts between the footer margin and the bottom margin.)

Confused? Mom apologizes. It's really quite simple. By default, mom sets headers 4-1/2 picas down from the top of the page and starts running text 3 picas (the HEADER_GAP) beneath that, which means the effective top margin of running text is 7-1/2 picas (visually approx. 1 inch). If you give mom a literal top margin (with T_MARGIN), she ignores the HEADER_GAP and starts running text at whatever top margin you gave.

Footers are treated the same way, the only difference being the default distances. Mom sets footers 3 picas up from the bottom of the page, and interrupts the processing of running text 3 picas (the FOOTER_GAP) above that (again, visually approx. 1 inch). If you give mom a literal bottom margin (with B_MARGIN), she ignores the FOOTER_GAP and interrupts the processing of running text at whatever bottom margin you gave.

If mom is paginating your document (she does, by default, at the bottom of each page), the vertical spacing and placement of page numbers, whether at the top or the bottom of the page, is managed exactly as if the page numbers were headers (or footers), and are controlled by the same macros. See Pagination control.

Managing headers/footers

The following are the basic macros for turning headers or footers on or off. They should be invoked prior to START.

By default, mom prints page headers. If you turn them off, she will begin running text on each page with a default top margin of 6 picas unless you have requested a different top margin (with T_MARGIN) prior to START.

Please note that headers and footers are mutually exclusive. If headers are on, footers (but NOT bottom-of-page numbering) are automatically turned off. Equally, if footers are on, headers (but NOT top-of-page numbering) are automatically turned off. Thus, if you'd prefer footers in a document, you need only invoke FOOTERS; there's no need to turn headers off first.

Macro: HEADERS toggle

Page headers are on by default. If you don't want them, turn them off by invoking HEADERS with any argument (OFF, QUIT, END, X...), e.g. 

	.HEADERS OFF

NOTE: HEADERS automatically disables footers (you can't have both), but not the page numbers that normally appear at the bottom of the page.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: If HEADERS are OFF, mom's normal top margin for running text (7.5 picas) changes to 6 picas (visually approx. 1 inch). This does NOT apply to the situation where footers have been explicitly turned on (with FOOTERS). Explicitly invoking footers moves page numbering to the top of the page, where its placement and spacing are the same as for headers. (I.e. the top margin of running text remains 7.5 picas.)

Macro: FOOTERS toggle

Page footers are off by default. If you want them instead of headers (you can't have both), turn them on by invoking FOOTERS without an argument, e.g. 

	.FOOTERS

FOOTERS automatically disables headers, and mom shifts the placement of page numbers from their normal position at page bottom to the top of the page.

NOTE: By default, when footers are on, mom does not print a page number on the first page of a document, nor on first pages after COLLATE. If you don't want this behaviour, you can change it with PAGENUM_ON_FIRST_PAGE.

Macro: FOOTER_ON_FIRST_PAGE toggle

If you invoke FOOTERS, mom, by default, does not print a footer on the first page of the document. (The docheader on page 1 makes it redundant.) However, should you wish a footer on page 1, invoke FOOTER_ON_FIRST_PAGE without any argument.

User-defined, single string recto/verso headers/footers

Introduction

 Sometimes, you'll find you can't get mom's handling of 3-part headers or footers to do exactly what you want in the order you want. This is most likely happen when you want the information contained in the headers/footers split over two pages, as is often the case with recto/verso documents.

Say, for example, you want recto page headers to contain a document's author, centred, and verso page headers to contain the document's title, also centred, like this: 

	+------------------------+   +------------------------+     
	|         Author         |   |         Title          |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	+------------------------+   +------------------------+
With mom's standard 3-part headers, this isn't possible, even when RECTO_VERSO is enabled. RECTO_VERSO switches the left and right parts of headers on alternate pages, but the centre part remains unchanged.

Any time you need distinctly different headers on alternate pages, mom has macros that let you manually design and determine what goes into headers on recto pages, and what goes into headers on verso pages. The macros are HEADER_RECTO and HEADER_VERSO. Both allow you to state whether the header is flush left, centred, or flush right, and both take a single string argument with which, by combining text and inline escapes, you can make the headers come out just about any way you want. Use of the \*[PAGE#] escape is permitted in the string argument (see Including the page number in header-left, -centre or -right), and as an added bonus, mom provides a special mechanism whereby it's possible to "pad" the string as well.

Macro: HEADER_RECTO LEFT | CENTER | RIGHT "<header recto string>"
Macro: HEADER_VERSO LEFT | CENTER | RIGHT "<header verso string>"

HEADER_RECTO and HEADER_VERSO behave identically, hence all references to HEADER_RECTO in this section also refer to HEADER_VERSO. Furthermore, FOOTER_ can be used instead of HEADER_ to set up recto/verso footers.

The first argument to HEADER_RECTO is the direction in which you want the header quadded. L, C and R may be used in place of LEFT, CENTER and RIGHT. The second argument is a string, surrounded by double-quotes, containing what you want in the header. HEADER_RECTO disables mom's normal 3-part headers, therefore anything you want in the headers must be entered by hand in the string, including colours (via the inline escape \*[<colorname>]).

By default, HEADER_RECTO is set at the same size, and in the same family and font, as paragraph text. The control macros HEADER_FAMILY and HEADER_SIZE may be used to change the default family and size. Changes to the font(s) within the string must be accomplished with the inline escapes \*[ROM], \*[IT], \*[BD], \*[BDI] and \*[PREV] (see Changing fonts). Additional refinements to the style of the header-recto string, including horizontal spacing and/or positioning, can also be made with inline escapes.

To include the current page number in the string, use the \*[PAGE#] inline.

*Padding the HEADER_RECTO/HEADER_VERSO string

You can "pad" the header-recto string, a convenience you'll appreciate in circumstances such as the following. 

	           VERSO                       RECTO 
	+------------------------+   +------------------------+     
	| Author          Page#  |   | Page#            Title |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	|                        |   |                        |     
	+------------------------+   +------------------------+
To pad the string argument passed to HEADER_RECTO, begin and end the string (inside the double-quotes) with the caret character (^). Enter the pound sign (#) at any point in the string where you want an equalized amount of whitespace inserted. (If you're unsure what padding is, see Insert space into lines.) Note that if you're padding the string, it doesn't matter what quad direction you give HEADER_RECTO since padding, by its nature, justifies text to the left and right margins.

The situation depicted above is accomplished like this: 

	.HEADER_RECTO LEFT "^\*[PAGE#]#Title^"
	.HEADER_VERSO LEFT "^Author#\*[PAGE#]^"
Note that mom does not interpret the # in \*[PAGE#] as a padding marker (i.e. as a place to insert whitespace).

Also, notice that the argument LEFT is used in both cases. When padding a header, it doesn't matter whether you use LEFT, CENTER or RIGHT as the argument.

Furthermore, should you need a user-defined header of the sort provided by HEADER_RECTO and HEADER_VERSO but aren't actually printing recto/verso, you can use HEADER_RECTO to design the header that appears at the top of every page.

IMPORTANT: The PAD_MARKER macro, which changes the default pad marker (#) used by PAD, has no effect on the pad marker used in the HEADER_RECTO string. If you absolutely must have a literal pound sign in your HEADER_RECTO string, use the escape sequence for the pound sign (\[sh]) where you want the pound sign to go.

Control macros for headers/footers

 Virtually every part of headers (see the paragraph on how "headers" means "footers" in the introduction to headers/footers) can be designed to your own specifications.

Header/footer control macros

Header/footer strings

Macro: HEADER_LEFT "<text of header left>" | #
Macro: HEADER_CENTER "<text of header centre>" | #
Macro: HEADER_RIGHT "<text of header right>" | #

To change the text (the "string") of the left, centre, or right part of headers, invoke the appropriate macro above with the string you want. For example, mom, by default, prints the document's author in the header-left position. If your document has, say, two authors, and you want both their names to appear header-left, change HEADER_LEFT like this: 

	.HEADER_LEFT "R. Stallman, E. Raymond"
Because the arguments to HEADER_LEFT, _CENTER, and _RIGHT are string arguments, they must be enclosed in double-quotes.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change the strings in footers.

*Padding the header/footer centre string

Macro: HEADER_CENTER_PAD LEFT | RIGHT <amount of space by which to pad centre string left or right>
*Requires a unit of measure

By default, mom centres the header centre string literally on the line length in effect for page headers. In some cases, notably when the header left or header right strings are particularly long, the effect isn't pretty. The offendingly long header left or right crowds, or even overprints, the header centre. That's where HEADER_CENTER_PAD comes in. With a bit of experimentation (yes, you have to preview the document), you can use HEADER_CENTER_PAD to move the header centre string left or right until it looks acceptably centred between the two other strings.

For example, say your document is an outline for a novel called "By the Shores of Lake Attica." You've told mom you want

    DOCTYPE NAMED "Outline"

but when you preview your work, you see that "Outline", in the centre of the page header, is uncomfortably close to the title, which is to the right of it. By invoking 

	.HEADER_CENTER_PAD RIGHT 3P
you can scoot the word "Outline" over three picas to the left (the padding's added to the right of the string) so that your head looks nicely spaced out. Invoking HEADER_CENTER_PAD with the LEFT argument obviously puts the padding on the left side of the string.

Most reassuring of all is that if you use HEADER_CENTER_PAD conjunction with RECTO_VERSO, mom will pad the centre string appropriately left OR right, depending on which page you're on, without you having to tell her to do so.

Using mom's "reserved" strings in header/footer definitions

As pointed out in the author's note in the introduction to headers/footers, headers and footers are something you don't normally have to worry much about. Mom usually knows what to do.

However, situations do arise where you need to manipulate what goes in the header/footer strings, setting and resetting them as you go along. A case where you might want to do this would be if you want to output endnotes at the end of each document in a series of collated documents, and you want the word "Endnotes" to go in the header centre position of the endnotes, but want, say, the TITLE to go back into the centre position for the next output document.

In scenarios like the above, mom has a number of "reserved" strings that you can plug into the HEADER_LEFT, _CENTER and _RIGHT macros. They are: 

	\*[$TITLE]          -- the argument passed to .TITLE
	\*[$DOCTITLE]       -- the argument passed to .DOCTITLE
	\*[$AUTHOR_1]       -- the first argument passed to .AUTHOR
	\*[$CHAPTER_STRING] -- the argument passed to .CHAPTER_STRING,
	                       if invoked, otherwise, "Chapter"
	\*[$CHAPTER]        -- the argument (typically a number) passed
	                       to .CHAPTER
	\*[$CHAPTER_TITLE]  -- the argument passed to .CHAPTER_TITLE
Returning to the scenario above, first, you'd define a centre string for the endnotes page: 

	.HEADER_CENTER "Endnotes"
Then, you'd output the endnotes: 

	.ENDNOTES
Then, you'd prepare mom for the next document: 

	.COLLATE
	.TITLE "New Doc Title"
	.AUTHOR "Josephine Blough"
Then, you'd redefine the header centre string using the reserved string \*[$TITLE], like this: 

	.HEADER_CENTER "\*[$TITLE]"
And last, you'd do: 

	.START
Voilą! Any argument you pass to TITLE from here on in (say, for subsequent documents) is back in the header centre position. Here's the whole routine again: 

	.HEADER_CENTER "Endnotes"
	.ENDNOTES
	.COLLATE
	.TITLE         "New Doc Title"
	.AUTHOR        "Josephine Blough"
	.HEADER_CENTER "\*[$TITLE]"
	.START
If need be, you can concatenate the strings, as in the following example. 

	.HEADER_CENTER "\*[$CHAPTER_STRING] \*[$CHAPTER]"
which, assuming a .CHAPTER_STRING of "Chapter" and a .CHAPTER of "2", would put "Chapter 2" in the header centre position.

*Replacing header-left, -CENTER or -right with the page number

If you would like to have the current page number to appear header-left, -center, or -right instead of a text string, invoke the appropriate macro, above, with the single argument # (the "number" or "pound" sign). Do NOT use double-quotes. For example, 

	.HEADER_CENTER #
will print the current page number in the CENTER part of headers.

*Including the page number in header-left, -CENTER or -right

If you would like to include the current page number in the string you pass to HEADER_LEFT, _CENTER, or _RIGHT, use the special inline escape \*[PAGE#] in the string argument.

For example, say you have a document that's ten pages long, and you want header-right to say "page <whichever> of 10", invoke HEADER_RIGHT as follows: 

	.HEADER_RIGHT "page \*[PAGE#] of 10"
Header-right of page two will read "page 2 of 10", header-right of page three will read "page 3 of 10", and so on.

Header/footer style

Global changes

The following macros allow you to make changes that affect all parts of the header at once.

Please note that HEADER_FAMILY and HEADER_FONT have no effect on PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE.

Macro: HEADER_FAMILY <family>

By default, mom uses the default document family for headers. If you would like her to use another family in headers, invoke HEADER_FAMILY with the identifier for the family you want. The argument is the same as for the typesetting macro FAMILY.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change the footer family.

Macro: HEADER_SIZE <+|-number of points>
*Argument is relative to the point size of type in paragraphs

By default, mom makes small adjustments to the size of each part of a header to achieve an aesthetically pleasing result. If you'd like her to continue to do so, but would like the overall appearance of headers to be a little smaller or a little larger, invoke HEADER_SIZE with + or - the number of points (fractions allowed) by which you want her to in/decrease the size of headers. For example, 

	.HEADER_SIZE +.75
increases the size of every part of a header by 3/4 of a point while respecting mom's own little size changes.

See Arguments to the control macros for an explanation of how control macros ending in _SIZE work.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change the footer size.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Normally, macros that control headers have no effect on PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE. HEADER_SIZE is an exception. While all parts of a header in PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE are always the same size, you can use HEADER_SIZE with PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE to reduce the header's overall point size. You'll most likely require this when the COPYSTYLE is DRAFT, since portions of the header may overprint if, say, the title of your document is very long.

Macro: HEADER_PLAIN

By default, mom makes adjustments to the font, size, and capitalization style of each part of headers to achieve an aesthetically pleasing look. Should you wish to design your own headers from the ground up without worrying how changes to the various elements of header style interact with mom's defaults, invoke HEADER_PLAIN by itself, with no argument. Mom will disable her default behaviour for headers, and reset all elements of header style to the same family, font, and point size as she uses in paragraphs.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to disable mom's default behaviour for the various elements of footer style.

Macro: HEADER_COLOR <colorname>

If you want your headers in a colour different from the document default (usually black), invoke HEADER_COLOR with the name of a colour pre-defined (or "initialized") with NEWCOLOR or XCOLOR.

HEADER_COLOR will set all the parts of the header AND the header rule in the colour you give it as an argument. If you wish finer control over colour in headers, you can use HEADER_<POSITION>_COLOR to colourize each part of the header separately, as well as HEADER_RULE_COLOR to change the colour of the header rule.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to colourize footers.

Part by part changes

NOTE: When using the following control macros, replace "<POSITION>" by LEFT, CENTER, or RIGHT as appropriate.

Macro: HEADER_<POSITION>_FAMILY <family>

Use HEADER_<POSITION>_FAMILY to change the family of any part of headers. See Arguments to the control macros for an explanation of how control macros ending in _FAMILY work.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change a footer part's family.

Macro: HEADER_<POSITION>_FONT <font>

Use HEADER_<POSITION>_FONT to change the font of any part of headers. See Arguments to the control macros for an explanation of how control macros ending in _FONT work.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change a footer part's font.

Macro: HEADER_<POSITION>_SIZE <+|-number of points>

Use HEADER_<POSITION>_SIZE to change the size of any part of headers (relative to the point size of type in paragraphs). See Arguments to the control macros for an explanation of how control macros ending in _SIZE work.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change a footer part's size.

Macro: HEADER_<POSITION>_CAPS toggle

HEADER_<POSITION>_CAPS is a toggle macro. If you want any part of headers to be set in all caps, regardless of the capitalization of that part's string as given to the reference macros or as defined by you with the header string control macros, simply invoke this macro (using the appropriate position) with no argument. If you wish to turn capitalization off (say, for the header-right string that mom capitalizes by default), invoke the argument with any argument (e.g. OFF, QUIT, END, X...).

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change a footer part's capitalization style.

Macro: HEADER_<POSITION>_COLOR <colorname>

HEADER_<POSITION>_COLOR allows you to set a colour for each of the three possible parts of a page header separately. For example, say you want the right part of the header (by default, the document title) in red, this is how you'd get it: 

	.HEADER_RIGHT_COLOR red
The other parts of the header will be in the default header colour (usually black, but that can be changed with HEADER_COLOR).

Remember that you have to define (or "initialize") a colour with NEWCOLOR or XCOLOR before you can use the colour.

If you create a user-defined header with HEADER_RECTO or HEADER_VERSO, and you want various elements within the header to be colourized, embed the colours in the string passed to HEADER_RECTO or HEADER_VERSO with the \*[<colorname>] inline escape.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to set the colours for the various elements of footers.

Header/footer vertical placement and spacing

See Vertical placement and spacing of headers/footers for an explanation of how mom deals with headers, footers, and top/bottom page margins.

Macro: HEADER_MARGIN <distance to baseline of header>
*Requires a unit of measure

Use HEADER_MARGIN to set the distance from the top edge of the page to the baseline of type in headers. A unit of measure is required, and decimal fractions are allowed.

Mom's default header margin is 4-1/2 picas, but if you want a different margin, say, 1/2-inch, do 

	.HEADER_MARGIN .5i
If your document uses footers, replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_. The argument to FOOTER_MARGIN is the distance from the bottom edge of the page to the baseline of type in footers.

Mom's default footer margin is 3 picas.

FOOTER MARGIN AND BOTTOM MARGIN -- VERY IMPORTANT!

Mom requires a footer margin for proper operation, hence she sets one, even if you don't. (As stated above, her default footer margin is 3-picas).

If you set a bottom margin for your document (with B_MARGIN, prior to START) and the margin's too close to mom's default footer margin (or a footer margin you set yourself with FOOTER_MARGIN), mom will not print your footers; additionally, she'll give you a warning and some advice on standard error. When this happens, you must reset either B_MARGIN or FOOTER_MARGIN so there's an adequate amount of space for mom to print the bottom line of running text and the footer.

If you see the warning even when footers and/or bottom-of-page page numbering are disabled, set a nominal footer margin of 0 prior to START, as in these examples.

Example 1 

	<reference macros, etc>
	.PAGINATION    OFF
	.B_MARGIN      .25i
	.FOOTER_MARGIN O
	.START
Example 2 

	<reference macros, etc>
	.HEADERS       OFF
	.PAGENUM_POS   TOP RIGHT
	.B_MARGIN      .25i
	.FOOTER_MARGIN O
	.START

A note on header/footer margins and page numbering

Mom uses HEADER_MARGIN and FOOTER_MARGIN to establish the baseline position of page numbers in addition to the baseline position of headers and footers.

By default, page numbers appear at the bottom of the page, therefore if you want the default position (bottom), but want to change the baseline placement, use FOOTER_MARGIN. Conversely, if page numbers are at the top of the page, either because you turned FOOTERS on or because you instructed mom to put them there with PAGENUM_POS, you'd use HEADER_MARGIN to change their baseline placement.

Macro: HEADER_GAP <distance from header to start of running text>
*Requires a unit of measure

Use HEADER_GAP to set the distance from the baseline of type in headers to the start of running text. A unit of measure is required, and decimal fractions are allowed.

As explained in Vertical placement and spacing of headers/footers, HEADER_MARGIN + HEADER_GAP determine the default vertical starting position of running text on the page UNLESS you have given mom your own top margin (with T_MARGIN). If you give a top margin, mom ignores HEADER_GAP; running text starts at your stated top margin.

Mom's default header gap is 3 picas, but if you want a different gap, say, 2 centimetres, do 

	.HEADER_GAP 2c
If your document uses footers, replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_. The argument to FOOTER_GAP is the distance from the baseline of type in footers to the last baseline of running text on the page.

As explained in Vertical placement and spacing of headers/footers, FOOTER_MARGIN + FOOTER_GAP determine the default vertical end position of running text on the page UNLESS you have given mom a bottom margin (with B_MARGIN). If you give a bottom margin, mom ignores FOOTER_GAP; running text ends at your stated bottom margin.

Mom's default footer gap is 3 picas.

NOTE: Mom uses HEADER_GAP and FOOTER_GAP to establish the start and end baseline positions of running text with respect to both headers and footers AND page numbers. If you wish to change the gap between the last line of running text and a bottom page number, use FOOTER_GAP. If page numbers are at the top of the page, change the gap between the number and the first line of running text with HEADER_GAP.

Header/footer separator rule

The header/footer separator rule is a modest horizontal rule, set slightly below the header (or above the footer), that runs the length of the header and helps separate it visually from running text. If you don't want the rule, you can turn it off. If you want it, but at a different vertical position relative to the header (or footer), you can alter its placement.

Macro: HEADER_RULE toggle

By default, mom prints a header separator rule underneath headers (or above footers). If you don't want the rule, turn it off by invoking HEADER_RULE with any argument (OFF, QUIT, END, X...), e.g. 

	.HEADER_RULE OFF
To turn the rule (back) on, invoke HEADER_RULE without any argument.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to enable/disable the printing of the footer separator rule. (Most likely, if you're using FOOTERS, you'll want it off.)

Macro: HEADER_RULE_GAP distance of rule beneath header
*Requires a unit of measure

HEADER_RULE_GAP is the distance from the baseline of type in headers to the rule underneath. A unit of measure is required, and decimal fractions are allowed. Please note that HEADER_RULE_GAP has no effect on HEADER_GAP (i.e. HEADER_RULE_GAP is NOT added to HEADER_GAP when mom calculates the space between headers and the start of running text).

By default, the header rule gap is 4 points. If you'd like to change it to, say, 1/4 em, do 

	.HEADER_RULE_GAP .25m
NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ if you're using footers and want to change the separator rule gap. In footers, the gap is measured from the top of the tallest ascender in the footer.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: When using FOOTER_RECTO and FOOTER_VERSO, make sure that the default size for footers (FOOTER_SIZE) is set to the largest size of type that will be used in the footer or mom may not get the rule gap right. Inline changes to the size of type in FOOTER_RECTO and FOOTER_VERSO should always be negative (smaller) than the default.

Macro: HEADER_RULE_COLOR <colorname>

If you wish to change the colour of the header rule, invoke HEADER_RULE_COLOR with the name of a colour pre-defined (or "initialized") with NEWCOLOR or XCOLOR.

Please note that HEADER_RULE_COLOR overrides the colour set with HDRFTR_COLOR, so that it's possible to have the heads entirely in, say, blue (set with HEADER_COLOR), and the header rule in, say, red.

NOTE: Replace HEADER_, above, with FOOTER_ to change the colour of the footer rule.

Pagination

By default, mom paginates documents. Page numbers appear in the bottom margin of the page, centred between two hyphens. As with all elements of mom's document processing, most aspects of pagination style can be altered to suit your taste with control macros.

Pagination macros list

Macro: PAGINATE toggle
Alias: PAGINATION

By default, mom paginates documents (in the bottom margin). If you'd prefer she not paginate, turn pagination off by invoking PAGINATE with any argument (OFF, NO, QUIT, END, X...), e.g. 

	.PAGINATE NO
To (re)start pagination, invoke PAGINATE without any argument.

Macro: PAGENUMBER <number>

As is to be expected, pagination of documents begins at page 1. If you'd prefer that mom begin with a different number on the first page of a document, invoke PAGENUMBER with the number you want.

PAGENUMBER need not be used only to give mom a "first page" number. It can be used at any time to tell mom what number you want a page to have. Subsequent page numbers will, of course, be incremented by 1 from that number.

Macro: PAGENUM_STYLE DIGIT | ROMAN | roman | ALPHA | alpha

PAGENUM_STYLE lets you tell mom what kind of page numbering you want.

DIGIT=Arabic digits (1, 2, 3...)
ROMAN=upper case roman numerals (I, II, III...)
roman=lower case roman numerals (i, ii, iii...)
ALPHA=upper case letters (A, B, C...)
alpha=lower case letters (a, b, c...)

Macro: PAGENUM_ON_FIRST_PAGE toggle

This macro applies only if you've enabled FOOTERS. If FOOTERS are on, mom automatically places page numbers at the tops of pages except on the first page of a document (or on first pages after COLLATE). If you'd like the page number to appear on "first" pages when footers are on, invoke PAGENUM_ON_FIRST_PAGE with no argument. Any other argument turns the feature off (OFF, QUIT, END, X...).

As with most of the control macros, PAGENUM_ON_FIRST_PAGE can be invoked at any time, meaning that if you don't want a page number on the very first page of a document, but do want one on pages that appear after COLLATE, omit it before the first START of the document, then invoke it either just before or after your first COLLATE.

Macro: DRAFT_WITH_PAGENUMBER

Sometimes, in COPYSTYLE DRAFT, the CENTER part of page headers gets overcrowded because of the draft and revision information that go there by default. DRAFT_WITH_PAGENUMBER is one way to fix the problem.

Invoked without an argument, DRAFT_WITH_PAGENUMBER removes draft/revision information from the page headers and attaches it instead to the document's page numbering, in the form 

    Draft #, Rev. # / <pagenumber>
See the note in COPYSTYLE DRAFT for other ways of dealing with crowded page headers when formatting draft-style copy.

Pagination control macros
  1. Family/font/size/colour
  2. Page number position (vertical and horizontal)
  3. Enclose page numbers with hyphens (on or off)

1. Page number family/font/size/colour

See Arguments to the control macros. 

.PAGENUM_FAMILY default = prevailing document family; default is Times Roman
.PAGENUM_FONT   default = roman
.PAGENUM_SIZE   default = 0 (i.e. same size as paragraph text)
.PAGENUM_COLOR  default= black

2. Page number position

Macro: PAGENUM_POS TOP | BOTTOM  LEFT | CENTER | RIGHT

Use PAGENUM_POS to change the default position of automatic page numbering. PAGENUM_POS requires two arguments: a vertical position (TOP or BOTTOM) and a horizontal position (LEFT or CENTER or RIGHT).

For example, if you turn both headers and footers off (with .HEADERS OFF and .FOOTERS OFF) and you want mom to number your pages at the top right position, enter 

	.PAGENUM_POS TOP RIGHT

3. Enclose page numbers with hyphens (on or off)

By default, mom encloses page numbers between hyphens. If you don't want this behaviour, invoke the macro PAGENUM_HYPHENS with any argument (OFF, QUIT, END, X...), like this: 

	.PAGENUM_HYPHENS OFF
If, for some reason, you want to turn page number hyphens back on, invoke the macro without an argument.

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