Creating hidden or invisible page numbers

[jmurphy]

I'm scanning a fairly large book and would like to keep track of the original page numbers to make proofing easier. I'm not looking for anything to show up on the reading device/app, just a bit of code to put into the html/xhtml file that I can see when I edit/view the source but is invisible otherwise.

If possible I'd also like to be able to keep track of where on the original page that the page number appeared, something like TL=top left, TC=top centre, TR=top right, BL=bottom left, etc. Including no page number on original page.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Karellen]

Most books I have edited use something like the following:

<a id="page_47"></a>

You could probably extend the ID to something like

<a id="TC_page_47"></a>

[jmurphy]

Oh, I wasn't thinking of anchors, cool.
I guess I was thinking spans would be useful.

Thanks

[jhowell]

One advantage of using id’s to indicate where pages start is that you can collect them later into a page map that can be used by some reading software to optionally show the original page numbers.

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by jmurphy

Oh, I wasn't thinking of anchors, cool.
I guess I was thinking spans would be useful.

Thanks

I don't see why you couldn't use spans instead of <a>

In case I wasn't clear, there is no text between the opening and closing tag.

[DNSB]

Speaking of using spans, I've seen several epubs where the embedded page numbers have been configured as:

<span aria-label=" Page 114. " epub:type="pagebreak" id="pg_114" role="doc-pagebreak"/>

[Jellby]

If you only want it for editing purposes, with no effect on the actual ePub (i.e., no possibility of linking to a page), you could just use XHTML comments, and you can be as verbose as you want:

<p>Once upon a time there was a little girl
<!-- page break here, page 5 ends, page 6 starts,
with page number in the bottom right and a coffee
stain near the spine -->
who lived in the forest.</p>

[RbnJrg]

All the answers I saw. were good solutions; I add just one more for the records.

Add this in the place you wish in your .xhtml file (it can be any place, even inside a paragraph or title, no matter):

<span class="pgnum">XX</span>

where XX is a number, of course, and in your .css stylesheet add the following:

.pgnum {
    display: none;
}

That's all

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Karellen

Most books I have edited use something like the following:

<a id="page_47"></a>

You could probably extend the ID to something like

<a id="TC_page_47"></a>

<a id="TC_page_47"/> would be better.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RbnJrg

All the answers I saw. were good solutions; I add just one more for the records.

Add this in the place you wish in your .xhtml file (it can be any place, even inside a paragraph or title, no matter):

<span class="pgnum">XX</span>

where XX is a number, of course, and in your .css stylesheet add the following:

.pgnum {
    display: none;
}

That's all

Not a good idea as not all ePub reading software will respect display: none.