Reply To: Can't get page numbering to start at 1 on actual page 7

Most likely your A master will be what you'll use for most pages. Secondary masters are useful for pages such as chapter openers, where you want the top margin to be lower on the page than regular text pages, splash pages that mark the beginning of a new section of the book, full-page illustrations or any other situations where you need some other kind of variation from the most common page style. Basing your secondary masters on the A master means that if, for example, you decide that the margins need to be changed, you can change them on the A master and have them change on all the rest.

Drag a master page and drop it on a page thumbnail in the pages panel to assign that master to the page.

You can drag the “None” master over a page in the pages panel where you want a totally blank page (such as the left-hand page facing a chapter opener), but I wouldn't use it for anything else. The whole idea of having master pages is that, as with paragraph and character styles, you can make a change in one place and have it update everywhere it applies in the document. Except for very simple projects (and not even then, in my opinion), you should avoid overrides in styles or master pages. Best practice is to get thoroughly into the habit of creating styles and master pages, and don't break it!

The simplest ways to start a new section, by the way, are to a) right-click the page thumbnail in the pages panel and pick “Numbering and Section Options” from the menu, or b) select the page in the pages panel and choose “Numbering and Section Options” from the panel flyout menu. The black triangle appears only after you have established the page as a section opener.

Nigel French's excellent “InDesign Type” is a great book to get you up to speed on all things typographic, by the way. It covers all this kind of stuff and a lot more. To get up to speed fast with InDesign in general, get a subscription to Lynda.com and check out David's “Essential Training” titles for InDesign.