diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5755f90..837ea8d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Code blocks with a language are syntax colored when [fastpylight](https://github
 
 ## Styling
 
-The generated document uses named styles, never inline formatting, so appearance is controlled by restyling. Prose paragraphs get Body Text (First Paragraph directly after a heading or similar block, following pandoc's convention), and the other styles are the ones you would expect: heading 1 through 6, Quote, Source Code, Verbatim Char, Hyperlink, List Paragraph, Compact (table cells), Definition Term, Definition, caption, footnote styles, and Table Grid (plus the author-selectable Borderless Table).
+The generated document uses named styles, never inline formatting, so appearance is controlled by restyling. A markdown h1 is the document title: it gets Word's Title style and never joins heading numbering, and h2 through h6 map to heading 1 through 5. Prose paragraphs get Body Text (First Paragraph directly after a heading or similar block, following pandoc's convention), and the other styles are the ones you would expect: Quote, Source Code, Verbatim Char, Hyperlink, List Paragraph, Compact (table cells), Definition Term, Definition, caption, footnote styles, and Table Grid (plus the author-selectable Borderless Table).
 
 Pass `reference='mydoc.docx'` to use your own document's styles instead of the built-in template, exactly like pandoc's `--reference-doc`. `reference` may also be a list: the first entry supplies the document (page setup, fonts, and all base styles), and each later entry contributes just its styles, replacing same-named earlier ones - either another `.docx`, or a fastpylight theme name such as `'dracula'`, which generates the code-color styles on the fly. The default is the built-in template plus `'github_light'`; pass a bare reference for plain uncolored code, or `mdhtml2docx.styles.theme_ref('dracula', 'dracula.docx')` to write a theme's styles as a standalone docx you can inspect or tweak. A `custom-style="Name"` attribute (from `{custom-style="Name"}` in Markdown) applies that style from your reference doc; if the style is missing, a stub is injected and a warning returned. A plain class like `{.note}` applies a style only when your reference doc defines one named `note`, and is otherwise ignored. Both work on tables too: a table whose `custom-style` or class names a table style in the reference doc uses it in place of Table Grid - the built-in template ships `Borderless Table` (no gridlines, for signature blocks and other layout tables).
 
diff --git a/_data/empty.docx b/_data/empty.docx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..292ef49
Binary files /dev/null and b/_data/empty.docx differ
diff --git a/mdhtml2docx/convert.py b/mdhtml2docx/convert.py
index 21cc27a..28ffd10 100644
--- a/mdhtml2docx/convert.py
+++ b/mdhtml2docx/convert.py
@@ -207,12 +207,12 @@ def ref_prefix(self, el, fmt, plural=False):
 
     def ref_fld(self, el, fmt):
         """REF/PAGEREF field for a cross-reference `a`, with a cached placeholder Word replaces on update.
-        Heading/paragraph targets number via `\\w`; caption targets return their bookmarked 'Label N' text
+        Heading, paragraph, and span targets number via `\\w`; caption targets return their bookmarked 'Label N' text
         (or the number-only `_n` bookmark for bare/leaf/rel refs), so `\\w` never applies to them."""
         tgt = (_get(el, 'href') or '#')[1:]
         tokens = ref_tokens(_get(el, 'data-ref'))
         if tgt not in self.reftarget:
-            raise ValueError(f'cross-reference target #{tgt} not found (targets are headings, paragraphs, figures, and tables with ids)')
+            raise ValueError(f'cross-reference target #{tgt} not found (targets are headings, paragraphs, spans, figures, and tables with ids)')
         kind = ref_variant(tokens)
         nm, self.has_fields = self.bkname(tgt), True
         if kind == 'page': instr, cached = rf' PAGEREF {nm} \h ', '#'
@@ -247,11 +247,11 @@ def custom_style(self, el, kind):
         return next((self.refstyles[c.lower()] for c in _classes(el) if c.lower() in self.refstyles), None)
 
     def span(self, el, fmt):
-        "Inline span: math -> inline m:oMath zone (linear source, dialect-agnostic), custom style -> rStyle, else transparent"
+        "Inline span: math -> inline m:oMath zone (linear source, dialect-agnostic), custom style -> rStyle, else transparent; an id becomes a bookmark (REF target)"
         if _get(el, 'data-refs') is not None: return self.ref_group(el, fmt)
         if 'math' in _classes(el): return [self.omath(el)]
-        if sid := self.custom_style(el, 'character'): return self.runs(el, fmt | {'rstyle': sid})
-        return self.runs(el, fmt)
+        if sid := self.custom_style(el, 'character'): return self.bookmark(el, self.runs(el, fmt | {'rstyle': sid}))
+        return self.bookmark(el, self.runs(el, fmt))
 
     def omath(self, el):
         "An m:oMath zone holding `el`'s text as linear-format math runs"
@@ -728,7 +728,8 @@ def numbering_xml(self):
                 an.append(E('w:lvl', {'w:ilvl': i},  # chkstyle: ignore-node
                     E('w:start', {'w:val': 1}), E('w:numFmt', {'w:val': fmt}),
                     E('w:pStyle', {'w:val': f'Heading{i + 1}'}) if i < 6 else None,
-                    E('w:lvlText', {'w:val': txt}), E('w:lvlJc', {'w:val': 'left'})))
+                    E('w:lvlText', {'w:val': txt}), E('w:lvlJc', {'w:val': 'left'}),
+                    E('w:pPr', E('w:ind', {'w:left': 360 + 360 * i, 'w:hanging': 360 + 360 * i}))))   # number at the margin, text stair-stepped per level
             root.append(an)
         for e in self.xabs: root.append(e)
         for e in tnums: root.append(e)
@@ -851,7 +852,7 @@ def harvest_footnotes(self, els):
         self.fndefs.update({_get(li, 'id'): li for sec in fn for li in _walk(sec) if _tag(li) == 'li' and _get(li, 'id')})
         return body
 
-    BOOKMARKABLE = {'p', 'h1', 'h2', 'h3', 'h4', 'h5', 'h6'}
+    BOOKMARKABLE = {'p', 'h1', 'h2', 'h3', 'h4', 'h5', 'h6', 'span'}
 
     def to_docx(self, mdhtml, dest):
         root = parse_frag(mdhtml)
@@ -923,7 +924,7 @@ def convert(mdhtml, dest, reference=None, base=None, reftypes=None, number_headi
     resolve against `base` ('.'). Cross-references (`data-ref` anchors from Markdown `[@sec-x]`) become
     live REF fields; `reftypes` maps type tokens to (singular, plural) prefix words beyond the built-in
     `sec`, and `number_headings` (a styles.SCHEMES name such as 'legal', or a {lvlText: numFmt} dict, one entry per heading level)
-    numbers the headings via a multilevel list so `\\w` fields resolve. Template tokens are dropped
+    numbers the headings via a multilevel list so `\\w` fields resolve; h1 is the unnumbered document title (Title style), so scheme level 1 is h2. Template tokens are dropped
     unless `tmpl` is given: a callable taking the token node dict (`mdhtml.export.tmpl_node`: `body`,
     `syntax`, `form`, `kind`, `name`, `inverted`) and returning a str for a literal text run,
     `('field', instr)` for a live field, `('control', name)` for an interactive plain-text content
diff --git a/mdhtml2docx/styles.py b/mdhtml2docx/styles.py
index 722aeda..98c309b 100644
--- a/mdhtml2docx/styles.py
+++ b/mdhtml2docx/styles.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 STYLE_MAP = dict(  # chkstyle: ignore-node
     body='Body Text', firstpara='First Paragraph', blockquote='Quote', codeblock='Source Code', codeinline='Verbatim Char',
-    h1='heading 1', h2='heading 2', h3='heading 3', h4='heading 4', h5='heading 5', h6='heading 6',
+    h1='Title', h2='heading 1', h3='heading 2', h4='heading 3', h5='heading 4', h6='heading 5',
     compact='Compact', hyperlink='Hyperlink', list='List Paragraph', dt='Definition Term', dd='Definition',
     caption='caption', footnotetext='footnote text', footnoteref='footnote reference', table='Table Grid')
 
diff --git a/mdhtml2docx/templates/reference.docx b/mdhtml2docx/templates/reference.docx
index 8b19395..dd53425 100644
Binary files a/mdhtml2docx/templates/reference.docx and b/mdhtml2docx/templates/reference.docx differ
diff --git a/tests/test_convert.py b/tests/test_convert.py
index aa59579..2159a66 100644
--- a/tests/test_convert.py
+++ b/tests/test_convert.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import base64, pytest, subprocess, zipfile
+import base64, pytest, re, subprocess, zipfile
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from fastcore.test import test_eq as teq, test as tt, test_fail as tfail
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 from mdhtml.tools import SAMPLE_MD, sample_md
 from mdhtml2docx.convert import convert, mustache_fields
 from mdhtml2docx.validate import fast_checks
+from mdhtml2docx.styles import ref_path
 
 
 def pandoc(path, to='markdown'):
@@ -63,11 +64,11 @@ def test_basic_blocks(tmp_path):
     teq(warns, [])
     teq(fast_checks(out), 'valid')
     md = pandoc(out)
-    for s in ('# Title', '## Sub *title*', '`f(x)`', '[fast.ai](https://fast.ai/)',
+    for s in ('# Sub *title*', '`f(x)`', '[fast.ai](https://fast.ai/)',   # no '# Title': the h1 is Title style, which pandoc lifts to metadata (its bookmark still resolves below)
         '> Quoted line.', 'def f(x):', 'return x'): tt(s, md, in_)
-    # pandoc resolves the anchor against the heading bookmark and rewrites it to the heading's
-    # auto-identifier, so this line proves the internal link wiring survived the round trip
-    tt('[the title](#title)', md, in_)
+    # the internal link survived the round trip: pandoc keeps the raw bookmark anchor, since a
+    # Title-styled target is not a heading (heading targets get rewritten to auto-identifiers)
+    tt('[the title](#top)', md, in_)
 
 
 def test_lists(tmp_path):
@@ -89,6 +90,34 @@ def test_lists(tmp_path):
     tt('- [ ] todo', lines, in_)
 
 
+def test_default_reference():
+    "The bundled reference carries the house look: TNR 11 defaults, justified prose, Title and Centered styles, a page-number footer"
+    z = zipfile.ZipFile(ref_path())
+    styles = z.read('word/styles.xml').decode()
+    for s in ('w:styleId="Title"', 'w:styleId="Centered"', 'Times New Roman'): tt(s, styles, in_)
+    tt('w:val="both"', re.search(r'<w:style [^>]*w:styleId="Normal".*?</w:style>', styles, re.S).group(0), in_)
+    tt(' PAGE ', z.read('word/footer.xml').decode(), in_)
+    tt('footer.xml', z.read('word/_rels/document.xml.rels').decode(), in_)
+    tt('footerReference', z.read('word/document.xml').decode(), in_)
+
+
+def test_h1_is_title(tmp_path):
+    "h1 is the document title: Title style, unnumbered; number_headings schemes bind from h2 (Heading1)"
+    out = tmp_path/'t.docx'
+    warns = convert('<h1 id="ttl">EXHIBIT A: Assignment Agreement</h1>\n<h2 id="sec-conf">Confidentiality</h2>\n'
+        '<h3>Confidential Information</h3>\n'
+        '<p>See <a href="#sec-conf" data-ref=""></a> and <a href="#ttl" data-ref="bare text"></a>.</p>', out, number_headings='legal')
+    teq(warns, [])
+    teq(fast_checks(out), 'valid')
+    doc = zipfile.ZipFile(out).read('word/document.xml').decode()
+    for s in ('<w:pStyle w:val="Title"/>', '<w:pStyle w:val="Heading1"/>', '<w:pStyle w:val="Heading2"/>',
+        r'REF sec_conf \w \h', 'REF ttl \\h'): tt(s, doc, in_)
+    styles = zipfile.ZipFile(out).read('word/styles.xml').decode()
+    m = re.search(r'<w:style [^>]*w:styleId="Title".*?</w:style>', styles, re.S)
+    assert m and 'numPr' not in m.group(0)   # the title never joins the numbering
+    m = re.search(r'<w:style [^>]*w:styleId="Heading1".*?</w:style>', styles, re.S)
+    assert m and 'numPr' in m.group(0)       # the scheme's level 1 is markdown h2
+
 def test_tables(tmp_path):
     out = tmp_path/'t.docx'
     warns = convert(
diff --git a/tools/createref.py b/tools/createref.py
index 778ba32..feabc9e 100644
--- a/tools/createref.py
+++ b/tools/createref.py
@@ -1,26 +1,29 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 """Generate the committed template `mdhtml2docx/templates/reference.docx` from a seed archive.
 
-The seed (`_data/empty.docx`, a fresh empty document saved by Word 16.111) supplies theme, fonts,
-settings, and Word's own modern definitions for the styles we keep; this script strips styles.xml
+The seed (`_data/empty.docx`, an empty document saved by Word for the web, with header/footer
+inserted and each kept style applied once so Word writes out its definitions) supplies theme,
+fonts, settings, and Word's own definitions for the styles we keep; this script strips styles.xml
 to exactly what STYLE_MAP needs, patches Quote for blockquote semantics (left indent, not Word's
-centering), authors the definitions Word leaves latent, scrubs personal metadata, and self-verifies:
-fast_checks == 'valid' and every STYLE_MAP name defined. See meta/STATUS.md, template section."""
+centering), applies the house look, authors the definitions Word leaves latent, scrubs personal
+metadata, and self-verifies: fast_checks == 'valid' and every STYLE_MAP name defined."""
 import zipfile
 from lxml import etree
 from mdhtml2docx.styles import STYLE_MAP, style_id
 from mdhtml2docx.validate import fast_checks
+from mdhtml2docx.wml import E
 
 W = 'http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main'
 
 def w(tag): return f'{{{W}}}{tag}'
 
-# Styles the seed defines that we keep as Word authored them (plus linked Char twins, which
-# w:link references require). Everything else the seed defines is dropped.
-KEEP = {'Normal', 'DefaultParagraphFont', 'TableNormal', 'NoList', 'Quote', 'QuoteChar', 'ListParagraph',
-    *[f'Heading{n}' for n in range(1, 7)], *[f'Heading{n}Char' for n in range(1, 7)]}
+# Styles the seed defines that we keep (restyled below where the house look differs from Word's).
+KEEP = {'Normal', 'DefaultParagraphFont', 'TableNormal', 'NoList', 'Quote', 'ListParagraph', 'Title',
+    'Header', 'Footer', *[f'Heading{n}' for n in range(1, 7)]}
 
-# Styles Word keeps latent (definitions live inside Word, absent from the file), authored here.
+font, size, line, space_after = 'Times New Roman', 11, 1.5, 11
+
+# Styles the seed cannot supply: our custom styles, plus built-ins the web UI cannot materialize.
 # Built-in names are canonical (lowercase for heading/caption/footnote families); custom ones marked so.
 NEW_STYLES = r'''<w:styles xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main">
 <w:style w:type="paragraph" w:styleId="BodyText">
@@ -29,6 +32,10 @@ def w(tag): return f'{{{W}}}{tag}'
 <w:style w:type="paragraph" w:customStyle="1" w:styleId="FirstParagraph">
   <w:name w:val="First Paragraph"/><w:basedOn w:val="BodyText"/><w:next w:val="BodyText"/><w:uiPriority w:val="1"/><w:qFormat/>
 </w:style>
+<w:style w:type="paragraph" w:customStyle="1" w:styleId="Centered">
+  <w:name w:val="Centered"/><w:basedOn w:val="BodyText"/><w:next w:val="BodyText"/><w:qFormat/>
+  <w:pPr><w:ind w:firstLine="0"/><w:jc w:val="center"/></w:pPr>
+</w:style>
 <w:style w:type="paragraph" w:customStyle="1" w:styleId="Compact">
   <w:name w:val="Compact"/><w:basedOn w:val="BodyText"/><w:uiPriority w:val="1"/><w:qFormat/>
   <w:pPr><w:spacing w:before="0" w:after="0"/></w:pPr>
@@ -88,8 +95,21 @@ def w(tag): return f'{{{W}}}{tag}'
 </w:style>
 </w:styles>'''
 
+def _hp(points): return int(round(points * 2))
+def _fonts(): return E('w:rFonts', {'w:ascii': font, 'w:hAnsi': font, 'w:eastAsia': font, 'w:cs': font})
+def _spacing(): return E('w:spacing', {'w:line': int(240 * line), 'w:lineRule': 'auto', 'w:after': space_after * 20})
+def _jc(val): return E('w:jc', {'w:val': val})
+
+def _restyle(root, sid, ppr=None, rpr=None):
+    "Replace style `sid`'s paragraph and run properties, dropping whatever it had"
+    s = root.find(f'{w("style")}[@{w("styleId")}="{sid}"]')
+    for t in ('pPr', 'rPr'):
+        if (e := s.find(w(t))) is not None: s.remove(e)
+    for e in (ppr, rpr):
+        if e is not None: s.append(e)
+
 def build_styles(xml):
-    "Strip the seed's styles.xml to KEEP, fix Quote, append the authored definitions"
+    "Strip the seed's styles.xml to KEEP, patch Quote, apply the house look, append the authored definitions"
     root = etree.fromstring(xml)
     for s in list(root.iter(w('style'))):
         if s.get(w('styleId')) not in KEEP: root.remove(s)
@@ -98,11 +118,37 @@ def build_styles(xml):
     qp.remove(qp.find(w('jc')))
     etree.SubElement(qp, w('ind')).set(w('left'), '720')
     for s in root.iter(w('style')):
-        if s.get(w('styleId')) in ('Quote', *[f'Heading{n}' for n in range(1, 7)]):
+        if s.get(w('styleId')) in ('Quote', 'Title', *[f'Heading{n}' for n in range(1, 7)]):
             s.find(w('next')).set(w('val'), 'FirstParagraph')   # typing after these continues our prose chain
+    rpd = root.find(f'{w("docDefaults")}/{w("rPrDefault")}')
+    rpd.replace(rpd.find(w('rPr')), E('w:rPr', _fonts(), E('w:sz', {'w:val': _hp(size)}),
+        E('w:szCs', {'w:val': _hp(size)}), E('w:lang', {'w:val': 'en-US'})))
+    _restyle(root, 'Normal', E('w:pPr', _spacing(), E('w:ind', {'w:firstLine': 0}), _jc('both')))
+    for i in range(6):
+        rpr = E('w:rPr', _fonts(), E('w:b'), E('w:color', {'w:val': 'auto'}), E('w:sz', {'w:val': _hp(size)}), E('w:szCs', {'w:val': _hp(size)}))
+        _restyle(root, f'Heading{i + 1}', E('w:pPr', _spacing(), _jc('both'), E('w:outlineLvl', {'w:val': i})), rpr)
+    _restyle(root, 'Title', E('w:pPr', _jc('center')), E('w:rPr', E('w:sz', {'w:val': _hp(14)}), E('w:szCs', {'w:val': _hp(14)})))
     for s in etree.fromstring(NEW_STYLES.encode()): root.append(s)
     return etree.tostring(root, xml_declaration=True, encoding='UTF-8', standalone=True)
 
+def footer_content(xml):
+    "word/footer.xml: replace the seed's empty scaffold with a centered page-number field"
+    root = etree.fromstring(xml)
+    for e in list(root): root.remove(e)
+    root.append(E('w:p', E('w:pPr', _jc('center')), E('w:fldSimple', {'w:instr': ' PAGE '}, E('w:r', E('w:t', '1')))))
+    return etree.tostring(root, xml_declaration=True, encoding='UTF-8', standalone=True)
+
+
+def doc_content(xml):
+    "word/document.xml: move the sectPr's header/footerReference first, as the schema requires (web Word appends them last)"
+    root = etree.fromstring(xml)
+    sect = root.find(f"{w('body')}/{w('sectPr')}")
+    refs = [e for e in sect if etree.QName(e).localname in ('headerReference', 'footerReference')]
+    for i, e in enumerate(refs):
+        sect.remove(e)
+        sect.insert(i, e)
+    return etree.tostring(root, xml_declaration=True, encoding='UTF-8', standalone=True)
+
 def scrub_props(xml):
     "Replace personal creator/lastModifiedBy in docProps/core.xml"
     root = etree.fromstring(xml)
@@ -118,21 +164,26 @@ def build(seed='_data/empty.docx', out='mdhtml2docx/templates/reference.docx'):
         for i in z.infolist():
             data = z.read(i.filename)
             if i.filename == 'word/styles.xml': data = build_styles(data)
+            elif i.filename == 'word/footer.xml': data = footer_content(data)
+            elif i.filename == 'word/document.xml': data = doc_content(data)
             elif i.filename == 'docProps/core.xml': data = scrub_props(data)
             zo.writestr(i.filename, data)
     verify(out)
     print(f'{out}: ok')
 
 def verify(path):
-    "The template must pass fast_checks and define (not leave latent) every STYLE_MAP style"
+    "The template must pass fast_checks, define (not leave latent) every STYLE_MAP style, and carry the page-number footer"
     r = fast_checks(path)
     assert r == 'valid', r
-    root = etree.fromstring(zipfile.ZipFile(path).read('word/styles.xml'))
+    z = zipfile.ZipFile(path)
+    root = etree.fromstring(z.read('word/styles.xml'))
     names = {s.find(w('name')).get(w('val')) for s in root.iter(w('style'))}
     missing = set(STYLE_MAP.values()) - names
     assert not missing, f'STYLE_MAP styles not defined: {missing}'
     ids = {s.get(w('styleId')) for s in root.iter(w('style'))}
     badid = {n for n in STYLE_MAP.values() if style_id(n) not in ids}
     assert not badid, f'style_id mismatch for: {badid}'
+    assert b'PAGE' in z.read('word/footer.xml'), 'footer lacks its page-number field'
+    assert z.read('word/document.xml').decode().count('footerReference') == 1, 'expected exactly one footerReference'
 
 if __name__ == '__main__': build()