At present, master layers must exist on every page in a document.
If you want a master layer not to appear on a page, such as suppressing it on the front and back covers of a multipage booklet, you have to implement a work-round -- such as blanking the master elements with a white rectangle. This may not always be convenient, especially if the page has an overall background tint or image.
A better idea -- by enabling a new "Flexible Master Pages" option (configurable "for the current document" rather than universally for a particular installation), the object manager will show the names of master layers on each page to which the layer can potentially apply.
Result: it could then be easy to turn a layer on or off on any given page, simply by clicking the usual display/print icons for that layer on that page.
Example:
On PAGE 3 I have turned off display and print of the Widgets Layer. Thus, the elements of my widgets layer will appear and print on pages 1 and 2, but not on page 3.
Having (hopefully)understood the above ...
The present layer attributes: Display, Print, Edit -- these continue to perform their existing functions
Enhanced attributes could include:
In the example, my "Borders Odd" layer has the ODD PAGES ONLY attribute and therefore appears only on pages 1 and 3. Similarly "Borders Even" appears only on page 2. I could nevertheless turn borders off on a particular page by removing the display/print icons for that page.
If I append two pages, then page 4 will initially be created to display and print the Borders Even layer and the widgets, and also to have a Layer 1 and a Layer 2. But above all, it will ensure that those layers are create in the front-to-back order as specified on the master page. Thus, my borders are guaranteed to be behind both layers but my widgets layer appears between layers 1 and 2.
A minor paradox occurs if a document uses layers with ODD or EVEN attributes and inserts an odd number of pages. Should the subsequent pages retain their current master pages, or should they be updated to ensure that the newly renumbered pages always have the "proper" master page? I think the latter is probably desirable, bearing in mind the likely intention of having odd/even master layers -- but the user should probably be warned what will happen, and be given the choice of inserting an even number of pages instead.