Re: footnotes

On 9 Jun 98, Frank Boumphrey wrote:

> Don't forget side notes which are the easiest of all to find and read.

Aren't footnotes, endnotes and sidenotes (as well as "pop-up notes" or even somethin 
using frames) semantically the same thing? So placement (bottom of page, end of 
document, side of document or as a pop-up window) is a style (CSS/XSL) issue 
separate from the actual notation element.

I'm for a footnote element, but how to create one that's usable on the current browsers?
Various ideas come to mind, but they're essentially hacks. A useful notation element 
would allow for automatic numbering (with separate numbering schemes, since one 
may want to differentiate between an author's notes and a translator's or editor's 
notes).  One should also be able to reference other notes from within a note.

For browser/UA convenience, the notation should be in the text where it occurs... of 
course that's less usable on current browsers. (It would be less of a problem if 
something is agreed upon now and implemented in the major browsers real soon, of 
course.)

Rob

PS - Why'd I/we overlook this as a paper idea for the Future of HTML Conference?

Received on Saturday, 13 June 1998 06:12:03 UTC