Re: Proposal for XHTML 2.0: The <footnote> element

Alexander Savenkov wrote:
>>I hereby propose for inclusion in XHTML 2.0 a <footnote> element for
>>marking up footnotes.
> 
> First of all, have a look at the CSS3 Lists Module [1].

Why? Styling can't replace a semantic element.

>>With a <footnote> element, the above example would become:
> 
>><p>There exists no element for marking up footnotes<footnote>A footnote 
>>is a note of reference or comment at the foot of a page.</footnote> in 
>>the current XHTML 2.0 draft.</p>
> 
> Check it out:
> <p>There exists no element for marking up footnotes (a footnote
> is a note of reference or comment at the foot of a page) in
> the current XHTML 2.0 draft.</p>
> Magic! Brackets are what you need.

It is often more appropriate to place the footnote outside of the 
paragraph itself. (Otherwise footnotes wouldn't exist in the first place.)

> Otherwise you should have looked at
> the <cite> element which if properly used does everything you need.
"CITE: Contains a citation or a reference to other sources."

Please explain why you think all footnotes are citations or references 
to other sources.

/Jonas

Received on Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:52:00 UTC