Mechanics Advice: Footnotes (Self-Demonstrating Version)

For the non-self-demonstrating version, go here.

---

Footnotes*! To do them right, enclose (2) the number (c), and use exactly the same format in-text and at the footnote (4). Asterisks are right out*****.

*These things right here.
(2) Use parentheses, square brackets, curly braces...it doesn't matter what you use as a delimiter, other than aesthetically, but put something on either side of the number. This minimizes the probability of extraneous results when the find tool (which is the easiest way to navigate footnotes when chapters are many screens long) is used.
(c) You can use letters if you really want to, I suppose. Usability-wise it's just as good, though it might be easier to miss and it is less common.
4. Not like this, dammit! This messes with the natural usage of the find tool. Same thing goes for "4)" or whatever other variation you might think looks nice.
*****If you're using at most one footnote in a chapter, you can get away with an asterisk. However, if you have more than one footnote, a find for the first usage will turn up the first usage, the second usage twice, the third usage thrice, and so on. Go on, give it a try here.

Comments

[StarrySkies]

Wonderful! (1)

(1) I can almost hear Pratchett's ghostly applause.

[Boulder]

*sigh*

[No Raisin]

A little outdated now that we have superscript¹ and subscript₂ options, ain’t it?

1. Admittedly, superscript looks better and is often used to indicate footnotes anyway.
2. Alternatively...

[Snowy]

4590701
Perhaps. But this rant is motivated by usability, not aesthetics. From a usability perspective, superscript footnotes are inferior to bracketed footnotes (though you could of course always use a bracketed superscript footnote.⁽¹⁾ The thing is, unlike with physical books (where footnotes are on the same physical page), there can be quite a lot of distance between a footnote and the reference to the footnote in the text. The convenient way for a reader to find the footnote and then their place again is to have exactly the same text marking both the reference and the referent, and have that text be something that is unlikely to show up in other places on the page (unadorned numbers don't work for that). This makes it very easy to navigate back and forth with ctrl-F.

(1) Like this

[Damaged]

You know, there's actually built-in support for footnotes¹ now!

Using the [footnote]Insert your footnote here![/footnote] tags!

1. Though they don't use brackets, which is annoying.