Wikipedia:Advanced footnote formatting: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:31, 3 November 2009

Revision as of 18:33, 21 November 2009

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{{essay}}

{{nutshell|[[#Remote footnotes|Remote footnotes]] can be added for pronunciations or examples. Footnotes can be [[#Indenting and line-splitting|indented, line-split]] & shortened by [[#Deferring details|deferring details]] into References or External links. Due to a WP quirk, the 1st footnote on a page might not indent properly. Beware websites violating copyrights, but LyricsTime.com is proper.}}

The topic of '''advanced footnote formatting'''^{[<font/>[[#Notes|essay]]]} involves techniques for coding remote footnotes of pronunciations or examples, plus indentation and line-splitting. Many articles could use remote footnotes, such as showing how to pronounce words:

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::<div style="font-size:89%">'''Notes'''<br>&nbsp; &nbsp;<small>[pron.]</small> – The word ''dilation'' is pronounced "dy-LAY-shun" and is the preferred term.

The superscript <small>"pron."</small> can be coded by just a half-line of text: <nowiki>^{[<font/>[[#Notes|pron.]]]}</nowiki>. The full, detailed content of that footnote text is not at the top of the article but, instead, is coded in the section named "Notes". See below: [[#Remote footnotes|Remote footnotes]] & [[#Footnotes within footnotes|Footnotes within footnotes]].

__TOC__

Also, indentation and line-splitting can be used, such as for long URL webpage names, when coding footnotes in an article. For example:

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Each full footnote is coded within 3 lines of text, even though indented and pinpointing the page numbers. The tedious details are all deferred into the section "External links" (or "References") at the bottom of the article. That separation is possible by repeating the author name and title in each entry when listed in the bottom sections. So, full footnotes can become a 3-line indentation, rather than the typical 6 or 9-line blobs that clutter many articles.

==Beware linking websites that violate copyrights==

''20-Nov-2009:'' In accordance with Wikipedia policy "[[WP:LINKVIO]]", an article should not have links to websites that post content violating any copyrights, such as listing song lyrics without proper notice. However, there is a legal source for song lyrics, LyricsTime.com, which (for 2 years) has had no slow, pop-up adverts, but might not have some particular songs. See example:

:* http://www.lyricstime.com/michael-jackson-billie-jean-lyrics.html

That webpage, for the Michael Jackson song ''"[[Billie Jean]]"'', has a bottom [[disclaimer]]:

: "DISCLAIMER: You must agree to the following statement or leave this website. All '''Michael Jackson - Billie Jean''' lyrics, artist names and images are copyrighted to their respective owners. All ''Michael Jackson - Billie Jean'' song lyrics are restricted for educational and personal use only." [bold type from original]

That [[disclaimer]] seems to sufficiently cover the copyright concerns, and plus having no sluggish pop-up ads (for over 2 years), it should be considered an acceptable, linkable source for text that describes or analyzes song lyrics.

==Advancement shock==

Even though the basic ideas of advanced footnote format-formatting are simple, there are many people who will fight against indenting the footnote coding (yet readily accept infoboxes with indented parameters coded down the page). There are also other people who might insist that the first footnote reference be a typical 9-line blob with full URL details, cluttering the text. They will reject a top footnote such as "&lt;ref name=MD/>" which defers details to be defined in a subsequent use of the same-named footnote.

It might be possible to get those people to read this essay, but if not, don't try to fight people with severe mindsets. Just move on to one of the other millions of Wikipedia articles that need footnote clarification.