Footnotes

[Kristen James Eberlein <kris@eberleinconsulting.com>]

My personal take on the state of footnotes in DITA ... Your mileage might vary. Please post to the list; this was a general action item for everyone coming out of last week's call.

1. Coverage in the spec is poor. There is only the element reference topic, which I doubt has been updated since DITA 1.0:
   http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/dita/v1.3/errata01/os/complete/part3-all-inclusive/langRef/base/fn.html#fn
   
   If you are not familiar with the DITA footnote implementation, the topic probably doesn't make much sense. The example (which actually is three examples jumbled together) is not robust; it also does not demonstrate the use of @conref on <fn>.
   
   
2. In my experience, users do not understand this model unless it has been carefully explained and alternate company-specific documentation has been provided.
   
3. This model is hard for users to author using the use-by-reference footnote.
   

Re #3, users struggle to figure out WHERE to place the <xref> elements; they are fine with placing the <fn> elements at the point in the text where the super scripted footnote indicators will appear -- That makes sense to them, although some chafe over the way the <fn> element disrupts the visual flow of the topic in the authoring environment. And others struggle withe the need to use conref to reference common footnotes.

But the fact that the <xref> elements can go anywhere in the topic that contains the <fn>; many writers really struggle with that. And then they forget to specify type="fn".

--
Best,
Kris

Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)