> I hope I haven't missed a prior part of this discussion, but rather than
> create a new tag, why not add an attribute like "FOOTNOTE" to the
> existing <A> tag that would allow a browser to either go to the HREF
> link, or just use it to pop the text of the HREF into a floating window?
> I think this might satisfy the requirement without creating any extra
> complications or tags. Existing browsers would ignore the attribute and
> use the HREF normally. This would still require footnotes to become
> separate documents, but would at least allow authors to specify usage.
See the draft proposal for HTML 3.0, under Admonishments and Footnotes.
http://www.hpl.hp.co.uk/people/dsr/html3/CoverPage.html
I feel there is value in allowing authors to include footnotes in the
same file - otherwise as you point out we can use a REL=FootNote on an
anchor. My proposal is to use the anchor element to link to a NOTE
element which can be in the same or a different file. The NOTE element
is marked as a footnote with ROLE=Footnote to allow browsers to render
it as a pop-up note if they support that kind of thing.
-- Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org> tel: +44 117 922 8046 fax: +44 117 922 8924
Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Filton Road, Bristol BS12 6QZ, United Kingdom