Footnotes / memo of a text
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Beth
Merged in a post:
Footnotes Are Essential
P
Pablo Rocha
As a suggestion, the developers could consider the possibility of adding an option to include footnotes in text editing. Unlike the solution proposed in an existing thread, I think the footnotes would work within the object itself (without creating a separate object), just to help with research, just like other markdown-based applications do. Attached is an example taken from Obsidian itself, both in editing mode and in reading mode. Capicities is my favorite app of its kind, so much so that I am considering becoming a subscriber to this type of software for the first time. However, the lack of footnotes has been missed in my daily use. I appreciate the developers' daily effort, you have built the best note-taking app on the market.
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J
John Phillips
Footnotes are absolutely essential. The best implementation of footnotes that I have used is in Bear Notes. I believe they use CommonMark with a Pandoc Extension.
Links here: https://commonmark.org/
This is how it is written:
Footnotes[^1] in text
At the bottom of your doc, add [^1]: Foot note text
They also have a button that adds a quick footnote.
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G
Gustavo G Diez
For academics, footnotes are esential
B
Bruce Tuten
+1 for footnotes
M
Mathis Gauthey
Would be great indeed.
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vision assemblies
also in this line:
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yotam shwartzman
Steffen Bleher
Merged in a post:
Footnote for Academic Research
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Azure L
As a researcher, the footnote feature is absolutely vital for writing academic content. Without it, I cannot accurately transcribe academic content in Capacities. I hope the footnote can serve as a special type (similar to tags), displayed as a superscript number in the body text, equivalent to referencing an object of this type. In that way, I should be able to easily review and edit the content of the footnote on the right sidebar.
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Azure L
As a researcher, it's definitely necessary! Even, there are two types, both of them are crucial: footnotes (like the ones in the paper, with small numbers above them) and annotations like the ones shown in the picture
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vision assemblies
Azure L: I think annotations (notes) is the magic keyword here.
I support the idea.
though I also think the Capacities system could also cover that with dedicated blocks, resp mimic this effectively w/ the option to hide blocks in a certain filter logic (e.g. on export) - see https://capacities.io/feedback/p/setting-for-blocks-exclude-on-export
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Azure L
vision assemblies:
There are two types of “annotation”:
(A) Annotation of specific words, like this post showing. But I find this type of annotation can be replaced by linking to another object recently.
(B) Academic footnotes (with small numbers above them), which I think is truly irreplaceable. see https://capacities.io/feedback/p/footnote-for-academic-research
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vision assemblies
Azure L: I see both cases; but I think annotation is broader; or, at least, I would
use
it in a broader sense.just think of the ways Scrivener (and to some extent Ulysses) allow for notes (to self!) on a) section, or b) a document; or even notes on referenced documents ('footnotes').
I see where you are coming from, but I think annotation can be approached broader than certain kinds of formatted annotations wordprocessors allow and cut out.
even there, there are many forms of annotation possible. just think of things like marginalia (which I'd also would love to have 😌), comments, chapter specific headings, ... etc.
what I'd primarily like to see in an app primarily geared as
personal PKM
is the whole world of notes / mnemonics to self* etc– but I am aware everyone's use case and expectational horizon might differ depending on context & perspectives.
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Dor Mouse
Azure L: I'd see Notion type comments as widely useful. Footnotes and annotations being quite specialised.
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Dor Mouse
vision assemblies: Ulysses comments are quite limited. And I'd see Word and Notion being significantly better than Scrivener.
And notes in a page as different again.
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Azure L
Dor Mouse: The “Comment“ feature of Notion has a fatal flaw, which is “it cannot be copied and paste to any other pages”. Otherwise, it can be useful indeed.
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Dor Mouse
Azure L: you
can
copy and paste the comment - at least with keyboard, idk about mouse. But I don't think that's it's purpose.I'd regard something where copying was an intrinsic feature as an annotation rather than a comment. Quite a different use and purpose.
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vision assemblies
Dor Mouse: They all work differently, and in different environments. (Ulysses has them in extra pane, as well as inline; since recently it even has image notes....) There are some dozen others. I actually only wanted to make an illustrative broader case that 'notes to self' is a thing – across the relevant spectrum...
But, good to have even more examples. :-)
– Even better if we can come to proposals / idas as to what this means for / how this can potentially transfer for the Capacities case. in meaningful and constructive ways...
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Dor Mouse
vision assemblies: I've listed all the types of footnotes etc, that I've seen mentioned. It would be up to the devs to decide which, if any, fitted their vision for Capacities
Footnotes
- usually seen at the bottom of the page in published works. Used to expand, explain or quote source a detail in the text; ignored by many readers.I would never use in Capacities, as I'd only put them in this form in final stage program prior to publishing. I might make a separate note for anything I'd consider adding to a footnote.
Annotations
- usually written on a published work (commonly now PDFs). They're comments to self; often carefully considered.I'd not use such a feature in notes, but might if I used Capacities for PDFs and other publications. If it's added, there would need to be decisions about how to do it. Zotero, for instance, has its own comment format. Obsidian is waiting to add this feature until its upstream library has added it - it only wants to use the native PDF feature for portability with other programs.
Comments
- Author or collaborator comments on a WIP. Word has an elaborate review system widely used for communication between writer&editor or tutor&student. Notion is similar. Comments appearing in margin is great because it's easy to see existing text. Markdown(ish) apps like Ulysses and Obsidian do it less well.This is certainly something I'd use if I were to use Capacities for a WIP of any sort. I like the Word/Notion system and don't find the Ulysses system very useful in practice.
Notes
- Seen in some programs aimed at writers - Ulysses, DabbleWriter for example. Sometimes in the form of a note linked to a block or note, sometimes seen in the form of stickies floating over the text. Like comments it's always about WIP.Something I rarely use. Mostly because any such notes exist elsewhere in my process.
All of these are useful to some people for some purposes. They are conceptually and practically distinct. For myself, comments are the only form I could imagine myself using in Capacities.
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vision assemblies
Dor Mouse: helpful!
– I´d add, w/o claim to systematics:
•
Marginalia
(stand-out notes alongside a text; to self and/or others); working as visual cues, while being separated from the 'flow' of main text • I´d also mention at least the kind of
semantic / navigational / orientational notes
(acteurs, notes, story points), as e.g. Mellel allows them; ... though that goes into a hybrid space btw. notes, (ontological) referencing, and anchors / 'side'- and custom-indexes...• also: I find there are different strategies as to Notes / Comments in terms of whether anchored to a section, or a 'document'
• also, even though a fine grain thing, but relevant to some: notes inline vs. separated
– others might add on, or share in further systematizing :-)
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Dor Mouse
vision assemblies: I don't think
marginalia
is a separate type - it's a way of implementing annotations and comments.The Ulysses (etc) distinction between inline and separated comments is really a consequence of trying to work with possibilities within plaintext. It's very crude compared to comments in other apps like Notion or Word because both exist on their own whereas the other comments can be attached to any selection of words in the text.
What I have called
Notes
are typically anchored to a block or page. Sticky notes can be moved around on top of the document, and are designed to be visuslly intrusive unless hidden.v
vision assemblies
Dor Mouse: I think the adding on and carrying together part is helpful.
I´d be careful on the dogmatization part, especially as these things are always dependent on context, framing, use etc.
for me, if footnotes are types – and more than a certain typographical setting of shared annotations –, then marginalia also are types in their own right; certainly in my use-scenarios, where
form (visibility) is / can be part of format
... but I don´t want to slide into pedantic discussions here. especially as, as your Ulysses example shows, all these things are finally to be 'dogmatized' in context (Capacities in my view is 'in the middle' as to the MD-spectrum – so ability wrie
and read
inline notes would not be so far fetched; see also iA-writer, Highland and others...). Sticky notes e.g. wouldn´t make sense in the context of Capacities 'flat' logic (unlike other tech-stacks, like Pages, Word etc.)... but maybe that´s just me here :-D
... so, it´s all
contextual
. and will have to be decided / sorted in implementation and "architecturing", I think.– ... but good to have made a start in creating a kind of open 'typology' / folksonomy-style here!
v
vision assemblies
oh... and of course
positional image-/media-notes
! :-Dv
vision assemblies
as to all this: see also the interesting developmwnts in Obsidian on
sidenotes
(through leveraging properties; and the work of TFThacker):– it's a good illustration of how to improve the cognitive style of notes / note-documents; and it is an interesting discussion working out what I meant re. the special value
and status
of marginalia (a.k.a. sidenotes)!Steffen Bleher
I don't really understand, you you explain what you mean?
C
Charlie Alderson
Steffen Bleher: you can see it as a footnote in obsidian or comments in notion. It can explain some iterms (which is not important but necessary) in a text of a page.
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