[Docutils-users] HTML processor and Footnotes

[David A. <da...@bo...>]

I'm just getting started with ReST, and finding it to be natural and a
lot of fun to use. I did find one behavior that violated my
expectations, using the html.py standalone processor.

I was writing along and somewhere in the middle of my text I decided
to turn a parenthesized section into a footnote:


   Here's the main sentence I was writing [#]_.

   .. [#] And here's the remark that used to parenthesized.

   Here's some more text in the article

When I processed this into HTML, I was surprised to find that the
footnote appeared exactly where I had placed it, instead of near the
bottom of the page. In an output medium like HTML, with hyperlinks, I
expect to jump around to see the footnote. Or if it's a "paged
medium", like PDF, I expect to see the footnote at the bottom of the
physical page or the end of the chapter, depending on some
preference. However, the ReST text file has none of these properties,
and I find it natural and convenient to locate the footnote very close
to its reference. I also note that TeX works the way I expect, for
what that's worth (I generally hate using TeX, but this is one thing I
do like about it).

-Dave

-- 
                       David Abrahams
   da...@bo... * http://www.boost-consulting.com
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