Ok, so finally, after an unacceptable delay[1], Footnotes 0.9 is released. I have chosen the rather arbitrary version number 0.9 because this is still pretty much untested (except for my requirements) so I’m expecting a few bugs to be uncovered over the next few months as more people use it, and I’ll update to version 1.0 soonish.
Mark up
There are some significant changes in this version, not the least of which is how footnotes are marked up when you’re writing your posts. Because of changes in WordPress 2.0 I’ve had to abandon the previous method. My main goal when considering how to mark up the footnotes was to ensure they would degrade reasonably gracefully if the plugin was to stop working. Secondary to that, given the WYSIWYG interface in WP 2.0 and the fact I couldn’t figure out how to add a button with the functionality I wanted[2], I also wanted the mark up to be quick any easy to type.
For these two reasons I settled on ” ((” to open the footnote and “))” to close. You should carefully note the space before the first opening bracket, which is deliberate[3]. If for some reason, you or your WP install are allergic to this mark up, it is possible to change it reasonably simply[4].
Legacy Support
If the legacy support option is selected (which it is by default) Footnotes 0.9 will still render all your post that use the old mark up [5]. Additionally, if you ever edit any of your posts that use the old mark up they should be automatically upgraded to the new style[6]. I considered writing a utility that does an upgrade of all posts to ensure you’re up to date with the new version but decided it wasn’t totally necessary. Feel free to write such a utility if you have the time or energy.
Paginated Posts
I have included limited[7] support for paginated posts in this release. In order to use footnotes with paginated posts you will need to add <!–postnum=#–> directly after each <!–nextpage–> tag[8]. Where # is the number the footnotes should start on for that page.
Other features
From time to time you’re bound to need to refer to the same footnote twice[9]. To do this you will need to know what number it is[10]. Simply type “ref:#” as the footnote text and it will refer to the footnote of said number.
There have been a couple of additions to the options panel. You can now insert any text you like both before and after the link number as well as the back link. And you can still change the back link text.
Where is it? Let me at it!
Calm down, the latest version is right here get the new version.
Installation is pretty standard. Just stick the footnotes.php file into your WP-content/plugins/ directory on the server and enable the plugin in WP admin. If you’re upgrading, you shouldn’t have to do any more than replace the old file[11].
Disclaimer, etc…
- This plugin has been far from comprehensively tested.
- I see no reason why it wouldn’t work on WordPress 1.5.x but I haven’t tested it at all on anything other than WordPress 2.0.1.
- I am totally unable to guarantee any support whatsoever. I will do my best to respond to comments, fix bugs and help you trouble shoot, but if I’m busy none of that may happen[12].
- Although I see no reason why it would, I take no responsibility for it totally screwing up your database/WordPress installation. You should always have a current backup.
- I’m still not bothering to release this under a specific licence, however you are free to use it and modify it for your own use. If you wish to modify and/or redistribute it I ask that you contact me for permission by leaving a comment or using the contact form.
Change Log
0.9.1
- Fixed problems with display of back link text.
- Fixed problems with display of pre and post link text.
0.9
- Compatability with WordPress 2.0.x (includes legacy support)
- Change of mark up style.
- Additional options, including before and after link text.
- Basic support for paginated posts.
0.1
The Original which you can still download here. It’s not suitable for WP 2.0.x and it lacks a bunch of features.
- But hey, I am working for free here. [↩]
- Even with the much praised buttonsnap class, I couldn’t do it. [↩]
- It has been included so that it degrades more gracefully. If for some reason the plugin doesn’t work ((this)) looks better than((this)). [↩]
- All you need to do is edit lines 13 and 14 of the source, but keep in mind that if you do edit this after having used Footnotes for a while, it will break any footnotes using the default/previous mark up. [↩]
- However, it is not possible to mix old and new mark up in one post, that will create all kinds of havoc. [↩]
- This had to happen because the damned TinyMCE implementation has issues with the old mark up. [↩]
- By limited I mean not totally automatic and not totally valid. [↩]
- You don’t actually have to have it right after the tag, simply somewhere within that page, but you’d be stupid to put it somewhere other than right at the top. [↩]
- This is really likely to break with paginated posts. [↩]
- And that means that if you insert a new footnote above the original you will need to change the second. Confused yet? [↩]
- Although it would be wise to check the options page as there might be some weirdness. [↩]
- Even if I’m not busy, maybe I just won’t feel like it. [↩]
This plugin just mess my blog, the blog itself is still running, but right after installing the plugin, i was unable to access the post area. What i did wrong?
Well that’s not a good start! I’ll need to know a few more details to find the problem.
First up, what version of WP are you running? Second, did you receive any error messages at all? Also, was it only the post section of the WP admin you weren’t able to access?
Let me know ASAP and I’ll try and figure out what happened. BTW, I love your site design.
S.
Thanks for this plugin! It’s already getting used by yours truly. Cheers.
Hi,
your plugin is really great, but:
the back-link text isn’t displayed!
I used “[ « ]” as back-link-text, but it doesn’t get displayed - only “[ ]” is shown..
Also trying “[ back ]” results in “[ ]“..
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Kindly regards,
Martin..
Hi Martin,
Well, my lack of any half decent testing is really showing up now! I’ve released 0.9.1 which fixes that problem and another I noticed.
Cheers,
S.
I don’t think the download link is working…
Hi Simon,
no problem at all - you’ve fix it and that’s all I wanted..
Human Museum,
just right-click the download-link and choose “Save Link As” and you’re done!
Cheers guys,
Martin..
Sorry,
the tip I offered works, but the downloaded file is corrupted..
Could you fix that, too?
Yeah, sorry, I should have been more clear. The file is corrupt.
Man, I’m not having much luck here. Link should be fixed now!
S.
Yes, the link is fixed and don’t worry: luckly it works now - and that is what counts..
And the plugin works, well, it.. erm, it just kicks ass!
But I’ve got some suggestions:
~> User-definable number-style, e. h. “I. II. III.” instead of “1. 2. 3.” at the bottom of the posts where the footnotes are described
~> By default, there’s no space between “[ 1 ]” and the word before the footnote-link, e. g. “test[ 1 ]” is displayed.
~> I don’t know if it’s due to my theme (named “Firefox”, produced by hot-screensaver.com) but the footnotes aren’t displayed in a smaller font. Instead, they’ve got the normal size of the text above them..
Kindly regards,
Martin..
I had thought about user-definable number style but I don’t have the time just yet.
I didn’t want to add a space before the link by default because some people (like me) won’t want that. However, it’s easy to put one in by default; simply add a space in the “pre-link text” option.
You can style the footnotes themselves any way you like. Mine use the following CSS rules:
ol.footnotes{
font-size:.7em;
color:#666666;
}
ol.footnotes li{
list-style-type:decimal;
}
Actually, come to think of it you should really be using the CSS to change the number style as well.
S.
Well, don’t hurry - good things always take a while, right?
But I’m known to PHP so I’m going to change it myself.. 
Well, to me it seems that you use a space (at least Firefox shows one when selecting the text)..
Anyway: thanks for the hint, I’m using it right now and it’s just like it was meant to be..
Thanks for the CSS-snippet - I appreciate that very much!
As a suggestion: maybe there will be an option inside the plugin-administration for applying styles? 
Hum, that could be integrated into the administration-panel, too..
Cheers,
Martin..
P. S.: I think, I’m going to create a “Plugins that I’m using”-page within my blog and you will get a different (positively ;)) entry, because I like you (I’m not gay, but you’ll know how I mean that..
:D) and your support is simply GREAT! 
Just to say thank you very much for all your work in this plugin - it really is extremely useful, and if it were up to me I’d integrate it into the default Wordpress installation.
great plug!
why not put the link back to the footnote on the footnote number rather than using the “back” text?
Thanks for your comment, Andrew.
Clint, the reason the footnote numbers aren’t used is because the numbers are produced using the ordered-list HTML mark up and therefore, as far as I know, cannot be links.
S.
Great plugin. Nice and simple, which is good because otherwise I probably couldn’t get it to work.
I am having one problem. Quotation marks are appearing around the number which designates the footnote, and around the footnote entry at the bottom of the post. Any ideas what might be causing this? I’m using WP 2.0.1.
Thanks for a great plugin.
Hi Brian, I’m not sure what might be causing that. My first guess would be some kind of plugin compatibility issue. Can you let me know which other plugins you are using?
S.
Sure thing. I’m using Akismet, SmartyPants, and Markdown. I also thought it might have been a plugin compatibility issue so I deactivated all plugins except footnotes and the problem still persists.
Cheers,
Brian
I love this plug-in and how it displays on your site but I must confess that I can’t figure out how to use it in my posts yet. I would love to know what I need to do to include a footnote in a post. This would become my favorite plug-in if I knew how to use it correctly.
James, just as stated above:
> For these two reasons I settled on ” ((” to open
> the footnote and “))” to close.
> You should carefully note the space before the
> first opening bracket, which is deliberate.
> If for some reason, you or your WP install are
> allergic to this mark up, it is possible to
> change it reasonably simply.
HTH,
Martin..
Brian, I haven’t had a chance to follow up why you’re getting the error you are. Rest assured it’s still on my to-do list.
S.
Simon,
is the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail”-checkbox below the textbox to the right of this text introduced in WP 2.0.1 or is this a theme-related feature?
I’m asking because I’m still using WP 2.0 and the Firefox-theme of Hot-Screensaver.com and I don’t have such a checkbox..
Simon,
forget about my question and delete the comment (and this one, too ;)) - It’s showing up..
Hi Martin, it’s a plugin called Subscribe to Comments.
S.
Thanks a lot!
And I have to correct myself: indeed, I saw that plugin working with the Firefox-theme - but not on my side, I’ve mixed up the tabs.. Sorry..
Call me a noob, but can someone tell me how to use this? So sorry. I’ve installed it an activated the plugin… now what?
Pearce,
what about reading a website instead of spamming at the comments?!
Sorry to sound so “bad”, but the way how to use the plugin is clearly stated above!!
I even posted it again in the comments, just 7 posts before your comment!
hi martin, great plugin. but not everyone knows how to use your footnote. mind putting a clear instruction? like:
even though your instruction was easy but not everyone is understandable. that’s why u see ppl keep asking you “how to use”.
thanks and cheers!
Hey Simon. Sorry I didn’t respond to your last post. I must have missed it. Any chance that you’ve figured out what’s causing the quotation marks to appear in posts using the plugin?
Thanks, and don’t worry about it if you are busy. Thanks.
Well, sammie,
actually I’m not the author of this plugin - Simon is the author, I’m just kind of, erm, “Supporter” or something like that..
IMHO, the instructions above are as simple as clicking with the mouse..
Anyway, for the guys who don’t understand the instructions:
Just use “(( YOUR TEXT ))” while you type some text instead of “YOUR TEXT” which will be the footnote-text under your post.
But pay attention to the typing: it’s not (repeat: N-O-T) “foo((This is a footnote))” - instead, it’s “foo ((This is a footnote))”, so watch the white space between “foo” and “((”!
This (hopefully) explains it all..
Cheers,
Martin..
Great plugin..
But, please… how to include the CSS ?! where have I to put the code?
:/
I just find how to do.. sorry !
Hi Simon,
I got a new post which includes some footnotes, but when I’m going to save the entry, I’ll get this:
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 467892 bytes) in /www/00715/htdocs/trouble/wp-content/plugins/footnotes.php on line 72
Maybe it’s due to I’ve used a “;)”-smiley inside the footnote?
Cheers,
Martin..
There shouldn’t be any problems with the smiley. How long is the post? The only other time I’ve had a similar problem is when the length of the post was really gigantically long and I never figured out a solution.
Nicely done! I’m new to wordpress and this plugin is simple and effective. One caveat: I’d suggest using some additional CSS for the “sup” tag generated by the script and, additionally increasing the line-height of content paragraphs.
I personally used:
sup
{
font-size:1.5em;
line-height:0;
font-weight: bold;
margin-right:0.1em;
margin-left:-0.3em;
padding:0.3em 0.3em;
font-size:0.8em;
text-decoration: none;
border: none;
}
I then increased the line-height for entry paragraphs so the superimposed footnote reference does not bork the line-height.
Anyhow, I thought it might be useful to others.
Thanks for your very useful comment, jteague.
S.
Simon,
the post has a normal length (= approx. 0.5 to 1.0 the size of my screen which uses 1280 by 1024) and the post before this buggy one was almost twice the size of the buggy post and everything just went fine..
If you need any further information, just drop me a line - I’ll answer as soon as possible!
Martin,
It struck me last night as I was drifting off to sleep that something very strange is going on here. No parts of the plugin are called when a post is saved. I need to know some specifics.
Include anything else you think might be important in any way.
Cheers,
S.
Simon,
this sounds really strange..
I didn’t change anything regarding the plugins I’m currently using (no plugin-installation and no uninstallation).
Also, regarding your questions:
No, the code is totally the same as the one I’ve downloaded.. - OK, to be honest: I’ve modified the CSS-code to suit my needs, but that shouldn’t touch the PHP-code?!
Version 2.0 is currenlty running and footnotes’ version is 0.9.1.
The error occured after I hit “Save” (the post was already existing and I only modified it) and now, the error still happens - that means: I can’t access my blog due to the error message given by Firefox.
I must modify the post via phpMyAdmin in case I want to change it..
AFAIR, the post is saved, including the added sentences.
Because the plugin normal works perfectly, I don’t have any clue about other aspects which might cause this..
Regards,
Martin..
Simon,
I just wanted to ask if you’re still working on the bug/problem I’ve got because there wasn’t any reply from you since about a week now..
Cheers,
Martin..
Hi Martin, I have looked into it a couple of times, but I haven’t found the time to really sit down and nut it out. I have a few too many other projects on the go. It’s a stumper for me at the moment, but it hasn’t fallen off my to do list.
S.
Hi again,
that sounds quite busy..
But nevertheless: thanks that you’re still fighting with it! - Take your time for your projects and after finishing them there’ll be still enough time for fixing this..
So again, no need to hurry..
Cheers,
Martin..
Martin,
I’ve had another look at the error you’re getting but still no luck. I can’t even reproduce it.
Can you please email me the exact text of the post that’s giving you the error?
Email to my name at this domain.
Cheers,
Simon.
Simon,
no problem - the mail is just on its way..
Thanks so far,
Martin..
Thank you for a great plugin.
It would be great it the footnote could show where it reads “See the footnote” when hoovering the note. To create an effect similar to that of word. Can this be easily done?
Hi Jegindoe,
Great suggestion for a new feature. The title element isn’t added to the link at the moment and it would require a hack to get it to do that. But consider that feature definitely included in the next version.
S.
Simon,
this is great: my issue got resolved, a really useful feature will be added - how good can a day end (It’s 20:00 at my clock! ;)) ?
Thanks again for a absolutely great plugin!
Cheers,
Martin..
I think I found a bug, I’m not sure. I made a test post with a test footnote and it work like a butter, nice and smooth. So I decided to go into the post and edit it. I added a second footnote and it was displayed properly. So, I decided to go in and edit the post a third time, and my second footnote from the decond edit was gone from the post administration.
It’s weird, it just didn’t quite save any edits after the initial post. IS it more or ¿
I like this plug, I can definately use it clean up future posts with references in the form of footnotes, rather then a links infested paragraph, or page.
Thanks for the continued support
Hello there! I love love love this feature. I’m having only one problem…I’m not getting the [back] link at the end of my footnote. I’ve read this site twice (maybe I need to read it again) and the comments but dont’ see anything.
Can someone help?
ok i’ve re read this again and again. I saw where you posted this message in the comments section — “You can style the footnotes themselves any way you like. Mine use the following CSS rules:
ol.footnotes{
font-size:.7em;
color:#666666;
}
ol.footnotes li{
list-style-type:decimal;
}
does that mean that i makes the footnote font smaller and if not what does and where does it go?
Thanks again,
Joann
Stew, that’s an odd bug if it is a bug. I can’t seem to replicate it here though.
If you’ve only just installed it and haven’t used the old markup at all then go into the admin and disable legacy support (legacy support is the only thing that will ever acutally edit DB content). If the problem is still occuring then I can be fairly sure it’s not my plugin. If it stops then we’ve isolated the problem. Let me know how you go.
S.
Hi Joann,
I’m not sure why you wouldn’t be getting the back link. Go into footnote options (Admin->Options->Footnotes) and ensure that pre-backlink text, backlink text and post-backlink text are set.
Regards to the CSS, that css does three things. It makes the text smaller and turns it slightly grey. It also ensures that the style of the list is decimal numbers (so the numbers match up with the links).
S.
thanks sw’as…
the footnote options page reads just like you said…
pre-backlink text=[
backlink text = back
and post-backlink text = ]
As for the CSS I’ll have to play with that because i’m a little off. I have not a clue what you are talkin about. LoL. Such a newbie.
Thanks a million
Joann,
Ok, since the backlink options are set correctly, I have no idea why you aren’t getting your backlinks. What other plugins to you have installed?
S.
Hi Stew,
Thanks for looking into it in such depth. Are you running the latest stable release of WP (2.0.2) and an unaltered version of Footnotes 0.9.1? I still can’t replicate the error you’re getting after installing the widgets plugin and the updated Kubrick theme. I’ve tried both WP 2.0.1 and WP 2.0.2 with the WYSIWYG on and off.
If you’ve altered the Footnotes code or are using beta or CVS releases of WP I can’t really help further because it’s impossible for me to troubleshoot that kind of thing.
If you’re not I’m still interested in getting to the bottom of this. How can you be so sure it’s a Widgets conflict? What other widgets are you running?
Just so you know, I don’t actually ever plan to do that at this stage. Part of the reason for changing the markup style and making it ultra simple was to avoid the need to do this. To me it’s easier to render footnotes with a coupld of key strokes ((like this)) than to use the mouse and reach for a tool bar button (or even use a shortcut key for that matter).
Cheers,
S.
Simon,
I’ll look into it further and let you know what I find. I don’t remember altering any code, but it’s quite possible I did. I don’t think twice about these days and just do what I need to get the results I want.
As for WP, I’m using 2.0.1 I think, again, I’m not sure. Been too tired and busy to spend much time on the computer these days.
The fact that you can’t replicate the problem and I have the problem, it must be something on my end. I’m assuming your running the new widgets plug without any problems, so I can only assume it’s something I’ve done along the line.
I’ll play around with my code and see what happens over the next couple of weeks. Time is limited, but I’ll let you know the results.
Thanks again Simon!
Simon - just wanted to alert you to a problem I experienced with your most excellent plug-in.
By incorrectly using the tagging method (double paren’s - due to typing too fast, I opened a footnote with single parens) I caused a very hard to track down “500 Internal Server Error.” Now that I know - it will be easy to fix the next time around. But also wanted to post this here in case some other users have this issue.
Once again, thanks for the great plug-in.
Hi Doubledubs,
Thanks for your feedback. This is the same bug that caused the error discussed in detail above with Martin, although it seems to manifest itself slightly differently.
I’ll definitely be looking to fix this in the next version.
Regards,
Simon
You rule, this plug-in rules, it’s awesome. As an anal history major now working in a University Library I have a particular fondness for footnotes. I actually had custom css in one of my old websites just for formatting nice footnotes. Now, you’ve done it in the best blog software around and with a really smooth and clean implementation!
Thanks for the great feedback xyzzyb.
S.
I had a strange error.
I have post this and have footnotes.
But, then, I posted this and nothing in the post has appeared.
Have you ever encountered anything like this? I am certain it is the footnotes plugin becuase when I deactivate it, the post appears fine.
Any thoughts?
Thanks (in advance) for any time you took to look at this problem.
Just a small suggestion for plugin improvement.
Add an admin panel option to toggle ‘display footnotes on homepage’ on or off.
I have adjusted your code, to include
&& !is_home()where you render out the footnotes.It might be just me, but it looks better to have them ‘off’ on the home page.
Not having the footnotes on the homepage is also a good idea if you use a plugin like evermore that truncates posts on the homepage. It looks weird having a couple of paragraphs with footnotes for some reason.
theimbroglio,
try to add this:
&& function_exists(’runPlugin’)
to the following inside the footnotes.php (should be line 99):
if ($footnotes){
$counter = $start_number;
if ($start_number != 0) $data = $data.’
<
ol start=”‘. ($start_number + 1) .’” class=”footnotes”>’;
so that it looks like this:
if ($footnotes && function_exists(’runPlugin’)){
$counter = $start_number;
if ($start_number != 0) $data = $data.’
<
ol start=”‘. ($start_number + 1) .’” class=”footnotes”>’;
and you’re done!
HTH,
Martin..
Martin: Thanks for that, but it just seems to make the footnotes disappear. The footnote markers still appear in the text as hyperlinks, but the footnotes themselves are gone (regardless of whether I invoke the CML show/hide plugin or show or hide the text). Anything else I might try?
theimbroglio,
of course they do! - I thought that would suit best..
Anyway, there was also an error in my post: Due to the plugin (CML) uses a class, it must be “method_exists” and not “function_exists”..
Disabling the whole footnote-stuff on the frontpage, do the following:
Go to line 35 and add: if (!is_home()) {
Go to line 109, press enter and add: }
(This work-around uses a modified version of brendan’s suggestion..)
HTH,
Martin..
Sorry,
I’ve forgotten to say that you can remove the code of my previous comment because the new way is working for both, the little numbers and the notes below the post..
And while I’m tweaking this plugin, is there any way to adjust the amount of space between the end of the post and the footnotes? It’s currently very large. I tried putting a negative top margin on the OL class in the CSS but that didn’t have any effect. Any suggestions?
Go to the CSS-class for the footnotes and add this:
position:relative; top:-10px;
If you want less space, increase the size behind the dash..
I’ve been looking everywhere for a good footnote and this appears to be the perfection-easy-to-use plugin.
EXCEPT when I click on my test post footnote number, it jumps down to the footnote. But if I scroll back, without hitting the back button, all the post content, up to the numbered link I just clicked, is gone. Even if I hit the back button associated with that or another footnote, it goes back to the right spot, but there is no text above that spot.
If I click the next footnote, it does the same thing and the footnote sentence above it is now gone. If I view the source code, the text is all there, it just isn’t visible on the screen.
I’ve tried refresh and removing the CSS and a variety of tricks but all I can figure is that something is wrong with the CSS. Even when I remove all the CSS associated with the footnotes, it continues to happen. There must be something else going on in the code or the CSS, so any help would be appreciated. You can check at my testing footnotes post. I’m using WP 2.0.2. I’ve validated the HTML/XHTML and the CSS, so I’m just not getting this problem.
Thanks. And when I get this all figured out, expect a neat article about it on my site. I’ve tried the other two and this one is fabulous. If I can only solve the mystery of the disappearing text.
Oh, I just tested the page in IE (been working in Firefox) and while the font page of the site is great looking, the single post view is totally borked. I’ve run some tests but it’s getting late. I’ll have to work on fixing this later, which might fix the other problem. Who knows. I hate IE. SIGH.
Hi Lorelle,
I can’t replicate any of the problems you mention in FF 1.5.0.3. The page is totally grabled in IE, but I don’t think that’s got anything to do with Footnotes, it’s almost certainly a CSS issue.
S.
Thanks for checking. I updated and double checked all of my CSS and XHTML and everything validates and works. It looks great (except for the footnote disappearing thing - at least for me) in FF but sucks totally in IE. I’ll have to dig into that, but it worked great just a couple days before in IE. SIGH SIGH MOAN.
I’ll hit up another computer with Firefox to see if it is working there. Very strange.
Thanks!
Thanks again for your help. I don’t exactly know why, but a 10px margin in a DIV in the header cleaned everything up and it works fine. CSS stuff. Go figure.
And as for usefulness, your footnotes plugin is winning the race with the others because I can include text only and/or links. Excellent work! Thank you!
Very needed information found here, thank you for your work