Wikipedia:Advanced footnote formatting

The topic of advanced footnote formatting involves techniques of indentation and line-splitting, such as for long URL webpage names, when coding footnotes in an article. For example:

   In [[digital imaging]], a pixel<ref>
      Rudolf F. Graf, ''Modern Dictionary of Electronics'',
      1999, Newnes, Oxford, page 569, isbn=0-7506-43315,
      Google Books (''see below:'' References).</ref>
   (or picture element) is the smallest part of an image.

In the above example, each part of the ref-tag footnote is indented (3 spaces) from the left margin.

There are numerous styles for displaying footnotes (or endnotes) in a Wikipedia article. There are also many predefined footnote templates, but with limitations, so (as of January 2009), footnotes also can be hand-formatted to best fit each article.

Indenting and line-splitting

A very long footnote can be indented and line-split, as in the following example that uses Template:Cite_book with a long URL for a webpage from Google Books:

  In [[digital imaging]], a '''pixel'''<ref>{{Cite book
     | author=Rudolf F. Graf | date=1999 | publisher=Newnes
     | title=Modern Dictionary of Electronics | location=Oxford
     | isbn=0-7506-43315 | page=page 569
     | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=o2I1JWPpdusC&<!--
     -->pg=PA569&dq=pixel+intitle:%22Modern+Dictionary<!--
     -->+of+Electronics%22+inauthor:graf&<!--
     -->lr=&as_brr=0&ei=5ygASM3qHoSgiwH45-GIDA&<!--
     -->sig=7tg-LuGdu6Njypaawi2bbkeq8pw}}</ref>
  (or picture element) is the smallest part of an image.

Note the above line-splitting of the 5-line URL (for the webpage in Google Books) uses the HTML comment tokens "<!--" and "-->". Each part of the footnote coding is placed on a separate line, thereby allowing each part to be indented from the lefthand side. There must be no spaces added to the URL (which is a single string of characters where spaces are coded "%20"). Do not add spaces before "<!--" or after "-->" within the URL. However, when splitting an italicized phrase or long wikilink ("[[xx xx xx]]"), consider putting a space after "-->" on the 2nd line.

Similar indentation has been used for many decades, as in computer programming, to visually separate sections of text. The indented lines typically reflect a lower-level of details (or lower-level of "abstraction" ) than the level of the outer lines. Indenting the footnote coding can help clarify sections of text that contain several footnotes, as is typical in large articles.

For over 3 years, Wikipedia has used similar line-splitting of infobox coding, putting infobox template parameters on separate lines. Decades of usage has shown that leading vertical-bars ("|") are less error-prone than trailing vertical-bars placed at the end of a line. Because leading bars can be aligned down a column, they are more easily proofread than ending bars, which tend to zig-zag along a ragged right margin.

Page numbers

Although the issue of page numbers might not seem very advanced, many Wikipedia footnotes to books or journals have omitted the page numbers. Without specific page numbers, the verification of text can be extremely tedious for large books or magazines, like finding a needle in a haystack. In footnote templates, there is often confusion between the parameters "page=15" and "pages=750":

• page=15   or   page=79-81   - the specific page(s) in the book/journal/etc.
• page=page 15   - show "page 15" in the footnote.
• pages=750   - the total pages (often displayed as "pp. 750").

The exact usage of parameters can vary from template to template. Some URLs reveal a page-number parameter (such as "pg"). For example, in weblinks to Google Books, the parameter "pg=PA569" indicates "page 569" will be linked from that book.

Deferring details

Another major technique for clarify text, with many footnotes, is to defer the footnote details to later parts of the article, such as using named ref-tags and putting "see: External links" for URLs. For example, listing 3 footnotes:

   In digital imaging, a pixel<ref name=MD/><ref name=AD/><ref name=DE/>
   (or picture element) is the smallest part of an image. The word
   "pixel" has been in use since before 1964.<ref name="MD">
      Rudolf F. Graf, ''Modern Dictionary of Electronics'',
      1999, page 569 (''see below:'' External links).
   </ref><ref name="AD">
      John Q. Public, ''Another Tech Dictionary'',
      2009, page 476-477 (''see below:'' External links).
   </ref><ref name="DE">
      Disco Dave Citizen, ''Disco Electronics Dictionary'',
      1978, page 340 (''see below:'' External links).</ref>

In the above example, the 3 footnotes are reduced to just short ref-name tags at first, then later expanded to show more details. However, they defer the extreme details for publisher, ISBN, and webpage-URL links to be contained as entries under "External links". Using that advanced method, no publisher names, ISBN numbers or long URL names appear in the upper article text for those 3 footnotes.

Each full footnote is coded within 3 lines of text, even though indented and pinpointing the page numbers. The tedious details are all deferred into the section "External links" (or "References") at the bottom of the article. The separation is possible by repeating the author name and title at the bottom. So, full footnotes become a 3-line indentation, rather than the typical 6-9 line blobs that clutter typical article text.

Advancement shock

Even though the basic ideas of advanced footnote format are simple, there are many people who will fight against indenting the footnote coding (yet readily accept infoboxes coded down the page). There are also other people who might insist that the first footnote reference be a typical 9-line blob with full URL details, cluttering the text. They will reject a top footnote such as a "<ref name=MD/>" which defers details to later.

It might be possible to get those people to read this essay, but if not, don't try to fight people with severe mindsets. Just move on to one of the other millions of Wikipedia articles that need footnote clarification.

See also

• Wikipedia:Citation templates - about Template:Cite_web, etc.
• Wikipedia:Footnotes - Wikipedia policy page about footnotes.
• WP:GUIDE - Wikipedia policy WP:Guide_to_layout for article format.
• indent
• abstraction - the concept of removing, or hiding, details.
• Harvard referencing