footnotes appearing in header

@pewgeuges

Thanks a bunch for your continued help!!!

Just updated to to 2.1.10 and the underline is gone – excellent!!

However, the tooltip still does not seem to work for us.

Also discovered another error, haha – sorry for that. However, it seems that if “combine identical footnotes” is activated, only the very first footnote jumps down to the reference list. As you can check here: https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/investigating-permafrost-degradation-churchill-manitoba/ – footnoes 4, 8 and 13 are the same. Yet if I click on 8 or 13 nothing happens, only if clicking on 4.

@andreasra

Thank you. I missed out on the footnote numbers; these are supported in the new developer v2.1.1d1, where these <?a?> elements too are given a class, re-using more purposefully the legacy link class.

More importantly, in case it matters, jQuery?UI from CDNJS will now be loaded in the header. Turns out it wasn’t loaded at all, despite its IP address is prefetched. The actual download link is not part of the page source, while in my local instance it is. If it keeps being blocked, let’s revert to standard enqueuing and look further.

I’m sorry that your website too is impacted by one of the plugin’s two most disturbing bugs: the one affecting combined footnotes. It’s in our pipeline https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/ongoing-issues-despite-having-updated-to-v2-1-0/#post-13636936

Independently of the bug, in publishing web pages I see an issue with re-using the same note multiple times https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/image-caption-21/#post-13611971

A recommended solution is adding value by citing the exact page number in each instance. After a full citation the first time, next instances will shorten to authors names and year, plus page number or figure reference. Please take it as no more than a suggestion.

Best regards.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.

@pewgeuges

Thanks a bunch again for all the detailed explanation. Just installed the latest development version but it seems nothing changed with the tooltip; at least not with the link I provided earlier using it in various different browsers.

Thanks also for the feedback on the combined footnotes. I actually like your recommended solution. Will discuss it with our editor. I do like the combined version as sometimes our pieces are very academic and folks provide plenty references.

Sorry for not providing better info on the tooltip though!

@andreasra

Thank you. No problem. Now the download link is in the header but I also got aware that we must thoroughly overhaul the tooltip script for it to work under jQuery?UI. I hope that will be fixed, and I’ll post here as soon as 2.1.1d2 is available, to look whether it will be able to fulfill.

About combined footnotes, I now see the point in not pointing to precise locations in academic papers when writing articles intended for the general public. The goal is to avoid that the article looks too academic, and to keep the references list minimal by collapsing items referring to the same paper, but to stick with full citations, never using author-date shorthands.

On the other hand, citing page numbers has a number of upsides:

1. Footnotes are adding more than authority, they’re adding content as visitors can easily read more about the sourced topic. For sources longer than 3?pages, page numbers come in handy.
2. When supposed to actually dig deeper, readers are more valued, even when lacking the time to proceed.
3. Adding a unique detail to each repeated reference works around the shortcomings of both footnote combination systems on the web:

• Inspired by print publishing, the mainstream system re-uses footnote numbers but falls short of providing any usable user experience as it cannot help resorting to a row of disambiguated backlinks—not very useful when referrers are not disambiguated.
• This plugin provides no inline clue allowing to identify extensively repeated footnotes. And in the list, the numbers of those footnotes may clutter the first column in the reference container, possibly triggering its enlargement, at the expense of the container’s overall layout.

Your feedback and website references help a lot for the Footnotes plugin to complete its migration from jQuery?Tools to jQuery?UI.

And to deal with bottom borders, becoming more cross-theme compatible in the process.

Thank you!

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.

@andreasra

I didn’t get so far but found errors about enqueuing the libraries registered by WordPress needed for tooltips. v2.1.1d2 is now available at https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/footnotes.zip

To get clarity I printed out the libraries currently included in WordPress, among which:

    [jquery-ui-tooltip] => _WP_Dependency Object
        (
            [handle] => jquery-ui-tooltip
            [src] => /wp-includes/js/jquery/ui/tooltip.min.js
            [deps] => Array
                (
                    [0] => jquery-ui-core
                    [1] => jquery-ui-widget
                    [2] => jquery-ui-position
                )

            [ver] => 1.11.4
[…]

These four are now properly enqueued along with jQuery Core.

Yet, jQuery?Tools (shipped with the plugin) is still indispensable for the tooltips to show up, because else there seems to be a problem (“TypeError: jQuery(…).tooltip is not a function”). Still, on its own, this library is unable to display the tooltips since WordPress v5.5.

I assume that the tooltips worked on thearcticinstitute.org up to WordPress v5.4 until August?11.

Hopefully v2.1.1d2 will allow the tooltips to come back.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.

@pewgeuges
Cannot thank you enough for keep on trying, but however and sorry, the latest development version didn’t change anything. Uploaded it but unfortunately no tooltip yet.

Honestly, I have no idea if tooltips worked before. Actually I wonder if it ever did – cannot recall really to have ever seen tooltips (thus I was also wondered what tooltips are when you mentioned them). Maybe it’s related to our (old) theme?

@andreasra

Many thanks for your feedback. You are welcome. Unfortunately I’m unable to look closely into the Arctic?Institute theme to try to find out and cannot figure out either how tooltips would be impeached other than through the script library issues the world is facing these months.

Whatever, a new development version is available at https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/footnotes.zip 2.1.1d3 comes with an optional alternative tooltip implementation relying on the style sheet and no more than two JavaScript functions, one to show and one to hide the tooltips.

These tooltips have a fixed width and are unable to adapt to the window edge, but the widget column to the right on thearcticinstitute.org might suffice on desktop devices to always keep the tooltips fully visible no matter if the footnote referrer occurs at line end.

Transitions and predelays (mainly before fading-out) shall be added and be subject to customization if the proof of concept meets requirements of user experience design principles.

Being optional, these tooltips can be enabled on the plugin’s dashboard under the Customization tab > Mouse-over box > Enable alternative tooltip implementation. Best would be to set all three select boxes to Yes and save this settings tab.

If tooltips start showing up, they need to adapt to graphic charts and organization policies. Not all site owners do want them.

On our side we’re also working along the lines imposed by the market and WordPress catching up. Ideally the plugin should make a fully-fledged use of jQuery?UI—

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.

@pewgeuges

Guess what, installed latest development version and the tooltip works: https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/carbon-three-observations-life-death-uncertainty-permafrost/

Thank you!! Excellent – looks great to me!!

Any other feedback I could provide you with?!

@andreasra

Thanks for testing! Now the promised CSS animation has been added and is in 2.1.1d5 at https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/footnotes.zip The primary goal was to provide the same service level with both implementations, i.e. fade-in and fade-out durations of 200ms and, new, a fade-out predelay of 400ms because sometimes it may be hard to enter the tooltip to click on links or read-on. All these values,need to become customizable along with width (already for standard tooltips), yet we’re still facing the two major bugs: combined notes dead links and excerpt malfunctioning, that must be priority.

When shipping the new feature with the next release, default will be standard tooltips, but as seen at test, it seems that your current setting Yes to alternative tooltips will remain when updating.

The nearly Shalimar background color was default for the Footnotes tooltips until in 2.0.7 it was set to white, that is currently preferred e.g. on Wikipedia. If the current beige background came in from the legacy default setting, I’d suggest sticking with white as a good fit for the Arctic Institute’s color chart.

Every feedback you do post is very welcome and helps us a lot to improve the software. Please feel free!

E.g. about durations: Up to v2.0.4, the tooltips’ fade-out speed was 2?seconds, the new value brought in for v2.0.0. Then it was divided by 10 (but still longer than the original 100ms). Part of our users appreciate the short transition, while others love the long transition. We really need to add settings for all these parameters. Tooltips showing and disappearing abruptly are much easier to implement, but this behavior tends to be disliked as we got accustomed to animations. On the other hand it may be preferred for conveying a sense of urgency. On our side we must provide the most state-of-the art features, or we’d fall short of our duty. You may wish to customize these settings instantly; if so, please navigate to wp-content/plugins/footnotes/css/public.css and look for these style rules (around line?#100):

/*
fade-in parameters
*/
.footnote_tooltip.shown {
    visibility: visible;
    opacity: 1;
    transition-property: visibility opacity;
    transition-duration: 200ms;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-delay: 0ms;
}
/*
fade-out parameters
*/
.footnote_tooltip.hidden {
    visibility: hidden;
    opacity: 0;
    transition-property: visibility opacity;
    transition-duration: 200ms;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-delay: 400ms;
}

?
We were very concerned while the footnotes’ tooltips didn’t work for your organization. But as it was being solved—I’d like to add this bit even on this support Forum—I was so depressed I made a case for no tooltips. Because it’s about writing our planet Earth’s obituary. It makes me cry.

?
We really should note it on every wall. The Arctic?Institute is doing a great job in spreading the word.

Thank you so much!!!

@andreasra

I’m sorry that when downloading and updating, you still got v2.1.1d4 without the CSS animations but fixing the jQuery obsolescence issue triggering warnings and repeatedly reported, lastly by @maxident and acknowledged with our update in https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/jquery-issues-13/#post-13652161

I committed well ahead of replying to your latest post. The commit datestamp is 2020-11-12 18:17:28 +0000 (Thu, 12 Nov 2020). The receipt subject was: [WordPress Plugin][2417401] footnotes/trunk: development version 2.1.1d5: added CSS animation to alternative tooltip implementation IN RESPONSE TO USER ON THE SUPPORT FORUM
(The uppercase was used with respect to the WordPress policy to not use the SVN repository as a development platform. Hence every commit should be motivated by the need to make the update available for download. That is a good policy because the process is very resource consuming. For development we’re advised to use GitHub.)

My apologies for not checking if the platform did update https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/footnotes.zip Updates were often very quick, so I didn’t suspect past evening that the elapsed time, actually 50?minutes, was not enough. Lesson learned.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.

@pewgeuges
Thanks again for the detailed explanation and the provided updated. Just uploaded and it everything seems to work. Yet you might want to check footnote one in our latest articel: https://thearcticinstitute.org/carbon-three-observations-life-death-uncertainty-permafrost/

It seems the link is too long for the tooltip.

Otherwise, again, looks great. Fading out works well – I do not think I need to change anything in that regard. Colourwise, maybe I misunderstand but the tooltip does not come with a white background (as default) but with a yellowish one (#fff7a7). Will try how it looks with a white background.

@andreasra

Thank you very much for your feedback! The line breaking behavior is now fixed in v2.1.1d6, committed and already available at https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/footnotes.zip It depends on how the browser handles it, whether the browser conforms to the Unicode Standard or not with respect to that. The Standard specifies that only short strings like ‘1/2’ or ‘before/after’ should have non-breaking slashes, whereas for URLs that rule is overridden by another one specifying that long strings should be conveniently broken at a slash. Firefox conforms to Unicode and displays tooltip?#1 this way:

Doucleff M (2018) Is There a Ticking Time Bomb
Under the Arctic? NPR, 24 January,
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01
/24/575220206/is-there-a-ticking-time-bomb-
under-the-arctic. Accessed on 6 November 2020

But from now on, the hyperlinks in the tooltips will be broken in a foolproof way:

.footnote_tooltip a {
    word-wrap: anywhere;
}

The downside of that rule is to impact readability, but I think it’s better than having URLs hang out of the tooltip.

I’m relieved that the default timing is convenient. (Nevertheless it shall become easily customizable ASAP.)

Sadly the other default, the color, seems to be fixed in the database. A test has shown that any setting is saved to DB right from installation and will never change again unless requested. The only way would have been to edit the setting’s ID, but that would break established installs. I’m sorry not to have thought at considering these things when posting.

Rounded corners are currently disliked too, but the plugin came with a 3-pixel border radius for tooltips. By the time, even rounder corners were liked.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges.

@andreasra

The fix for the broken links will be in upcoming v2.1.1 and is already available in our current development version 2.1.1d7 at https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/footnotes.zip

Apologies again for the long lasting problem impacting your organization and your visitors.

Best regards.

@pewgeuges

Happy weekend – everything works perfectly fine. Just installed 2.1.1d7!

Again, thanks so much for all your help over the last few days.

Truly great plugin you have developed!!

@andreasra

Thank you, same to you! Welcome! Thanks for your appreciation! It’s an honor for me to have been allowed to join this project.

@lolzim has found out that disabling external style sheets in a page of your website fixed the jQuery tooltips: https://ibb.co/6t2wjRx is with script library support, to automatically resize both to content and to window edge. These tooltips never hang out of the window, and they adapt to content while a maximum width can be set in the plugin’s dashboard. I got a similar result when opening locally a page saved from your website to investigate: https://ibb.co/54hgXKw (the mouse pointer was pointer-shaped, I didn’t get it right on the screenshot).

After that, @lolzim re-enabled the linked style sheets, and saw CSS tooltips showing up instead, with a huge right-padding when the note text is short: https://ibb.co/Dp070SY From that we see that script-driven tooltips are more interesting and may look more professional in some circumstances than the lean tooltips implemented for your sake and because the heavy script use raised criticism, as @paulgpetty posted 16?days ago: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/functionally-great/

The fixed width of the CSS tooltips is because when adding the position:relative rule to the outer span, the inner span i.e. the tooltip gets narrow, so I gave it a fixed width, hence the room left after very short notes. Yet we can’t advise you to disable the theme’s external stylesheet, nor can I seem to find out the rule responsible of disabling the jQuery tooltips. I can’t even test, since when checking locally, the jQuery tooltips show up anyway when enabled—which they aren’t anymore while the alternative tooltips are.

It makes me feel guilty right now as having you provided with an “unprofessional” solution.

Okay, “professional” is in the eye of the beholder and depends on whether heavy script use is considered wasteful or not. Thinking hard enough: A website without even jQuery, like @paulgpetty is suggesting. seems to come closer to the Arctic?Institute’s concept, now much about the on-going and ever-worsening climate crisis!

I’m sorry to keep spinning this thread, but I must confess that the alternative tooltips are not mobile-ready either (while ignoring whether the jQuery ones currently are). It’s hard to get it right for everybody, still if we could fix the website’s linked style sheets, you might eventually wish to switch back to the original tooltips.

Sorry also to mention that the information about external style sheets came up only 3?days ago when the alternative tooltips were ready. I was convinced that this was the way to go, without any project decision “we need CSS/JS tooltips, go ahead”.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by pewgeuges. Reason: added last paragraph