[Scribus] Footnotes

[Gregory Pittman]

Mikhail Ramendik wrote:
> Hello,
>
> As I understand, footnote support is actually not present in Scribus now.
>
> I wanted to try doing it through scripting. But I have some questions:
>
> - Would scripting contain sufficient functionality? (Reading text with 
> discerning styles, resizing text bozxes on individual pages, moving a text 
> bot to another page are likely to be key)
>
> - Is anyone presently working, or has anyone tried in the past, to implement 
> footnotes? (Whether in the main code or by scripting)
>
> I have some Python experience but no real C++ experience, so fi scripting is 
> not enough, I'm not likely to be helpful.
>   
I think the basic problem with implementing footnotes in Scribus has to 
do with the fact that it is a layout program working with frames in a 
space that has no content other than those frames. So if a footnote was 
indicated in a body of text in a frame, where would the actual footnote 
go? For many of the uses that Scribus is put to, footnotes would make no 
sense.
That having been said, with the introduction of automatic text frames, 
there may be something similar that can be done for footnotes in the 
future. It would also be nice to have something like an offshoot of 
automatic page numbering, since conceptually that  would be good for 
footnote numbering.

If you want to do some work and experiment, I would consider this sort 
of environment  to work in:
- Enter your superscript for the footnotes in the text frame.
- In a separate frame, or perhaps in a text file outside of Scribus, 
enter the footnote content, so that you then place this footnote 
wherever you feel is appropriate. Of course, end notes will be something 
more easily accomplished and edited. You will no doubt want to set up a 
Paragraph Style for your footnotes.
- If you're interested in scripting to have some semi-automation of the 
process, have a look at this:
http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/Importing_addresses_from_a_text_file
With some modification, this could allow you to create a single plain 
text file containing all the footnote content, then import into Scribus 
with a script, creating a new text frame for each foot note, placed at a 
location of your choice on each Document page. The script creates new 
pages (scribus.newDoc()), but with changes (scribus.haveDoc()) could use 
an existing one. You could also dump all frames on a new page and move 
later.
A general principle I would recommend is to use scripts for repetitive, 
automatic tasks, but make use of Scribus's built-in features for the 
things it does well, like tweaking layout and working with individual 
elements.

If you come up with something that you like and works well, let us know 
and we'll find a way to get it on the Wiki to help others.

Greg