superscripted nos beside link text -- what is it?

**John Hosking** · Jun 27 '08, 07:15 PM

Re: superscripted nos beside link text -- what is it?

q[REMOVE-ME]@vex.net wrote:

I often see, on certain websites, to the right of link-text, a number or
letter inside angle-brackets, and superscripted (or raised slightly).
>
I've never seen anything explaining what these are or what their
significance or purpose is.

It sounds like you're just talking about footnotes, but you didn't
provide a URL to an example of one of these sites, so I can't be sure.
Footnotes don't have to be to the right of link-text, though, and can be
links themselves (actually they're the links TO the footnotes).

See for example the page at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democra...ited_States%29 ,
which has lots of footnotes, linked to from the cross-references in the
text.

If that's not what you mean, how about an example URL or two?

--
John
Pondering the value of the UIP: http://improve-usenet.org/

**Guest** · Jun 27 '08, 07:15 PM

Re: superscripted nos beside link text -- what is it?

On Mon, 19 May 2008 09:42:19 +0200,
John Hosking <John@DELETE.Ho sking.name.INVA LIDwrote:

>
If that's not what you mean, how about an example URL or two?
>

<http://www.fsf.org/blogs/>

(see beside "About", "Campaigns" , etc. What are they?

--
// rj@panix.com //
City cops & state cops & national guard & bureau cops & tv cops & movie cops
& uniform & plainclothes cops & riot cops & cops on top of cops on top of
cops on top of cops: it's a world full of cops. -- Paleface

**Jukka K. Korpela** · Jun 27 '08, 07:15 PM

Re: superscripted nos beside link text -- what is it?

Scripsit rj{REMOVE]@panix.com:

On Mon, 19 May 2008 09:42:19 +0200,
John Hosking <John@DELETE.Ho sking.name.INVA LIDwrote:

>>
> If that's not what you mean, how about an example URL or two?
>>

<http://www.fsf.org/blogs/>
>
(see beside "About", "Campaigns" , etc. What are they?

Yes, what are they? I see no "superscrip ted nos" there. Are you using
some odd browser or some browser in an odd state?

What made you think this was an HTML issue? Did you check the HTML
source before asking? The links are just something like

<a href="http://www.fsf.org/about" class=""
accesskey="v">

About

</a>

which is clueless, with an empty class and with the
accessibility-hostile accesskey attribute (used very cluelessly by
assigning the same value to different links), but it does not cause any
fancy "superscrip ted nos", except perhaps on a fancy browser that
displays accesskey assignments that way (and that would indeed be odd,
though possible in this clueless world).

The links are awfully designed, using nonstandard link color, destroying
distinction between unvisited and visited links, SHOUTING, THAT IS ALL
CAPITALS, but this damage has been created with carefully crafted CSS,
not HTML.

--
Jukka K. Korpela ("Yucca")

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

**John Hosking** · Jun 27 '08, 07:16 PM

Re: superscripted nos beside link text -- what is it?

rj{REMOVE]@panix.com wrote:

On Mon, 19 May 2008 09:42:19 +0200,
John Hosking wrote:

> If that's not what you mean, how about an example URL or two?
>>

<http://www.fsf.org/blogs/>
>
(see beside "About", "Campaigns" , etc. What are they?
>

Well, I'm no wiser.

I don't see in IE6 or FF2 what you seem to see. Are you perhaps using
Netscape 4? (The page has references to nine different style sheets,
which is more than some sites have pages.) At least one style sheet
purports to support NN4, so maybe you're getting something *special* in
whatever UA you're using. (The styles also include the obligatory
font:85%, pixel-based sizing, redundant definitions of repeated
properties being defined reduntantly, etc. So, no telling.)

--
John
Pondering the value of the UIP: http://improve-usenet.org/

superscripted nos beside link text -- what is it?

superscripted nos beside link text -- what is it?

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