Notes to tables: numbering must restart for each new table

[thomasheritage]

I had a NOTE immediately following a Table which I've moved inside the frame of the table to comply with the ISO directives (see https://www.iso.org/sites/directives/current/part2/index.xhtml#_idTextAnchor436) based on feedback from @ERyan71258

The final row of the 3-column table is now specified by:

<tr>
  <td colspan="3"><p class="note">The value of byte 6 of the ...</p></td>
</tr>

In the rendering, the problem is that this is prefixed "NOTE 1" because there are other NOTEs in the subclause containing the Table. This is incorrect because "numbering restarts for each new table". This table has only one NOTE and so the prefix should be "NOTE" not "NOTE 1" (and of course the other NOTEs in the subclause will need to be re-numbered).

[SteveLLamb]

Can you provide example of the table you are working on? We had not done that prior (see https://pub.smpte.org/doc/st429-2/20230912-pub/index.html#table-2 as example), and is a hard break from how we have done in the past (outside the table as example shows).

Happy to update if we think this is absolutely needed.

[ERyan71258]

This is an example of a table that contains footnotes in a draft of the revision of ST 2019-1:

In the same document, this is an example of notes that are contained in footnotes to the table:

Note that in both of the above, the footnotes are contained in the last row of the table, as per ISO.

I will track down an example of a table that has notes within the cells.

[ERyan71258]

This is from a draft of ST 2136-1, on which I am also working. It shows numbered notes within a table.

• Any notes outside of the table, i.e., in the body text, is numbered independently of the notes in the table.
• In each table in which there are multiple notes, note numbering always starts at NOTE 1, even if there are multiple tables that contain multiple notes in the same clause.
• Relatedly, in any table that contains only one note, the note is not numbered, even if there are other tables in the same clause that contain one or more notes. It is simply labeled "NOTE".
• Similarly, if there are multiple tables on the same page that both contain footnotes or there are multiple tables in a clause that contain footnotes, the first footnote in each table is numbered "a".
• Unlike notes in tables, however, if there is only one footnote, it is always numbered "a".

Basically, a table is a container that is independent of other elements in the document.

[thomasheritage]

Thanks for providing the range of examples @ERyan71258

Happy to update if we think this is absolutely needed.

I think this is primarily a question of whether we want to implement this aspect of the ISO directives.

If we're going to be using NOTES (and footnotes) in Tables in Word documents then we ought to be able to do the same in HTML documents (not least to make (ultimately) converting from Word to HTML easier).

[ERyan71258]

Since footnotes and notes in tables are not often used in standards documents, then perhaps for now, we can require ISO compliance, but not build it into the tooling.

An editor can manually add a footnote to a table:

1. Insert the superscript footnote letter in the text in the table.
2. In an additional row at the bottom of the table, add the footnote.
3. Link the superscript to the footnote.
4. Repeat the above to add each additional footnote to the table. One need not add a new row to the table for each additional footnote. Just type all of the footnotes in the one additional row.

Similarly, notes in tables can be typed in the table and manually formatted to look the same as the notes outside of the table. Perhaps create a tag? The editor would number or not number the notes as required by ISO.

Without additional tooling (and correct me if I am wrong), a conversion from a Word table to an HTML table would be relatively simple, as there would be no specialized behavior pertaining to table footnotes or table notes to consider when mapping.

Regarding footnotes outside of tables, in documents with pages, footnotes are usually (although not always) displayed at the bottom of the page on which they are introduced. How does it work in the HTML document? Are they all displayed at the end of the document? Not suggesting a change, but an enhancement. Provide the footnote both as a pop-up and at the end of a document. As such, as reader can see the footnote when hovering over the superscript, and the printed version contains the footnotes at the end of the document.

Also, what happens when there is more than one reference to the same footnote? Fortunately, there are not many instances of footnotes in our documents, with the recent exception of ER 1011:2025, (an Engineering Report, not a standards document) which has over 70 footnotes. Word does not handle multiple references to a single footnote in a simple manner, but I won't go into it here.

[thomasheritage]

perhaps for now, we can require ISO compliance, but not build it into the tooling

That's an interesting idea and might work. Guidance on this would be needed in the html-pub documentation, and the tooling should probably give you an error if you put a NOTE (e.g. with <p class="note">) inside a table (because the author needs to be told to do it manually instead else the numbering is likely to be wrong).

I've authored ST 2067-206 with html-pub and it's entering pre-FCD now. The document contains, for example, a table with a single NOTE inside that's created with <p class="note"> and it's rendered "NOTE 1" because of other NOTEs in the same subclause. I'll leave it like that until this issue is concluded.

[ERyan71258]

A workaround would be to type the note, but do not tag it as a note. Then, change the font size to match the note format.

[thomasheritage]

Sorry, I should have commented on this in the meeting just now

It would be good to get a resolution on this topic (specifically "Notes to tables") because (per the above) this affects a document about to be balloted. It sounds like one of the following options should be chosen; either:

(a) Implement the ISO-specified behaviour -- specifically, ensure that NOTE "numbering restarts for each new table"

(b) Update the html-pub documentation to provide guidance on NOTEs in tables. This guidance could be either:

(b.1) Do the same as for NOTEs elsewhere in the doc and don't worry that the numbering is not ISO compliant

(b.2) Manually create NOTEs in tables so that they can be manually numbered in-line with ISO directives. Also, ideally: the tooling gives an error if you put a NOTE (e.g. with <p class="note">) inside a table (because the author needs to be told to do it manually)

Any of these options would work for me -- it would just be good to have a definitive answer to avoid any uncertainty during ballot/review.

[SteveLLamb]

I will bump this up to the top of my list for resolving one way or another. Thanks for the feedback.

[SteveLLamb]

@thomasheritage see #399, will be reviewed on next Tues in ST for approval.