Links as footer notes (instead of inline)

Contribute Feature

AI-generated summary

The discussion revolves around the re-introduction of reference-style links as footer notes instead of inline links in Discourse. iamntz recalls that, in the past, links were automatically added at the end of posts using reference-style links, which were easier to manage, especially with multiple links. JammyDodger explains that a setting, display footnotes inline, exists but is unrelated to the desired behavior. iamntz clarifies that the issue is not about footnotes but about reference-style links, which were the default before the new editor was introduced. JammyDodger acknowledges the feature and asks if it used to happen automatically, to which iamntz confirms that the numbering was updated automatically when inserting new links. The community expresses a desire to bring back this functionality.

1

Back in the day, before the new Discourse composer, the inserted links were added at the end of the post, not inline (se below).

Wonder if this can be re-enabled in any way, as writing a post with more than a couple of links will make the editing a little nightmareish.

image
image1598×348 15.4 KB

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There’s a setting you can toggle for this, display footnotes inline:

display footnotes inline
display footnotes inline1375×336 9.53 KB

Sam has recently turned it off on meta so it should follow that behaviour on here[1][2]

Or do you mean this style[3]

Or do you mean this style[^3]

[^3]: meta.discourse.org

  1. I think ↩︎

  2. or at least if you’re not on mobile Just checked on mobile and I see non-inline ones on there too :+1: ↩︎

  3. meta.discourse.org ↩︎

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@JammyDodger This is NOT related to footnotes per se, it’s purely for links. I think it’s about Reference-style Links.

Here is a more obvious example that it includes the preview and some explanations. As you can see, the second variant is much easier to read.

image
image3159×907 270 KB

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I did not know about these. :slight_smile:

This is NOT related to footnotes per se, it’s purely for links. I think it’s about Reference-style Links

Did they used to happen automatically?

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Back in the day (like… 4-5 years ago)? Yes, that was the only option to enter links (when clicking on hyperlink icon or pressing ctrl+k). The link is then referenced by its index (but you can enter there whatever you’d want)

If you had multiple links and inserting a new link, the numbering was automagically updated.

Then the new editor came and this feature was gone :frowning:

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