Here's how to do it
Although side notes are relatively easy to produce with a desktop publishing program, they can be quite bothersome on the Web. That does not say, however, that it can't be done: it is just time-consuming. Adding a table row for each paragraph that needs a side note is one way to do it. The side note would be placed in a cell adjacent to the text cell. Frankly, that is a clumsy solution that takes a great deal of time to execute. A more sophisticated approach would involve manipulating the <p style> tag introduced in HTML 4. That coding could be inserted in a word processing file before dumping it onto the Web page. The coding for the second block follows:
<p style="margin-right: 420px"><b>Use vertical and horizontal space adjustments</b></p>
<p style="margin-left: 220px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -72px" align="left">Everything you . . .
Of course, the "margin top" value (to bring the paragraph in line with the note) would would depend upon the number of lines in the side note. The designer is limited to placing the side note adjacent to the top of the text paragraph in both procedures described.
Everything you and I write fights for life in the information jungle. Everything! Communication theorists claim that written material has only three seconds to catch the reader's attention. Winston Churchill said, “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then a third time–a tremendous whack.”
Use vertical and horizontal space adjustments
Everything you and I write fights for life in the information jungle. Everything! Communication theorists claim that written material has only three seconds to catch the reader's attention. Winston Churchill said, “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then a third time–a tremendous whack.”
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