marginal notes

[Chris Clemens]

In the past I have brailled marginal notes (commentaries, queries, summaries printed in the margin but not related to any specific point in the text) following the marginal note indicator (2356, 2356)in cell 7 with runovers in cell 5. No blank line was used before or after the note.

I'm having trouble determining which rule covers this situation in the new formats book. The index doesn't list any pages for the formatting of marginal notes.

Section 12 says Sidebars have a different function than marginal notes. Section 9 says an incidental note directs the reader to another source. So how do we format the "marginal note"?

[joannavenneri]

This is a different than the old Formats and it takes a little getting used to. First, the print material has to be correctly identified. It depends on whether the print is in fact, note or a sidebar. You may want to take another look at sidebars--Section 12. You might find that this supplants and now covers what used to be called marginal notes. Generally, notes have a specific reference to the text and sidebars do not. It depends on what you have. Do you have a print page you can send? Then I can explain further.

--Joanna

[joannavenneri]

I have a nutrition book with little inspirational quotes in the margin that really don't relate to anything specific in the text. For example:

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. --William Arthur Ward

In the past I would have used the marginal note indicator and brailled it in cells 7/5, attribution in cell 9. with no blank lines before or after. Would this now be considered a sidebar? If so, I assume I would put a blank line before and after, braille it in cells 1/1 and attribution in cell 5.

Is the marginal note indicator now defunct?

[Chris Clemens]

Most formatting decisions are made based on what the page looks like. That is why we usually ask to see the actual page. I can't say with certitude that you have a sidebar because I can't see it. What I have is your description, which is an interpretation of what YOU see.

Your description says that the material is in the margin and doesn't relate to anything specific in the text. Compare that to the definition of sidebar in Formats 12.2.1:
"A sidebar is detached from the main text and found in a section either off to one side of it, or above or below it, on the same page. Sidebars may or may not be linked, or related to, the adjacent text, and the reading order of sidebars and text is not always obvious." [Italics mine]

Based on your decription I would GUESS that you have a sidebar. If you agree, format it as a sidebar, according to the text layout as described in Formats. Other kinds of notes (that have a specific reference to the accompnaying text) are now called just "notes" and are used with the appropriate reference indicator and formatting as explained in Section 16. The marginal note indicator that you refer to, for notes that are now called sidebars, is indeed defunct. The trick here is to decide whether you have a note requiring a reference indicator or a note that is in fact a sidebar, which gets no reference indicator.

Does that help?

--Joanna

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