9.8.2 Comments and Endnotes

Comments can be set either to the left or the right side of the chart as dictated by the side attribute. This attribute can also take the value end, which will turn the comment to an endnote. In fact endnotes are comments with their side attribute set to end. So you can convert all your comments to endnotes by redefining the side attribute of the ‘comment’ style, as below. For ease of use the comment.text and the comment.side chart options can also be used to set comment properties49.

defstyle note [text.size.normal=16, text.size.small=10];
defstyle comment [side=end];
comment.side=right;
comment.text.italics=yes;

When the chart contains comments on the side a line is drawn separating the comments from the chart text. You can change the properties of this line via the ‘comment.line.*’ chart options. Only the width, color and type of the line can be changed (not its radius or corner). You can turn this line off by selecting the ‘none’ line type. Similar, the background of the comments can be set via the ‘comment.fill.*’ chart options. These options can also be made part of designs. Finally, the space available on the side for comments can be adjusted with the hspace left|right comment command, see Spacing.


Footnotes

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These are equivalent to changing the ‘comment’ style. There is no such shortcut for endnotes, yet.