Text Formatting ⇒ footnotes: indented vs hanging?

[magister]

I notice that the LaTeX classes (at least all the ones I've tried) generate footnotes with the first line indented. A quick, unscientific sampling--looking at some books I happen to have around--suggests that current preference is for notes with numbers hanging to the left of the footnote text. I have indeed seen books with LaTeX-style footnotes, but they are all relatively old, except for one that I know was typeset using LaTeX. Is there a generally accepted practice today? Is LaTeX out of date? Or are there other issues, such as European vs American usage? (All my sample books are from the U.S.) I personally find it easier to identify the numbers if they are hanging, not indented.

Thanks - David

[Keta]

That is purely a matter of the designer. A quick look at some of my books shows that both hanging and indented footnotes are present. It might be that different styles are generally followed in different countries or regions, but LaTeX's default is just the style they decided to use, nothing out of date.

The default form of footnotes can be changed at desire, so you can achieve any layout you'd like.

[magister]

The default form of footnotes can be changed at desire

Yes, I know. I was just wondering if there was a consensus about which style to use, aside from personal preference. If anybody knows of a situation (region, language, academic discipline) in which one style is preferred over the other, I'd like to know.

[Keta]

I see what you mean now. I have no idea of what guidelines are followed in each place, it would be nice to know indeed. The only book I have with me right now concerning style is Bringhurst and it recommends to use outdented numbers, and while at the main text the footnote mark appears as a superscript, at the note itself the number should be the same size as the note text.