The most common reference mark for footnotes is a raised number,
incremented on each footnote. The \numberedfootnote
macro provides this. It takes one argument, the footnote text.
If your document uses only numbered footnotes, you could make typing
\numberedfootnote more convenient with a command such as:
\let\footnote = \numberedfootnote
After doing this, you can type your footnotes as
\footnote{footnote text}, instead of as
\numberedfootnote{footnote text}.
Eplain keeps the current footnote number in the count register
\footnotenumber. So, to reset the footnote number to zero,
as you might want to do at, for example, the beginning of a chapter, you
could say \footnotenumber=0.
Plain TeX separates the footnote marker from the footnote text by
an en space (it uses the \textindent macro). In Eplain, you can
change this space by setting the dimension register
\footnotemarkseparation.
The default is still an en.
You can produce a space between footenotes by setting the glue
register \interfootnoteskip.
The default is zero.
\parskip is also set to zero by default before the beginning of
each footnote (but not for the text of the footnote).
You can also control footnote formatting in a more general way:
Eplain expands the token register \everyfootnote
before a footnote is typeset, but after the default values for all the
parameters have been established. For example, if you want your
footnotes to be printed in seven-point type, indented by one inch, you
could say:
\everyfootnote = {\sevenrm \leftskip = 1in}
By default, an \hrule is typeset above each group of footnotes
on a page. You can control the dimensions of this rule by setting
the dimension registers \footnoterulewidth
and \footnoteruleheight.
The space between the rule and the first footnote on the page is
determined by the dimension register \belowfootnoterulespace.
If you don't want any rule at all, set \footenoteruleheight=0pt,
and, most likely, \belowfootnoterulespace=0pt. The defaults for
these parameters typeset the rule in the same way as plain TeX: the
rule is 0.4 points high, 2 true inches wide, with 2.6 points below it.
The space above the rule and below the text on the page is controlled
by the glue register \skip\footins. The default is a plain TeX
\bigskip.