Footnotes, widows and orphans

Here are a set of commands I created for footnotes, widow and orphan control. You can use them to get started or learn how to make your own set of commands.

Footnote rules

This sets the footnote rule which appears just above the first footnote on a page.

\setlength{\skip\footins}{0.119cm}
\renewcommand\footnoterule{\vspace*{-0.018cm}
\setlength\leftskip{0pt}
\setlength\rightskip{0pt plus 1fil}
\noindent\textcolor{black}{\rule{0.25\columnwidth}{0.018cm}}\vspace*{0.101cm}}

Widow and Orphan Control

You can control widows and orphans using these commands:

\widowpenalty=300
\clubpenalty=300

Adding Todo notes

You can add this Package to add todo notes in the document as a type of comment. They do not appear in the output but serve as useful reminders for yourself what needs to be done in the section, chapter, whatever.

\usepackage{todonotes}

Then insert a note in the doc using the following:

\todo{Rewrite this answer \ldots}

At any location in the document a list of the inserted notes can be generated with the following command:

\listoftodos

Next: Defining sectioning styles