Improve Markdown import, especially with footnotes

I am suggesting a core improvement to the Markdown import–one that would make it far more useful for importing scholarly texts into PubPub.

Currently, the Markdown import does not honor footnotes or tables. The footnote issue is especially problematic, because it means that authors or editors must add footnotes by hand. This isn’t practical for longer manuscripts.

It seems that PubPub is only honoring orthodox (e.g., strict Gruber) Markdown, which does not support footnotes or tables. But many other Markdown flavors, like MultiMarkdown, provide this support. I am not sure why I think PubPub uses Pandoc–did I read it somewhere?–but Pandoc’s Mardkown flavor supports footnotes, tables and much else:

https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html

If PubPub is using Pandoc, is it possible that you are using the optional Gruber-like markdown_strict?

The ability to import footnotes, in particular, is crucial–though I realize this could be complicated, especially with the new (and exciting) plans for the end-of-Pub display blocks.

Currently, however, an md doc like:

# A document

Here is *some language*.

And a sentence with a footnote.[^1]

Here is a simple table:

| Tables        | Are           | Cool  |
| ------------- |:-------------:| -----:|
| col 3 is      | right-aligned | $1600 |
| col 2 is      | centered      |   $12 |
| zebra stripes | are neat      |    $1 |


[^1]: Footnote text

… gets imported as:

[see screenshot]

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