The thing is, I do like to see details and I'm curious. That's why I check them in the first place. But we can't know beforehand whether it's useful or not.
This is true for both footnote and side note, but for footnotes I can give it a glance to see if I want to read it thoroughly after reading the whole page, whereas for side notes, they are so easy and tempting to be seen. I feel the point of notes is that they do not interrupt the main flow but side notes put them on almost equal footing in terms of attracting attention as the main content.
Besides, footnote/side notes should be kept minimal, otherwise the note becomes the main content. I find articles with side notes often overuse them. Yeah, if they are kept minimal I guess both approaches are fine.
This is true for both footnote and side note, but for footnotes I can give it a glance to see if I want to read it thoroughly after reading the whole page, whereas for side notes, they are so easy and tempting to be seen. I feel the point of notes is that they do not interrupt the main flow but side notes put them on almost equal footing in terms of attracting attention as the main content.
Besides, footnote/side notes should be kept minimal, otherwise the note becomes the main content. I find articles with side notes often overuse them. Yeah, if they are kept minimal I guess both approaches are fine.