PaperQueen

@Joerg Thoeming & @Jozef
Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums and for your input to this thread   As you can see Dave Harris, one of the developers most likely to work on these features is posting here directly so thanks for your patience while we implement any new features.
 

This discussion went emotional and a liitle off the merit. The facts are:
Publisher is much too good to be used only for stunning commercial /artistic flyers or brochures. Any book or publication, just above the aforementioned type, must have a functionality of internal referencing to the text ( footnotes or endnotes are examples of). Those users, who seem to be surprised by the lack of this functionality are, in my opinion, the within the core of the Affinity applications. People of science, applied art etc. So it is not a matter of "if" but of "when" or "how".  Maybe a temporary workaround using a "branch link" to a text frame located at the footer combined with index finction would be possible ?

Thanks for the insight, Dave. Like others here, my work is academic and research-based, thus the need for citation footnotes (and a corresponding mobile version of the app, since much of my research is done in repositories, but hey---one thing at a time, right?). 
When foot/end note capability is introduced, I hope they'll function inside table cells too. That critical element is sometimes overlooked by developers. 
Looking forward to future iterations of Publisher....

Thanks for the update fellas, but it really does not solve my problem.
 
I do not understand why Publisher  is taking so long.  Originally we were promised bite by 4th quarter 2016, now, according to the latest (mis)information it will be 4th quarter 2017.  Many of us switched to Affinity based on what we were told, i.e., 2016, now we are being told 2017.  Hardly fair on us and no wonder we are getting somewhat annoyed.
 
It would IMHO be preferable to get one suite complete before using programming resources to encompass other OSs, i.e. Windows.

To add to the comment by pauls, this link to the Smithsonian Institute might help...
http://siarchives.si.edu/services/forums/collections-care-guidelines-resources/help-making-documents-more-legible
 
This is an elements guide, but it should translate in APh...
http://www.essential-photoshop-elements.com/making-a-hazytextimage-readable.html
 
HTH
 
peter

Use a levels adjustment layer and drastically move the sliders and see if that helps make the text more legible (Layer, New Adjustment Layer, Levels Adjustment)