I'm wondering if there's a way of attaching (besides "Conform To" and "Parent To") a character's foot to a floor (as an example). Then, I'd like to be able to move or tip the character's hip, or bend the character's abdomen or chest, and still have the foot remain attached on the floor. The result would be an arc in the character's body without having the character float away from the floor.

Is there a way to accomplish this?

I can't think of any way to do that without parenting the foot. What's wrong with turning leg IK on and parenting the foot to the floor?

If you turn IK on for the leg, the foot will not move unless 1. you move the BODY or 2. You move the HIP too far away. You dont need to parent anyrhing .

Same for the hands. 

 I can try the IK route again. But, sometimes I've had trouble in that the figure gets distorted. Or, sometimes just the limb. I.E., if I turn on IK for the leg and then start moving the hip or abdomen, the leg may get all twisted up. 

Any tips on how to avoid that problem. 

Make your adjustments in small increments.  Grasping the body part and just moving it every which way while IK is on will lead to utter disaster.  If you get too carried away, Ctrl + z will restore the previous pose.

1. Place a small primitive on the floor.
2. Set "point at" for the foot to the primitive
3. make the primitive invisible

 Ah, these both sound like good tips. Thank you. I imagine the "point at" with the primitive is in addition to using IK. Is that right? I'm going to try it.

 IT should work without IK

 I've just tried it. I used both together for one character, and just the IK for the other character. Worked like a charm. I guess I was trying to move the character too quickly and too radically, which hborre cautions against above. Also, sometimes I tried to pull the limb I put the IK on. I guess I should move any part BUT the limb the IK is on, huh?

Well, thank you all very much for your help. I'm getting new enjoyment out of Poser.

With IK on you will find the translate dials for the foot become visible. That is how you position the foot and ik will adjust the leg. You can adjust the leg a little bit but the foot wont move.  Use the dials and you should not have problems.  Sometimes the leg goes wierd, just select the upper leg and shin and set the rotate dials to 0 , IK will recalculate.

 Hi, markschum:  These look like very good tips. I didn't know this about the translate dials at all. Thank you.