Prose for Relationships, Lists for Enumeration
DOCS-PROSE-FOR-RELATIONSHIPS-LISTS-FOR-ENUMERATION
Summary
Use prose when causality, contrast, or priority matters, and lists when enumerating parallel items. The shape should reveal the relationship instead of hiding it in bullets.
Rule
Use prose for relationships and lists for enumeration.
Why
Lists are good for fields, steps, options, and checks, but weak for explaining causality. When every sentence becomes a bullet, the reader loses the relationship between ideas: why one tradeoff matters, how a failure unfolds, or when to choose one path over another.
Helps
- Makes explanations coherent while keeping procedural or enumerated material easy to scan.
Limits
Use lists when the order or set matters. Use prose when the point is relationship, cause, contrast, or judgment.
Agent Instruction
Use prose for relationships and lists for enumeration because lists are good for fields, steps,
options, and checks, but weak for explaining causality.Mechanisms
Supported by structure review, page-mode review, and edits that merge low-signal bullets back into paragraphs when the bullets are really one explanation.