variant-table

# Variant Table Turn a piece of draft copy into a side-by-side comparison table so the user can compare wording options per unit and pick. ## When to use Any time the user is refining wording and would benefit from seeing distinct options laid out rather than a single rewrite. Works for any content type: social posts, headlines, taglines, email lines, bios, CTAs, microcopy, doc sentences, spec bullets, commit messages. Content-agnostic - never assume it is a LinkedIn post. ## Output format A markdown table. One row per logical unit of the source. Columns: | # | Current | A - <angle> | B - <angle> | C - <angle> | My pick | - **#** - unit index plus a 1-2 word role label in parens, e.g. `1 (hook)`, `4 (CTA)`, `2 (bullet)`. The label names the unit's job, inferred from the content. - **Current** - the user's existing text for that unit, verbatim. If the user gave no existing draft, leave a short placeholder or omit this column. - **A / B / C** - three rewrites. See the distinctness rule below. Rename the angle after the dash per row to whatever actually differs (e.g. `A - blunt`, `B - contrarian`, `C - technical`). - **My pick** - one recommendation for that row, in **bold**. It may be one of A/B/C, the current text ("keep"), or a fresh hybrid. Add a terse parenthetical reason only when it aids the choice. ## The distinctness rule (most important) The three variations must differ in **approach**, not just word swaps. Before writing a row, pick three different axes and commit one variation to each. Draw from axes like: - tone: blunt / playful / formal / contrarian - structure: statement / question / fragment / story-fragment - angle: pain-first / benefit-first / curiosity-gap / social-proof / technical-precision - length: terse vs flowing If two variations could be swapped without a reader noticing a shift in strategy, they are too similar - rewrite one. Label each column with the axis it took so the contrast is legible. ## How to segment Split the source into the units the user is actually deciding on: - prose → paragraphs (or sentences if they're iterating sentence-level) - list → bullets - headline + subhead → separate rows - table/form → cells or fields When unsure of granularity, match whatever unit the user referenced last, or ask if it's ambiguous. ## Style - Match the user's established preferences (terse, no em dashes in the copy itself, etc.). The `-` in column headers is a label separator, fine to keep, but keep it out of the generated copy if the user dislikes it. - Keep every cell tight. A variant is a candidate line, not a paragraph of explanation. - Do not pad to three if the unit is trivial (e.g. a URL); mark it "keep". - After the table, offer to stitch the picks (or a chosen column) into a clean final draft. ## Example shape | # | Current | A - blunt | B - contrarian | C - curiosity | My pick | |---|---------|-----------|----------------|---------------|-----------| | 1 (hook) | We help teams ship faster. | Ship faster. Full stop. | Most "ship faster" tools slow you down. | What if your slowest step wasn't code? | **Most "ship faster" tools slow you down.** | Then: "Say the word and I'll stitch the pick column into a final draft."