Do you avoid full stops in lists, captions, and immediately after a URL?

Excess punctuation without purpose can make a document or web content look unnecessarily busy. It adds unexpected visual clutter, especially in short or standalone text like **list items**, **captions**. For **URLs**, the reason is not just visual - adding a period at the end can break the link when it's copied or clicked.
## List items

Bullet points should be short and sharp, and should generally **not** require full stops at all.

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    
* Sentence one.
* Sentence two.
* Sentence three.

  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "badExample",
    figure: 'Bad example - Too much punctuation',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    
* Sentence one
* Sentence two
* Sentence three

  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "goodExample",
    figure: 'Good example - Clean with no full stops',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>

## Captions

Image captions should be short and sharp, and should generally **not** require full stops at all.

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    
&#123;&#123; IMAGE &#125;&#125;\
**Figure: A group of people in a meeting room.**

  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "badExample",
    figure: 'Bad example - Too much punctuation',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    
&#123;&#123; IMAGE &#125;&#125;\
**Figure: A group of people in a meeting room**

  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "goodExample",
    figure: 'Good example - Clean with no full stops',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>

### What about multiple sentences in one element?

If your bullet point or caption has more than one sentence, consider rephrasing it, or using a different separator - like a dash; you could also consider a semicolon instead.

However, if it **is necessary** to have more than one sentence in these items (should be rare) a full stop is needed. In this case, you should end with a full stop for consistency and completeness.

<asideEmbed
  variant="info"
  body={<>
    **Reminder:** The rest of figure captions and the bullet points on content **should not have full stops**.
  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "default",
    figure: 'XXX',
    shouldDisplay: false
  }}
/>

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    
&#123;&#123; IMAGE &#125;&#125;\
**Figure: A group of people in a meeting room. They appear to be engaged in a discussion**

* Sentence one
* Sentence two. Sentence three
* Sentence four. Sentence five. Sentence six
* Sentence seven

  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "badExample",
    figure: 'Bad example - A multi-sentence item becomes a mini-paragraph - not ending it with a full stop looks inconsistent',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    
&#123;&#123; IMAGE &#125;&#125;\
**Figure: A group of people in a meeting room. They appear to be engaged in a discussion.**

* Sentence one
* Sentence two. Sentence three.
* Sentence four. Sentence five. Sentence six.
* Sentence seven

  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "goodExample",
    figure: 'Good example - Multi-sentence items should end with a full stop for consistency',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>

## URLs

[Descriptive links](/descriptive-links) are recommended whenever possible, but if you must display the raw URL, remember to avoid adding a full stop at the end, as it can break the link when copied or clicked.

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    For more information, visit <https://ssw.com.au/employment>.
  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "badExample",
    figure: 'Bad example - Full stop at the end can break the link',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>

<asideEmbed
  variant="greybox"
  body={<>
    For more information, visit <https://ssw.com.au/employment>
  </>}
  figureEmbed={{
    preset: "goodExample",
    figure: 'Good example - No full stop after the URL',
    shouldDisplay: true
  }}
/>