split-compare

When to use

• Binary decision with a recommendation. The slide must close the question with one chosen path. Use when the audience needs both the trade-off and the verdict on one slide, not on two.
• Comparable facts per option. Each side carries 2–4 short bullets — the same kind of fact across both. Lopsided facts break the visual symmetry.
• Verdict in one sentence. The trailing blockquote is the recommendation distilled to a single line. Anything longer belongs in spoken commentary, not the recommendation card.

When not to use

• Three or more options. split-compare is strictly two — first card is the alternative, second card is the preferred. For three options, use verdict-grid or successive decision slides.
• No verdict. The blockquote is mandatory. Without it the slide collapses to a comparison without a call — use compare-prose for that case.
• Preferred on the left. Layout convention pins the preferred option to the second (right) card. Putting the recommendation first breaks the reading flow and the accent badge lands on the wrong card.

Common mistakes

• Trying to rename the "RECOMMENDATION" tag by editing the blockquote text. The tag text comes from the --insight-label CSS variable, set by an insight-* modifier class on the slide (e.g. insight-verdict) — not from anything inside the blockquote; editing the blockquote only changes the recommendation sentence, not its tag.
• Leaving the frame label unwrapped in backticks. The frame label is reassembled to the top of the dark panel regardless of its source position — placement doesn't matter. It must be backtick-wrapped, though: unwrapped plain text is instead captured as the intro paragraph, not the frame label.
• Writing a second context paragraph, or a note under the options, and expecting it in the dark panel. The dark panel takes the frame label, the heading and ONE context paragraph. Any other block (a second paragraph, a note, a table, a second blockquote) renders in the options zone, after the two cards and before the verdict, in source order; when the slide splits into pages, it follows the verdict on the closing page. Fold the extra context into the one paragraph, or keep it as a note under the options on purpose.
• Setting a long deck-level header: or footer: on a deck that uses this layout. The running header and footer stay on the dark rail they start on. Each holds one line; past that it ends in an ellipsis and the export reports it as a chrome cut (author-only, no reader pill). Measured at 16:9 the rail holds about 37 characters of header and 39 of footer. Shorten it, or set a shorter one on these slides with <!-- _header: … --> / <!-- _footer: … -->.
• Expecting a split-compare slide to drop the deck's finish:, or to show it on one side only. The finish covers both sides. The options side has no fill, so the slide's finish shows under the cards, as on any other slide, and the rail is finished like an anchor slide: its solid dark field with the finish mixed for it, in screen and PDF alike. backdrop: clear clears behind the content on both sides and leaves the finish in their margins. The finish's corner mark is left off, since a split slide has no frame margin for it. finish-none keeps both sides plain.

Authoring

<!-- _class: split-compare -->

`Decision Required`

## Headline that frames the choice.

One-sentence context paragraph explaining the stakes.

- Alternative option
  - First fact about the alternative
  - Second fact about the alternative
- Preferred option
  - First fact about the preferred path
  - Second fact about the preferred path

> The recommendation in one decisive sentence.

Slots

Anatomy

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  header                                 │
│  ┌────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐   │
│  │ OPTION     │  │ Choice A         │   │
│  │ A vs B     │  └──────────────────┘   │
│  │            │  ┌──────────────────┐   │
│  │ verdict    │  │ Choice B         │   │
│  └────────────┘  └──────────────────┘   │
│  footer                           1/19  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Related

• compare-prosethe comparison is undecided — no verdict bar yet
• decisionthe verdict slide that follows a separate comparison
• split-panelthe right side is findings, not paired options
• verdict-gridthree or more options scored against shared criteria