# Blank lines before lists, revisited

**URL:** <https://talk.commonmark.org/t/blank-lines-before-lists-revisited/1990>\
**Category:** Spec\
**Tags:** release-1.0\
**Created:** [January 15, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/blank-lines-before-lists-revisited/1990 "2016-01-15T06:21:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![chrisalley](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/chrisalley/32/906_2.png) [@chrisalley](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/chrisalley)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 10:45am UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/blank-lines-before-lists-revisited/1990/4 "2016-01-15T10:45:51Z")

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In Markdown, [readability is emphasised above all else](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#philosophy). If CommonMark is to be true to the philosophy of Markdown, readability should take priority over the principle of uniformity.

The use of whitespace can make a document more readable. Creating space around a list is arguably cleaner and makes that list stand out from the surrounding paragraphs (as do spaces between list and header markers, as discussed in depth [in this topic](http://talk.commonmark.org/t/heading-not-working/819)).

I would be in favour of making the syntax a little harder (stricter) to write all around if that results in documents that are a little easier to read. By requiring the blank line, you also reduce the amount of variations within a document, making the whole feel more uniform.

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_[View the full topic](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/blank-lines-before-lists-revisited/1990)._