# Verdicts
A cell holds one verdict from a fixed vocabulary, written as a symbol and a word. This chapter owns the vocabulary, why the word is not optional, and the two states that must never be spelled as an absence.
## The vocabulary
| Verdict | Meaning |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `✅ yes` | The scenario succeeds on the default path, with no extra setup |
| `⚠️ partial` | The scenario succeeds only with configuration, or with a stated limit |
| `❌ no` | The scenario was run and did not succeed |
| `➖ n/a` | The scenario does not mean anything for this subject |
| `🧪 unstable` | The scenario succeeds, on a path the subject calls experimental |
| `❓ untested` | The scenario has not been run against this subject |
- A cell MUST hold exactly one verdict from this table.
- A verdict MUST use the word given here, unchanged.
The fixed word is what makes the column greppable. A reviewer counting how many capabilities are still untested runs one grep. A column of synonyms defeats that and nothing else was gained.
## Symbol and word, never symbol alone
- A verdict MUST pair its symbol with its word.
- A verdict MUST NOT be a bare symbol.
A symbol alone fails four readers. The only name `✅` carries comes from the character data rather than from the author, so no name a screen reader can reach says "yes". The CLDR short name is "check mark button". Markdown gives no way to override that name. A monochrome or e-ink reader loses the green-red distinction, and so does anyone with a red-green color vision deficiency. A terminal or diff without emoji fonts renders a box. The Google style guide states the general rule directly: do not present new information in a table through symbols alone.
The word costs four characters and removes all four failures. The symbol earns its place by making the column scannable at a glance, which is the whole reason the genre uses a table.
## The legend
- A document MUST carry a legend immediately above its first table.
- The legend MUST list every verdict the document uses, and no others.
- The legend MUST NOT use bold or italics.
One legend serves every table in the document. Repeating it above each one is noise. Placing it at the bottom means the first table is read without it.
```markdown
Legend: ✅ yes, works on the default path · ⚠️ partial, needs configuration or has a stated limit · ❌ no, was run and failed · ➖ n/a, meaningless for this subject · 🧪 unstable, experimental path · ❓ untested, not yet run.
```
## Absence is not a verdict
- A cell MUST NOT be empty.
- A cell MUST NOT hold a bare dash, an em dash, or `-` as a verdict.
An empty cell means one of four different things, and the reader cannot tell which. It can mean not applicable, not tested, tested and negative, or the author stopped filling the table. `➖ n/a` and `❓ untested` exist to separate the two honest cases, and they read as deliberate where a blank reads as unfinished.
`❓ untested` is the state authors are most tempted to skip, and it is the one that keeps the document trustworthy. [Freshness](./freshness.md) owns what to do with it.
## Sources
- Google developer documentation style guide, on not conveying information by symbol alone: <https://developers.google.com/style/tables>
- W3C technique H86, on an emoji's predefined name not matching what the author means: <https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Techniques/html/H86>
- Unicode emoji chart, on "check mark button" being the CLDR short name for `✅`: <https://unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html>
- Playwright and Astral `ty`, two published feature tables that pair the symbol with a word: <https://playwright.dev/docs/test-global-setup-teardown> and <https://docs.astral.sh/ty/features/language-server/>