Intent vs Presentation
Presentation describes how an interaction appears to human users. Intent describes what the interaction means semantically.
| Aspect | Presentation | Intent |
|---|---|---|
| Button text | "Submit" | order.create |
| Visual state | Grayed-out button | precondition: cart_validated |
| Color coding | Red button | risk_level: high |
| Position | Below the form | action_type: mutate |
AXAG captures intent. CSS captures presentation. Both are necessary; only intent is machine-readable.
Why This Distinction Matters
An agent cannot:
- See that a button is red (and infer it's dangerous)
- See that a button is grayed out (and infer a precondition)
- See that a button is at the bottom of a form (and infer it submits the form)
AXAG makes all of this explicit through declarations rather than visual cues.