Benji Taylor's framing from agentation.com and benji.org/annotating: when feedback is destined for an AI coding agent, precise selection beats prose every time.

A user saying "the blue button in the sidebar looks misaligned" sends the agent on a search through the codebase. A user clicking on that button and producing .sidebar > button.primary { class="cta is-large" } sends the agent directly to the right line.

The principle

Prose feedback	Pointing feedback
"the blue button in the sidebar"	`.sidebar > button.primary`
"the spacing on the card feels off"	annotation on `.product-card`, file `src/components/ProductCard.tsx:42`, computed style `padding: 16px 12px`
"make this section more interesting"	annotation on `<section id="hero">`, with reference: "like Stripe's homepage hero"
"the dark mode is wrong"	annotation on `body.dark`, computed style `background: #000`, fix link to dark-mode

The right-column versions cost the user marginally more effort but cost the agent much less context to act on correctly.

Why this matters now

LLM coding agents are good at execution, weaker at search. Every token spent searching is a token not spent on the actual fix. Selectors, file paths, and computed styles compress search-cost to near-zero.

This is why tools like Agentation exist — they let humans click elements instead of describing them, then emit structured selectors the agent can grep for directly.

Where pointing applies

UI review feedback — annotate the element; don't describe it.
Bug reports to an AI agent — include selectors, console errors, file paths.
"Build me X" requests — link a reference (screenshot, URL, or comparable product), don't write a 500-word description.
Code reviews destined for an agent fix — quote the exact lines.

Where prose still wins

Justifying why — "this feels off" needs prose to explain the principle ("the elevation hierarchy is inverted — child elements have stronger shadows than parents"). Pointing identifies the WHAT; prose explains the WHY.
Naming the principle — "this violates visual hierarchy" or "this is a Gestalt grouping issue" — invoking the principle gives the agent the right vocabulary to look up.
Talking to humans — humans interpret prose better than selectors. Use pointing when the audience is the agent; use prose when the audience is a designer or PM.

The two-channel pattern

Best feedback combines both:

[Click annotation on .product-card, file ProductCard.tsx:42]

"The padding feels cramped — 16px 12px reads as B2B form-density, not the consumer-feel we're going for. Bump to 24px 20px to match the hero card. See border-radius for the parallel-padding-to-radius rule."

The pointing tells the agent where. The prose tells it why and what. The wikilink tells it the principle.

When to apply

Any time you're giving feedback that an agent will execute.
Any time you're authoring a design-review document that includes an agent in the workflow.
Any time you're tempted to write "the X in the Y" — instead, click the X and let the tool generate the selector.

Tools that enable pointing

Agentation — the productized version. Toolbar in your localhost app, click → annotate → emit selectors. Recommended for any installer of this skill. See agentation-workflow for installation.
Browser DevTools "Copy selector" — manual but free. Right-click any element → Inspect → right-click in DOM → Copy → Copy selector.
Chrome's Recorder — captures a full user-flow as selectors + actions. Heavier; useful for repro steps.
Screenshot annotations (CleanShot, Figma, Loom) — visual pointing rather than DOM pointing. Works for non-web UIs.

Gotcha

Don't use this principle as an excuse to skip explanation. A bare selector with no rationale (".sidebar > button.primary — fix it") is worse than prose, because the agent has no idea what's wrong. The principle is pointing + reason, not pointing instead of reason.

Also: brittle selectors break. .product-card > div:nth-child(3) > span is technically a selector but it's lottery-ticket fragile. Prefer semantic selectors ([data-testid="product-card-name"]) or className-stable ones (.product-card__name).

Sources

Benji Taylor — benji.org/annotating, benji.org/agentation.
Agentation — the productized version.
Related: agentation-workflow (how to install + use Agentation), feeling-right (the prose-side of feedback), review-format (structured UI-critique format).