The paragraphs family — one text data type, two variants differing in what the value promises.
The paragraphs family. One stored contract — a text data type, line
breaks and all — and two variants that differ in the promise the value
carries:
| Variant | The value is | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|
| Textarea | plain text with line breaks | an intro, a bio, a review body — prose without formatting |
| Rich text | HTML from a rich editor | headings, links and emphasis inside the prose are the point |
Where text holds a line, this holds prose. The two variants
are a method choice — unlike the Text family, whose
variants differ by validation, these differ by what the author is handed
to type into, and the difference shows up in the template: escaped for
textarea (<%= %>), unescaped for rich text (<%- %>).
Pick per field, not per site. A bio and a review body can disagree.