diff --git a/packages/wc/components/presentation/wc.ts b/packages/wc/components/presentation/wc.ts
index 7037730..74ee2ac 100644
--- a/packages/wc/components/presentation/wc.ts
+++ b/packages/wc/components/presentation/wc.ts
@@ -460,10 +460,25 @@ export class PresentationWC extends LitElement {
       gap: ${dimension("space.md")};
       padding: 0 ${dimension("space.md")};
       min-width: 0;
+      position: relative;
     }
 
-    .chrome-group + .chrome-group {
-      border-left: 1px solid ${color("highlight.med")};
+    /* Inset section-break rule rather than a full-height border. A
+       top-to-bottom border on a tall content strip reads as the edge
+       of a control (a tall button or a bordered cell), not as a
+       group separator. Shortening the rule to the middle ~50% of the
+       chrome lets it read as editorial punctuation, the visual
+       equivalent of the middot the colophon and marquee use to
+       separate items. */
+    .chrome-group + .chrome-group::before {
+      content: "";
+      position: absolute;
+      left: 0;
+      top: 25%;
+      bottom: 25%;
+      width: 1px;
+      background-color: ${color("highlight.med")};
+      pointer-events: none;
     }
 
     .chrome-group.time {