Hot answers tagged copywriting
243
My suggestion: never use the word "Cancel" in the default action.
To cancel a subscription, you can, for example, say "Remove Subscription" or "Unsubscribe."
To cancel a download, you can, for example, say "Stop Downloading".
To cancel a setting, you can, for example, say "Revert Settings".
216
The reason I believe it is important to have an apologetic tone is to ensure you are communicating to the user that, though a mistake has been made and he is interacting with a machine or application in this case, you still respect his action and are humanizing the mistake.
To quote this article from UXMatters:
“You’re going to display your error ...
127
The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications is quoted by Business Writing as suggesting:
Restructure the sentence so that the address is not at the end of
the sentence.
Set off the address, like this, with no period (full stop):
Please visit my website at:
www.syntaxtraining.com
However the same site also ...
126
Here's what Facebook does when cancelling a payment subscription (Facebook subscription API).
There's no reliance on Yes/No. There's no misleading use of the word cancel. Clear explanation and buttons that clearly define the impending action.
Then they clearly confirm what just happened.
Skype on the other hand shows what not to do. Much confusion!
120
Most of the other answers here seem to be focusing on accessibility, which is fine, but is hardly the point. Screen readers are what? Less than 5% of the market for a general website? The reason "Here" and "Click Here" are bad is because they are useless words. They provide no context. This isn't an accessibility issue; it is a usability issue.
There's an ...
101
When links were new (think 1995), designers felt that it was necessarily to let people know that something was a link by saying "here". I'm not sure if it was ever necessary, but it is not necessary now. When people see text formatted as a link, they know it's a link.
Using "here" as the link text gives no context (which is especially bad for screen ...
57
Let them know what has happened. Here are some situations with longer, clear example notifications that use proper English grammar:
Only the name changed
The task "foobar" has been successfully renamed to "dummy".
Only the data changed
The task "foobar" has been successfully updated.
The name and the data changed
The task "foobar" has been ...
56
If the user has intentionally disabled Javascript, it's probably because they explicitly want to avoid sites that "make heavy use of javascript" and would thus have a bad impression of such a statement. Explaining to them what they're missing is the best way to convince them to change.
Clearly state what they're missing. Chances are there's some good reason ...
52
MS Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines suggests the following:
“Use the second person (you, your) to tell users what to do.” So use second person for error messages, help, window or page labels, on-page documentation, and other places where the app is telling the user about the user’s content.
“Use the first person (I, me, my) to let users tell ...
51
While Mervin's answer is excellent, I would go beyond saying it is "acceptable" or "preferred". I would say you "must" use an apologetic tone for one very good reason: if the user is making a mistake, it is because the user does not understand the rules or logic of the system. That is not the fault of the user! It is responsibility of the system to ...
44
One aspect of this is accessibility. You don't get any context from the link itself.
You can see further info on wc3: http://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/noClickHere:
When calling the user to action, use brief but meaningful link text
that:
provides some information when read out of context
explains what the link offers
-doesn't talk about ...
43
"Please" is common in short instructions, because the alternative sounds too brisk and bossy ("Save the file", "Click the button").
However, I don't like either form of instruction because they don't make clear how the action fits into the user's aims. Rather than an instruction like 'Choose a filename' or even 'Please choose a filename', I'm drawn instead ...
41
It is not only a problem with copy/paste. If Thunderbird (among others) receives a plain text message with an URL, it will transform it to a clickable URL, including the end period, as it is valid in an URL. A number of other punctuation characters are also legal, so care must be used.
Tradition in such plain text messages is to surround the URL with < ...
39
It should show "Joe Soap."
Showing a pronoun instead of a name breaks up the flow of the list.
It's possible that someone other than "me" will end up reading the list. For example, maybe it will be printed out and distributed to others.
Using a pronoun draws attention to the software ("Look how clever I am, I recognize you!") rather than the user's goals. ...
39
If it's clear, say it in the least number of words possible. If there is no confusion, then there is no problem.
"Import image" - clear.
"Create app" - clear.
"Add description" - clear.
For further reading, I suggest the Android Writing Style.
37
In "Homepage Usability", Jakob Nielsen (together with Marie Tahir, 2002, p. 53) recommends the use of "sign in" / "sign out" over "log in" / "log out". This is empirically based on a survey of several large-scale websites and thus supports OP's "more common" argument.
Furthermore, I second @Dan Barak in that you should use "Register" or "Join ...
33
Don't use My or Your. In most cases it's obvious whose they are.
The only case you might want to do it is to differentiate e.g. between the user's documents and everyone's documents. In that case I would follow the Microsoft guidelines cited by Michael and use "Your Documents" and "All Documents".
One of the worst UI bloopers in Windows XP is the use of ...
33
Taking a step back: Why was this feature made available (visible) to the user in the first place?
If it is a feature not available to a specific user (or user class), hide it.
If it is a premium feature that you'd like to upsell - do so.
History export is a great way to backup your data, but is available on premium accounts only. Get in touch with ...
32
A few of my guesses:
Numbers are harder to anthropomorphize - we've reached a point with our understanding of computers where we regularly refer to the computer as another being we regularly interact with. It's much easier to give this creature some kind of name vs. a number, especially given that numbers are often used to "dehumanize" things and make them ...
32
Name the buttons for what they do. If the default is "cancel", then cancel the cancel should be something simple like "Don't cancel".
I know that it's not ideal to use the word 'cancel' in both of them, but it's the clearest option in this unique situation, and clarity is far more important.
Edit: Some good suggestions from the comments below are to ...
31
It emphasizes the wrong part of the text, like this.
Links tend to be visually distinctive, and draw the eye. (Less so now that they're not underlined in most cases.) But the 'here' is the least important part of the text, really, and so the link disrupts the reading flow.
31
In a desktop application, I associate "help" with a built-in or online documentation system, possibly containing a search function and/or a context sensitive guidance system.
With "support" on the other hand I think of a call center, website, phone line or whatever, but always occupied by human beings that are paid by my license fee and who will listen to ...
27
You have to go with the first option (stating that the "username or password is invalid"), and this has nothing to do with security.
Let's say that I usually use JohnGB as my username, but on your service someone else has that username, so I use JohnGB123 instead. Say I've then forgotten my username and I enter JohnGB as my username, but use my correct ...
27
Rewording
I would try my very, very best to avoid using the term 'cancel' for terminating the subscription. Cancel is generally considered to be a safe action. Here, you are using it in a more destructive sense, thus causing the confusion you noticed.
If you manage to avoid the term 'cancel' for the actual activity, you can resume to use it for the cancel ...
25
If you feel like jumping the action (click/tap) you can directly say "Select" the ...
Rather than a generic word, I would suggest you try to check what device the person is using and then say "click/tap" appropriate for the platform. But, then come the devices with both, a peripheral device and touch capability, which make this situation awkward-ish. You ...
24
The UK Government Data Standards Catalogue suggests 35 characters for each of First Name and Surname (h/t Ian Nelson on Stack Overflow).
That's how many characters you should assume for displaying the name or accepting input. However, I don't think a text field needs to be 35 characters wide. (Johnjacobjingleheimerschmidt should be able to type his name, ...
24
In many cases the best message is no message ;)
Is there the expectation of success? In these cases the only time a user wants to see a message is when something's gone wrong. Take file deletion in Windows. After the "Are you sure?" question has been answered there's no further message unless the file couldn't be deleted for some reason.
Is there any other ...
23
A question mark ? doesn't represent 'help'. It represents a question in general, or a question about more information on a specific point. Some apps and websites have used it for contextual help as it is cleaner for that.
If you want a menu option for a help menu, call it "help". This has become so entrenched that the name for it is a "help menu". ...
22
Part of the reason that people skip over long messages is due to reading speed.
Assume for the sake of discussion someone with an average reading speed - around 200 words per minute.(*)
If you use just 20 words in a dialog, you're asking that user to spend 6 seconds reading and understanding what you wrote.
While that doesn't sound like much, a six ...
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