Valerie Schipka
Friday, July 5, 2024 | 4 minutes
UX Writing Checklist
UX Writing refers to text in user interfaces that explains what features do, and tells a user what action will occur by interacting with that element.
Lately I’ve been very interested in UX Writing (probably because the UI texts in the products I usually document tend to be… improvable). So a few weeks ago I attended a workshop where I learned some basics and where the attendees were encouraged to create their own checklist for UX Writing as a takeaway.
When googling “UX Writing Checklist”, chances are that you will find a lot of results, with most of them sharing the same principles. So while the checklist presented in this post was created with the products that I use in my daily life in mind, the underlying principles are widely applicable.
For German speakers, it might also be useful to take a look at the German UPA style guide for UX Writing.
Basic Principles
Always check if your texts are:
- Understandable (use simple sentences that even a sixth-grader would understand)
- Concise (remove unnecessary words)
- Useful (only write text if it’s useful to the user)
Additional principles to follow:
- Structured (uses common text formatting, follow a “red thread”)
- Emphatic (write friendly, respectfully)
- Brand Compliant (use corporate language)
- Uniform (use defined terminology)
- Error-free (take care to spell correctly and use correct grammar)
Best Practices
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Readable | Is the text simple and not overloaded? ==1 information = 1 sentence and vice versa.== |
| Concise | Are headlines and instruction text as short and clear as possible with no repetition, redundancy, ambiguity, or unnecessary words? |
| Universal | Does the word choice avoid technical jargon, idioms, and hard-to-translate phrases? |
| Consistent | Do text elements or UI components of the same type use the same patterns and styles (e.g., see yunIO styleguide)? Check the other products or components to make sure. |
| User-focused | Does the content focus on how the product will benefit users in solving their problem (and less on features or technical details)? |
| Guiding | Is the next required action clear? |
| Prioritized | If you squint at any screen, is the info hierarchy clear? Do important actions stand out? |
Instructions & Tooltips
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Informative | Do users have enough guidance and info about consequences at every point in the flow to make a (critical) decision with confidence and continue? |
| Supportive | Do tooltips provide additional details for users who need help understanding? |
Error Messages
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Actionable | Does the error say what happened in simple terms and explain what the user needs to do next to get back on task? |
| Compassionate | Do the language and the tone of the message match the severity of the issue and avoid blaming the user for the error? |
Notifications & Alerts
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Front-loaded | Do important words / phrases appear first in the message? ==Users usually only scan the first 11 characters of a text, so it is advised to put important stuff first.== |
| Meaningful | Are notifications or alerts useful and relevant to the user at the moment they are presented? |
| Consistent | Do individual alerts and messages conform to an overall framework that uses consistent patterns for similar message types? Check other products/other messages to make sure. |
Template for Notifications & Alerts:
Dialogs / Modals
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| To-the-Point Headlines | Does the headline communicate a single concise message? |
| Distinct Buttons | Does the primary button text state a clear action and indicate what happens on-click? |
| Explanatory UI Texts | Does the text in the UI clarify any consequences and explain options in simple terms? |
| Guided User Input | When data needs to be entered, is it clear where the user can find that data? |
Onboarding (First-Use)
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Value-oriented | Does the text show the user how to experience the value of the product as soon as possible? |
| User-focused | Does the content focus on how the product will benefit users in solving their problem (and less on features or technical details)? |
| Cohesive | Do the stated product benefits match the major selling points promised in marketing materials? |
| Necessary | Do the initial screens convey only the essential info needed to inspire action and avoid any info not meaningful to first-time users? |
| Reassuring | Does the onboarding content answer the user’s most pressing questions and remove mystery or doubt on first use? |