4 ms·

Practical tips for better microcopy

27 points by jrdnbwmn 6y ago

CliffStoll 6y ago
Delightful! Jordan Bowman demonstrates an 8th practical tip: Give examples. And a 9th tip: Keep it short. (alas, but the passive voice at the very end: "sharing on Twitter is really appreciated" ... how about "I'd sure appreciate your tweeting this" or "If you tweet this, I'll smile" )
hprotagonist 6y ago
i read this as “microscopy”, and was amazingly confused about why like, “keep your lenses clean” and “do not look at laser with remaining eye” were missing from the list of lab advice.
willcipriano 6y ago
> 6. Show useful error messages > We couldn't find an account with that email. Don't do that. It allows for user enumeration.
- ketzo 6y ago
  I like "We couldn't find an account matching that email and password." as a default response for any authentication error for this reason. It's less helpful than it could be, but it prevents any kind of enumeration.
- brilee 6y ago
  The "register account" flow also allows for user enumeration, but you don't hear people complaining about that security hole.
  - amenghra 6y ago
    Registration, login, or password reset flows commonly leak directly or indirectly (eg via a timing channel) whether a user exists or not.
jasperry 6y ago
I'm in agreement with all the examples except #4. "Something went wrong" sounds purposely vague and almost like baby-talk to me. "An error occurred" is more concrete, indicating there's a specific problem that someone could put their finger on, and eventually fix. Also, "We're here to help" sounds vapid and self-congratulatory, like all the "We're here for you" messages we're getting bombarded with during the pandemic. "Contact us for assistance" gets to the point and focuses on the action to take.
- rhn_mk1 6y ago
  "An error occured" is not much of an improvement though. To me, it sounds like "A thing went wrong", with some specifity implied, but in the end the speaker withholds the information from you (perhaps because they have no idea themselves). A more concrete example would actually tell me what went wrong, so that I can try to solve it, or it would give me a lead to get some help (like some reference I can take to the support channel to get help with my issue).

27 points by jrdnbwmn 6y ago

Delightful! Jordan Bowman demonstrates an 8th practical tip: Give examples. And a 9th tip: Keep it short. (alas, but the passive voice at the very end: "sharing on Twitter is really appreciated" ... how about "I'd sure appreciate your tweeting this" or "If you tweet this, I'll smile" )

hprotagonist 6y ago

i read this as “microscopy”, and was amazingly confused about why like, “keep your lenses clean” and “do not look at laser with remaining eye” were missing from the list of lab advice.

willcipriano 6y ago

> 6. Show useful error messages > We couldn't find an account with that email. Don't do that. It allows for user enumeration.

ketzo 6y ago
I like "We couldn't find an account matching that email and password." as a default response for any authentication error for this reason. It's less helpful than it could be, but it prevents any kind of enumeration.
brilee 6y ago
The "register account" flow also allows for user enumeration, but you don't hear people complaining about that security hole.
- amenghra 6y ago
  Registration, login, or password reset flows commonly leak directly or indirectly (eg via a timing channel) whether a user exists or not.

jasperry 6y ago

I'm in agreement with all the examples except #4. "Something went wrong" sounds purposely vague and almost like baby-talk to me. "An error occurred" is more concrete, indicating there's a specific problem that someone could put their finger on, and eventually fix. Also, "We're here to help" sounds vapid and self-congratulatory, like all the "We're here for you" messages we're getting bombarded with during the pandemic. "Contact us for assistance" gets to the point and focuses on the action to take.

rhn_mk1 6y ago
"An error occured" is not much of an improvement though. To me, it sounds like "A thing went wrong", with some specifity implied, but in the end the speaker withholds the information from you (perhaps because they have no idea themselves). A more concrete example would actually tell me what went wrong, so that I can try to solve it, or it would give me a lead to get some help (like some reference I can take to the support channel to get help with my issue).