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Ask HN: Resource for writing text for web applications?
Does anyone have a good resource for writing for web applications? I'm talking about the help text strings, error messages, etc. I'm just wondering about best practices and best phrasing:
E.g., "Successfully purchased product" versus "You have successfully purchased this product" for a confirmation message.
Thanks!
- dorfuss 11y agoSuper idea for a side project! Thanks!
- eivarv 11y agoIIRC, Shneiderman and Plaisant touch upon this somewhere in their book "Designing the User Interface" [0], and Schneiderman's "Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design" [1] may also be applicable. You might additionally want to look into resources that deal with copywriting. [0]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-User-Interface-International-Human-Computer/dp/1292023902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434056870&sr=8-1&keywords=Designing+the+User+Interface http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-User-Interface-Internation... [1]: https://www.cs.umd.edu/users/ben/goldenrules.html https://www.cs.umd.edu/users/ben/goldenrules.html
- bzalasky 11y agoYou should read The Elements of Content Strategy by Erin Kissane. It's from A Book Apart. As for shorter display copy, starting with a simple, clean writing style is a great start. From there, validate the assumptions you make with your initial copy. You can use tools like Kissmetrics or Optimizely to test how successful different approaches are.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]