2. Consistent Text and Terminology
- Use Existing Text and Terminology
- No Multiple Meanings for Terms
- Write for Users With Basic Knowledge
- How to Make Decisions on UI Text
3. Tools for Text and Terminology
- American Versus British English
- Writing Style
- Write Complete Company or Product Names
- No Abbreviations
- Avoid “Please”
- No Contractions
- No Spaces Before Punctuation
- Do Not Use the Em dash
- No Space Before Ellipsis (Three Dots)
- Use Spaces Between Text and Arrows on Buttons
- Avoid Ampersands (&)
- Do Not Use Exclamation Points (!)
- Have Real Messages in Error Messages
- Use Present Tense and Imperative
- Avoid “Thing's” Possessive Forms
- Do Not Use “May”
- Prepositions
- Use Single Quotation Marks, Never Double
- Use Quotation Marks When Quoting UI Text
- Intuitive Shorthand