Write for everyone
Ensure your products work seamlessly for real people:
- People with motor, vision, hearing, or other disabilities
- People using small screens, large screens, and any screen in-between
- People using mouse, keyboard, stylus, voice, or touch
- People on fibre, bad cellular connections, and any bandwidth in-between
Write in plain language
Consider using plain language to make it easier for your users to read. Plain language is if your users can:
- Find what they need
- Understand what they find the first time they read or hear it
- Use what they find to meet their needs
You can achieve this goal with these common techniques:
- Write in “You” pronouns
- Write with an active voice
- Use common, everyday words
- Use short & bulleted lists, headers, and tables to organise information
NNgroup: We’ve been saying this since 1997. People rarely read online — they’re far more likely to scan than read word for word. That’s one fundamental truth of online information-seeking behavior that hasn’t changed in 23 years and which has substantial implications for how we create digital content.
Write for the web
Expect people to skim and scan. Help your users quickly find what they need with these tips:
- Write in short, clear and concise sentences and paragraphs
- Provide only the information your users need to achieve their top tasks
- Omit unnecessary information, complex words and phrases
- Spell out an acronym the first time it’s mentioned. For example, Visma Unified Design (VUD)
- Consider providing a glossary for terms your users may not know
- Use list formatting as appropriate
- Consider using supporting images, illustrations, video, audio, and symbols to help clarify meaning
Write for accessibility
Consider writing content that is accessible to people with disabilities. Follow these tips to meet WCAG requirements.
- Use informative, unique page titles that describe the page.
- Use short headings to group related paragraphs and clearly describe the sections.
- Use link text that describes what users will get if they click the link.
- Write alternative texts that provide information on the image. Decorative images do not require any alternative text.
- Create transcript for audio content
- Provide captions for the video. Include a description of the important visual content.
- Communicate instructions of what users need to provide to get to the next step of the task workflow
- Ensure guidance and error messages are clear and concise. Avoid technical jargon. Describe the input requirements. Indicate what kind of error it is, and how to possibly fix it.
- Keep the content and clear.
Writing rules
Don't use punctuation in:
- Labels
- Tooltips
- Hover text
- Bulleted lists
- Badges
- Button radio
Only use the ampersand in accepted terms and navigation terms. Don't use commas before an ampersand.
Use periods in multiple sentences and followed by a link
Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by any of these seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.