Writing clear UI copy

People do not read interfaces, they scan them, looking for the word that matches what they want to do. That makes every label a piece of navigation. Get the words right and a screen explains itself; get them wrong and no amount of visual polish helps.

Buttons start with a verb

A button is a promise about what will happen. "Save changes", "Invite teammate", "Export as PDF" each say it. "OK", "Submit" and "Yes" make the person reread the whole screen to find out.

Confirmations name the outcome

"Are you sure?" followed by "Yes" and "No" is the worst dialog in software. People click through it on reflex. Name the action on the button, and put the consequence in the body.

• Title: "Remove Acme workspace?"
• Body: "Its 12 projects and all their files will be deleted for everyone."
• Buttons: "Cancel" and "Remove workspace".

Someone who only reads the button still knows exactly what it does.

Name toggles after the on state

A switch labelled "Turn off previews" forces a double negative: on means off. Label the thing that happens when it is on, "Show previews", and the switch position does the rest.

Pick one word and keep it

If step one says "Next", step two says "Continue" and step three says "Proceed", people wonder whether the buttons do different things. Choose one word for moving forward through a flow and use it on every step, with a specific verb only on the final action ("Create account").

Empty states are onboarding

"No items" tells people nothing. An empty view is often the first screen someone sees in a new feature, so use it: say what will appear here, and offer the one action that fills it.

Links say where they go

"Click here" and "Learn more" are meaningless out of context, and screen reader users often navigate by pulling up a list of links on the page. "Read the changelog" or "See pricing plans" work anywhere.

Talk to a person

Write "you", never "the user". "You can invite up to 5 people" is friendlier and shorter than "Users may invite up to 5 members". Keep the same case everywhere too: sentence case on buttons, headings and labels is the easiest to read and the easiest to keep consistent.

A quick test

Cover everything on the screen except the buttons and headings. Can you still tell what the screen is for and what each action does? If yes, the words are doing their job.

Checklist

• Every button starts with a verb.
• Destructive confirmations name the outcome on the button.
• Toggles describe the on state.
• One consistent word moves people forward through a flow.
• Empty states explain what belongs there and offer a way to start.
• Link text makes sense on its own.
• Copy says "you" and uses sentence case throughout.