
Practical tips for better microcopy - jrdnbwmn
https://learnuxd.io/posts/7-practical-tips-for-better-microcopy/
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jasperry
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.

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rhn_mk1
"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).

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willcipriano
> 6\. Show useful error messages

> We couldn't find an account with that email.

Don't do that. It allows for user enumeration.

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brilee
The "register account" flow also allows for user enumeration, but you don't
hear people complaining about that security hole.

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amenghra
Registration, login, or password reset flows commonly leak directly or
indirectly (eg via a timing channel) whether a user exists or not.

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CliffStoll
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" )

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hprotagonist
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.

