

Clear First, Clever Second — Wording your UI  (with slidedeck) - destraynor
http://contrast.ie/blog/the-language-of-interfaces/

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typicalrunt
There are some good examples in this slide deck, but it seems to be lacking a
deeper explanation of "why" the author came to each conclusion.

There is a reason companies choose abstract words for their products. If the
Wii was still "Nintendo Revolution", it would quickly become un-revolutionary.
If Twitter was called "Status" or "Update", they would be narrowly defining
their intent for the product. Abstract names don't carry the baggage of a
definition.

As an aside: I am coming to hate these slide decks filled with one-liners and
little context. Why can't we get a transcript of what the speaker was saying
for each slide?

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destraynor
You sure can. But I have to go write that up too.

The Why was explained in the talk itself , naturally. The video will be posted

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dirtyaura
destraynor, thanks for the presentation, a lot of good thinking there. Subtle
differences between "verbs" and "nouns" of interfaces and cultures they create
inside social networking services is one of the reasons that I don't believe
in the idea of federated social networks, i.e. sharing superficially similar
content "nouns" and "verbs" between social networks.

Waiting for the video of the talk!

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seppo0010
I hated when Gmail changed "Older" and "Newer" in favor of "<" and ">".

It wasn't "Previous" and "Next", since it wasn't clear, but with the UI
redesign they skipped that consideration.

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mchusma
Also I hate the "go back to inbox" button that looks exactly like a reply
arrow

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rasmusrygaard
Be sure to click through the slides. The blog post may not be overwhelmingly
useful, but the presentation has plenty of helpful examples of interface
copywriting done right (and wrong, too).

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techiferous
Don't forget proper spelling and grammar. Poor spelling and grammar risk
derailing your reader's train of thought.

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sarbogast
I actually like the idea of a Dribbble for copywriting a lot!

