| name | ui-copy |
| description | Write interface copy that makes controls, state, consequences, errors, empty states, permissions, confirmation, and recovery understandable at the moment of action. |
UI Copy
Use when product interfaces need labels, helper text, validation, errors, status, empty states, confirmation, or other concise user-facing language.
Procedure
- Define the user goal, product state, action, consequence, and knowledge the interface can safely assume.
- Name controls by the action or destination users expect, using established product terminology consistently.
- Put instructions and prerequisites before the user needs them rather than explaining preventable errors afterward.
- Write validation and errors to identify what happened, what can be corrected, and the next useful action without exposing internal implementation detail.
- Make destructive, irreversible, permission-sensitive, paid, or externally visible actions explicit before confirmation.
- Write empty and loading states around what the user can understand or do next, not decorative filler.
- Check text expansion, localization, screen-reader context, control labels, and whether a message still makes sense when announced without surrounding visual layout.
- Review copy in the working interface and shorten wherever context already carries the meaning.
Decision rules
- Interface copy is part of product behavior, not decoration.
- Buttons should normally describe the action they perform.
- Error messages should support recovery.
- Concision is useful only after meaning is clear.
Quality gate
UI copy is ready when users can identify actions and consequences, errors provide a recovery path, sensitive decisions are explicit, terminology is consistent, accessibility context remains meaningful, and the words fit the real interface without redundant explanation.
