Writing user-facing copy

This is the operational gate for anything a person reads in the product or around it. Run it before writing or editing user-facing text, and whenever a code change introduces or changes a visible string.

Applies to: UI labels, buttons, form fields, tooltips, empty states, error and success messages, toasts and notifications, onboarding flows, emails, docs, and support replies. Does not apply to: code comments, commit messages, log lines, variable/function names, or other developer-only text.

Voice

Write the way a person would. Neutral and humane.

• Sentence case. Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. "Save as view", not "Save As View". "Product analytics", not "Product Analytics".
• Be direct and friendly. Say what happened and what to do next.
• Plain language, no jargon. Use the label the user sees, not the internal name. surveyPopupDelaySeconds becomes "Delay the survey popup".
• Don't editorialize. State what is, not how exciting it is. Cut "powerful", "seamless", "effortless", "simply", "just", "easily", "supercharge", "unlock".
• No sales-y or edgy copy. No marketing hooks, no clever one-liners, no hype.
• American English spelling. "color", "analyze", "canceled".