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Writing

4 min read

Writing captions like inscriptions

Stone carvers pay for every letter. Writers should too. Six edits that make interface text shorter and warmer.

A carver pays for every letter, so the old inscriptions say what matters and nothing else. Interface text deserves the same care, because every extra word is a cost the reader pays.

Six edits we make every time

Cut the first sentence of any paragraph. Replace nouns with verbs. Name the button after the result, not the action. Put the number before the unit. Say what will happen next. Read it aloud.

The result is never cold. Short sentences sound confident, and confidence is warm.

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