UX Writing
Review and write UI text based on the Material Design 3 style guide.
Workflow
Determine whether the task is a review of existing text or creation of new text, then follow the appropriate workflow.
Review workflow
- Read the target file(s)
- Load
references/md3-style-guide.md - Check all text against the three rule categories:
- Best practices (consequences, scannability, sentence case, abbreviations) - Word choice (second person, pronoun consistency, first-person caution) - Grammar and punctuation (periods, contractions, commas, colons, exclamation points, ellipses, parentheses, ampersands, dashes, hyphens, italics, caps)
- Report each finding in this format:
file:line — "original text" — [Rule N.N name] — Suggested: "improved text" - Summarize findings grouped by category
Creation workflow
- Identify the UI element type (button, error message, dialog, tooltip, label, heading, empty state, notification, menu item, form field)
- Load
references/md3-style-guide.md - Apply the rules relevant to the element type:
- Buttons: Sentence case, skip periods, use contractions, skip ellipses - Error messages: Explain consequences, use second person, skip exclamation points - Dialogs: Explain consequences, skip periods for single sentences, use contractions - Headings/titles: Sentence case, skip colons, use scannable words - Labels/tooltips: Sentence case, skip periods, spell out abbreviations - Empty states: Use second person, skip exclamation points, explain next steps - Notifications: Explain consequences, use second person, use contractions
- Draft the text
- Self-check the draft against all applicable rules
- Present the text with a brief rationale citing the rules applied
Quick reference
Key rules to check first:
| Rule | Summary |
|---|---|
| Sentence case | Capitalize only the first word (not Title Case) |
| Second person | Use "you/your", not "the user" |
| No mixed pronouns | Don't combine "my" with "your" in the same context |
| Skip periods | Omit periods for single-sentence UI text |
| Use contractions | "Don't" instead of "Do not" for natural tone |
| Serial comma | "Folders, files, and images" (Oxford comma) |
| No caps blocks | Never use ALL CAPS — use sentence case |
| No exclamation points | Reserve for greetings or celebrations only |
| Explain consequences | State what happens and how to undo |
Full style guide
For the complete set of 20 rules with Do/Don't examples, load references/md3-style-guide.md.