Dos and Don'ts
- Catherine Foss (Unlicensed)
Overview
Don’t: Start with “Happy Talk”
“We all know happy talk when we see it: It’s the introductory text that’s supposed to welcome us to the site and tell us how great it is or to tell us what we’re about to see in the section we’ve just entered...Happy talk is like small talk—content-free, basically just a way to be sociable. But most Web users don’t have time for small talk; they want to get right to the point. You can—and should—eliminate as much happy talk as possible.” (Krug p 62)
Your password's too short |
Don't |
Instead, help the people who use your product understand why they're experiencing an error and how they can avoid similar errors in the future:
Choose a password that is at least 8 characters long |
Do |
Don’t: Overdo Instructions
“The main thing you need to know about instructions is that no one is going to read them—at least not until after repeated attempts at “muddling through” have failed. And even then, if the instructions are wordy, the odds of users finding the information they need are pretty low. Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self explanatory, or as close to it as possible. When instructions are absolutely necessary, cut them back to the bare minimum.” (Krug p. 63)