Text for web pages plays a crucial role in ensuring a positive user experience. It’s essential to adhere to specific guidelines for words, sentences, messages, instructions, and text to optimize web content.
- General Guidelines:
- Follow the recommended guidelines for words, sentences, messages, and instructions .
- Be concise and clear in conveying information.
- Unique Characteristics of the Web:
- Recognize the distinct nature of web content and adapt guidelines accordingly.
- Pay special attention to word usage, error messages, and the creation of text, headings, and titles.
- Words:
- Minimize the use of attention-grabbing words. Focus on clarity and simplicity to enhance user understanding.
- Error Messages:
- Provide helpful error messages for: a. Incomplete or incorrectly entered data. b. Requests for non-existent or inaccessible documents.
- Redisplay error messages on the relevant page.
- Ensure visually distinctive and noticeable presentation of error messages.
- Instructions:
- Avoid phrasing that implies a specific page order or flow.
- Phrase instructions in a browser-independent manner for universal accessibility.
- Minimize the use of generic “Click here” instructions.
- Instead, opt for clearer directives like “Select this link to [explain the purpose].”