UK English is the design language of our UI texts. Whether you are a copywriter, localisation expert, UX designer, or software developer working with these texts, there are some important rules of thumb worth keeping in mind. Make sure you follow these principles in all the texts that go to our apps and services.
Be human and friendly
Our tone of voice is polite, human and sympathetic. When creating the English copy for an app, make it look and sound as natural as possible, as if you were talking to a friend. This applies especially to texts where the phone is in dialog with the user. Examples of texts where conversational tone is in place include confirmation queries, information notes, and error messages, for example.
When writing in conversational tone, don't be afraid to use articles and possessive pronouns, provided that they don't make the texts too long. As for the timed notes that appear on screen only for a short period of time, a tone that is more neutral and to-the-point can be applied.
Our tone is conversational but not too informal, so don’t overdo it with jargon or slang. Avoid technical and formal words – use everyday language instead.
Write: “This file is too big to upload”
Don't write: “Unable to upload file. Maximum file size exceeded.”
Write: “Didn't recognize that code. Have another go.”
Don't write: “Code error. Code not recognized. Try again.”
Use ‘please’ or ‘thanks’ in relation to the time and effort someone has to spend on a task. If it’s more than a few seconds, it’s best to use them.
Write: “Please wait”
Don't write: “Wait”
Write: “Thanks. Your registration is all done.”
Don’t write: “Registration complete”
Be playful
When it fits the context, write with a playful and offbeat edge. Add in a touch of quirkiness in rarely seen texts, such as introductions and empty lists (see also the section on empty states ). Think of them as your chance to make our UI stand out from the crowd.
Write: “Looks like you’re not in a Wi-Fi hotspot”
Don’t write: “Unable to find a Wi-Fi connection”
Write: “Your Gallery’s empty. Time to get snapping.”
Don’t write: “No photos”
Less is more
Keep your texts as brief as you can and always put the most essential information first (with UIs you often have no other choice). Write in a precise and unambiguous manner, but try to convey your message in the user-friendliest way possible.
Write: “What letters and numbers can you see below?”
Don’t write: “Enter the characters you see in the image below. Characters are not case-sensitive.”
Lend a helping hand
When something goes wrong, tell people how to move on instead of simply stating that there is a problem. The best error messages are those that help people overcome the problem quickly, feel better and forget about the error altogether.
Write: “Having trouble downloading this update. Please try again later when you have better signal coverage.”
Don’t write: “Unable to perform update. Try again later.”
Be consistent with your term choices. Don’t come up with a number of different names for the same thing. Make sure that you use the same term throughout, regardless of the context where the text is being used.
As a general rule, all of our English UI texts use sentence case in spelling, which means capitalising only the first word of a text. So if you’re in the middle of a phrase or a sentence, capitalise only the first word of an app name or a folder name. In case your brand name has other spelling conventions, you can of course follow those.
Write: “Move to Sent items”
Don’t write: “Move to sent items” or “Move to Sent Items”
Write: “Mail for Exchange”
Write: “Yahoo! Chat”
This style applies to all UI elements where text appears, including button texts.
Write: "Answer"
Don’t write: "ANSWER"
Write: "Done"
Don’t write: "done"
Spell out numbers from zero to nine, and use numerals from number 10 onwards. Variables are always shown as numerals. If the sentence has both single and double digit numbers, use numerals for them all.
When there is more than one phrase or sentence, use full stops.
Write: “We couldn’t find this page. Check the web address and try again.”
Add a full stop to the end of a single-sentence error message or advisory note only if it contains a comma.
Write: “You can’t use your phone while it’s updating, even for emergency calls.”
Don’t write: “Device may not be used during update, even for emergency calls“
Always punctuate help texts with a full stop, but not the short UI elements such as menus, titles and soft keys, even if they have commas.
Write: “Calendar, new event”
Don’t write: “Calendar, new event.”