Guidelines for Writing Text for Wizard Pages

se a conversational, rather than instructional, writing style for the text you provide on the screens. The following guidelines can be used to assist you in writing the textual information:

• Use words like "you" and "your."
• Start most questions with phrases like "Which option do you want..." or "Would you like...." Users respond better to questions that enable them to do a task than being told what to do. For example, "Which layout do you want?" works better in wizards than "Choose a layout."
• Use contractions and short, common words. In some cases, it may be acceptable to use slang, but you must consider localization when doing so.

Note
For more information about localization design, see Chapter 14,
"Special Design Considerations."

• Avoid using technical terminology that may be confusing to a novice user.
• Try to use as few words as possible. For example, the question "Which style do you want for this newsletter?" could be written simply as "Which style do you want?"
• Keep the writing clear, concise, and simple, but remember not to be condescending.