https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-write-inclusive-accessible-digital-products-2f4b35ec59a2
There’s one piece of writing advice I give to everyone:
Read your writing out loud.
Yes, out loud. Not out loud in your head. Out loud out loud. Move your mouth. Make sound. Listen to your sentences. It’s a simple technique, but it works.
Listening lets you detach from your work to catch — and correct — things you might’ve missed. It’s a way of smoothing things out. Words just feel different when they’re spoken.
The first goal of good UX writing is usability. Before you give digital products personality, those products need to make sense. That means the words need to work for everyone.
For UX writers who work on digital products, listening to the writing in an interface is doubly useful. That’s because the technique is a pretty good approximation for how a screen reader works. Listening can make your UX writing better and your products more usable.
The nomenclature of digital product design is anchored around one word: user. User experience. User testing. User research. That one word can sometimes hide an obvious but important truth:
Users are people. And people read differently.
Some people understand English as a second language. Some people make their font size really big. Some people have cognitive impairments, or limited vocabularies, or backgrounds that shape a different understanding of a common word.
Inclusive, accessible UX writing is a way of reminding people that they belong, that this product — and this planet — has a place for everyone.
So start by reading everything out loud. Here are some other things to do.
Clarity, not creativity, is the backbone of good UX writing. Choose simple words and craft shorter sentences. Explain acronyms users might not know. Use proper punctuation. Be extra careful about things like cleverness, wordplay, and idioms that might affect usability. Above all, write to be understood.
Fun headlines and taglines may work in advertising. In digital products, they’re often just confusing and hard to translate.
Write to people as people. Be respectful with pronouns. Avoid ableism, racism, sexism, and stereotypes. And remember, language evolves. Inclusive UX writing can help shape that evolution. Thoughtful writing in an interface today can influence the way people think and behave tomorrow. Write on the side of progress. Write the world you want to live in.