--- title: "Editing Process" canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/DOCSGUIDE/697368578/Editing%20Process" format: markdown --- This article explains the microcopy editing process. ## **Process Phases** --- The editing process consists of four phases that correspond to the four goals a good UI text must meet. It is possible to tackle all these goals at once: - **Accessibility **– be easy to understand, every text can be interpreted by AI - **Purposeful **- convey the correct message - **Concise **- make it shorter while keeping the meaning - **Conversational **– make it human-like, information is in a logical order - **Clear **– make it understandable, unambiguous See the separate sections for more details. ### **Accessibility** --- Accessibility can be estimated based on whether the users understand the language, their reading level, and available labeling. The language must be understandable for non-English speakers, as Chaos products are used across the globe. *Example: Chaos has clients from all over the world, and many of them do not have a strong command of English. So we must treat all users as basic speakers and use constructions and words suitable for the basic level. We must avoid long, complicated sentences with many clauses and stick to short, simple sentences.* All UI elements must have text (labels), regardless of whether visible or not, so the AI tools can interpret them. ### **Purposeful** --- The text must meet the purpose that Chaos and the users have for this experience in order to be useful. It should include ideas relevant to the users. ### **Concise** --- The text must be concise for two reasons: users do not come to the experience to read long UX text for pleasure, and the usable space for text is limited. Users find it easier to scan English UX text when it is 40 characters or fewer wide and three lines or fewer long. When writing for an experience that will be localized in several languages, we should use only half to two-thirds of the space for English text because several languages (German, Russian, etc) tend to make up more space. There are different constructions to start your information: - **Start with the imperative verb. **For example, “Update your payment method to buy a monthly license.” - **Start with the purpose that the user might recognize.** For example, “To buy a monthly subscription, update your product method.” - **Start with the context.** Monthly subscription: Payment info update is needed. - **Start with an emotional motivator. **Alert: Monthly subscription payment problem. When three or more ideas should appear in the same sentence, it tends to be the last word or idea that will be the most powerfully remembered. Part of that is how our brain works: the most recent thing has more significance in our memory. The first idea in a sentence is the second most powerful, because it doesn’t get the power of being at the end of the sentence, but it is scanned first and probably most frequently. When there is a word that will signal to the user that they have found the idea they are seeking, that word should be the most prominent. ### **Conversational** --- Here, “conversational” does not include the brand's voice and tone. Instead, it means that humans can recognize they are in conversation with the experience. The text mustn’t be so abrupt as to make interaction difficult or even seem rude. It is important that the experience uses words and concepts the users are familiar with, and that these ideas are presented in a sequence that makes sense. Ordering words is of great importance. Example:  *To allow location, go to Settings, then turn on Location. *– Longer but clearer, and keeps the correct order that a user would perform the operations when using the app. *To allow location, turn on Location in Settings. *- Shorter but puts the actions in the wrong order, damaging clarity. ### **Clear** --- Use words that users from the respective industry will understand and recognize immediately, without having to think. In general, the more specialized the experience, the more it will need specialized terminology, in our case 3D and rendering terminology. *Example 1: In Envision it is more common to simply use “embed Cosmos material” instead of “convert the Cosmos material into a standard Envision material in order to be able to edit it.”* *Example 2: Enscape and Envision users are mainly architects who are not skilled with 3D software. They don’t understand complex modelling terms such as “anisotropy,” “transmission,” or “*antialiasing.” However, in most cases, simple, common words are more recognisable even to specialists. Don’t use idioms and metaphors because they are clear mainly to native speakers, but may be ambiguous and even offensive to non-English speakers.