# Better writing > Use when a product's interface copy needs improving. Focuses on improving product copy in your project. ## Facts - Type: Agent skill - Discipline: Design - Author: Jakub Krehel (https://github.com/jakubkrehel) - Upstream: https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/better-writing/SKILL.md - Source file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/skills/better-writing/SKILL.md (6420 bytes, sha256:d53163382a058f06e00ac0b36312189108b006aa0b05869c71a70f5c213c44ae) - Licence: MIT - Upstream copy last changed: 2026-09-17 - Status: listed, not yet ruled on by the curator ## Use it I want to use the Better writing skill by Jakub Krehel. This is what it does, in the author's own words: Focuses on improving product copy in your project. Download the whole folder at https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/tree/main/skills/better-writing, SKILL.md and every file beside it, into your skills directory: ~/.claude/skills/better-writing/ for Claude Code, ~/.agents/skills/better-writing/ for Codex, ~/.cursor/skills/better-writing/ for Cursor. Get it from the author's repo, not from startupskills.dev. Then tell me the path you installed it to and how to invoke it. Nothing here is vendored: install from the author's repo, not from this site. A verbatim copy of the author's file follows for reading, under the licence reproduced after it; the current file is in the author's repo. ## Links - Page: https://startupskills.dev/jakubkrehel/better-writing - Author: https://startupskills.dev/jakubkrehel - Index: https://startupskills.dev/llms.txt ## The file itself --- name: better-writing description: Focuses on improving product copy in your project. --- # Interface writing Clear and brief beats clever; consistent beats varied. The best error message is the interaction redesigned so the error cannot happen. How copy renders (capitalization via `text-transform`, truncation, smart punctuation) belongs to `better-typography`. Error markup and announcements (`aria-invalid`, live regions) belong to `better-accessibility`. Room for translated strings belongs to `better-layout`. ## Recon the existing voice Before writing or reviewing, read the copy nearby. Note the product's terminology, its localization conventions and any voice or content style guide. A deliberate brand voice is not a defect. Raise a departure from plain language only when it creates inconsistency, ambiguity, translation risk, or a tone the stakes don't support. ## One voice, flexible tone The product has one voice and its existing copy establishes it. A local edit does not get to invent a new one. Keep terms consistent: if it's "Archive" in the menu, it isn't "Move to storage" in the toast. Tone flexes with the stakes: | Context | Tone | | --- | --- | | Success, onboarding, empty states | Warm, can be light | | Routine actions, settings | Neutral, minimal | | Errors, destructive confirmations | Calm, plain, zero playfulness | | Data loss, security | Serious, explicit | ## Address the reader directly In instructional copy, write "you", not "the user". In errors, "we" invites ambiguity and reads as deflection, so prefer "Unable to load content" over "We're having trouble loading this content". An established first-person voice can stay in low-stakes copy where it still reads clearly. Use possessives sparingly: "Favorites" beats "Your Favorites". Hold one perspective throughout a flow. ## Plain words over clever ones Choose words a tired reader gets on the first pass, and delete every word that does no work. No idioms, no colloquialisms, no humor that won't translate. Skip unnecessary gender: "Subscribers can post recipes", not "each subscriber can post his or her recipes". Match the input device: "tap" on touch, "click" with a pointer, "select" when both are possible. Never assemble a sentence from fragments around a variable (`"You have " + n + " new messages"`), because word order changes per language. Use a full templated string with proper pluralization. ## Verb-first buttons A button label starts with a verb naming the action: "Send", "Save draft", "Delete project". Never "OK!", "Let's go!", or a bare "Yes" and "No" on a consequential action. A confirmation button repeats the consequence, so the dialog is answerable without reading the body. "Delete this project?" offers `Delete project` and `Cancel`. ## Consistent flow vocabulary A multi-step flow uses one vocabulary throughout: "Get started" to enter, "Continue" or "Next" (pick one) to advance, "Done" to finish. Alternating synonyms makes users wonder whether the buttons do different things. ## Links describe their destination Link text has to make sense out of context, because screen-reader users navigate by a list of the page's links. Write "Read the billing docs". "Click here" fails this and the device-verb rule at once. A bare "Learn more" breaks down as soon as two appear on one page. Suffix each one: "Learn more about exports". ## One capitalization policy Pick title case or sentence case per element type, then apply it to every instance of that type. Sentence case is the safer default. It is calmer, has no per-word rules to remember and localizes cleanly. "Save Changes" beside "Discard changes" reads as sloppiness. ## Settings describe the ON state Label a toggle for what happens when it is on. "Send read receipts" lets users infer the off state; the negative ("Don't send read receipts") turns the toggle into a double negative. Link straight to a referenced setting rather than describing the path to it: a "Notification settings" link, not "Go to Settings > Notifications > Email". ## Errors say how to fix, next to where it broke An error is an instruction, and it belongs beside the field that failed: | Bad | Good | | --- | --- | | That password is too short | Choose a password with at least 8 characters | | Invalid name | Use only letters for your name | | Oops! Something went wrong. | Unable to save. Check your connection and try again. | No blame, no "oops", no exclamation marks. Phrase hints positively ("Use only letters", not "Don't use numbers or symbols") and show them before the mistake, not after. When the same error keeps firing, redesign the interaction instead of rewording it. ## Empty states point forward An empty state says what this place is, how to fill it and offers one clear next action: ```html

No results.

No projects yet

Projects keep your tasks and files together.

``` A search or filter empty state names the query and offers an exit: "No results for 'quarterly'. Clear filters". Never park persistent information in an empty state. It disappears the moment content exists. ## Placeholders are examples, not labels A placeholder shows the expected format: `name@example.com`, `DD/MM/YYYY`. It vanishes on input, so it is never the only label. Every field keeps a visible one. ## Reporting **Severity.** `HIGH` misleads the user or hides how to recover from an error. `MEDIUM` breaks voice, terminology, or capitalization consistency. `LOW` is isolated wording polish. **Verification.** Source alone is enough here. Check every label against the action it invokes, every error for a stated fix and terminology against the copy around it. No browser check is required. **Format.** Group findings under the principle each violates, ordered by severity, one row per root cause listing every location it appears in: | Severity | Location | Before | After | Why | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | `Location` is `path/to/file:line`. `Why` names the principle and the user impact. End with `Block` when any `HIGH` remains, `Approve` otherwise, leaving the rest in the table as work to do. Never `Approve` coverage you did not inspect. With nothing to report, state "No actionable writing findings" and report verification. ## Licence of the file above The file above is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/skills/better-writing/SKILL.md, by Jakub Krehel, reproduced without changes. - Source: https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/better-writing/SKILL.md - Copyright: Copyright (c) 2026 Jakub Krehel - Licence: MIT, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/LICENSE The repo's licence file, verbatim from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/LICENSE: MIT License Copyright (c) 2026 Jakub Krehel Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.